Feather and Plug - source
 

Not a marital aid, and not explicitly home repair, I'm looking for a quarry
workers tool.
I need to break up a large irregular chunk of concrete (maybe 4x5x2 ft) and
I saw a technique on TOH some years ago for splitting granite - called (I
think) plug and feather.

It involves a line of holes drilled, and a series of devices hammered into
each, simultaneously. the devices, a pair of L shaped 'feathers' surrounding
a tapered steel 'plug'

Anyone ever heard of a source for these devices?

The concrete is probably very hard, having cured at the water's edge,
semi-submerged.

Any source - or better idea - would be MOST appreciated.

Many TIA.

MF

I;m not sure about this but I think this technique was used to get
fairly regular sized (rectangular) chunks of granite while what you want
to do is just break it up. I'd rent a jack hammer for a few hours.


MF wrote:
Not a marital aid, and not explicitly home repair, I'm looking for a quarry
workers tool.
I need to break up a large irregular chunk of concrete (maybe 4x5x2 ft) and
I saw a technique on TOH some years ago for splitting granite - called (I
think) plug and feather.

It involves a line of holes drilled, and a series of devices hammered into
each, simultaneously. the devices, a pair of L shaped 'feathers' surrounding
a tapered steel 'plug'

Anyone ever heard of a source for these devices?

The concrete is probably very hard, having cured at the water's edge,
semi-submerged.

Any source - or better idea - would be MOST appreciated.

Many TIA.

MF

On Wed 07 Sep 2005 10:26:35p, Bennett Price wrote in alt.home.repair:

I;m not sure about this but I think this technique was used to get
fairly regular sized (rectangular) chunks of granite while what you want
to do is just break it up. I'd rent a jack hammer for a few hours.

Not only that, but it will not work on concrete. Granite has a grain which
cleaves along the grain when separated with the feathers. Concrete has no
grain.

MF wrote:
Not a marital aid, and not explicitly home repair, I'm looking for a
quarry workers tool.
I need to break up a large irregular chunk of concrete (maybe 4x5x2
ft) and
I saw a technique on TOH some years ago for splitting granite - called
(I think) plug and feather.

It involves a line of holes drilled, and a series of devices hammered
into each, simultaneously. the devices, a pair of L shaped 'feathers'
surrounding a tapered steel 'plug'

Anyone ever heard of a source for these devices?

The concrete is probably very hard, having cured at the water's edge,
semi-submerged.

Any source - or better idea - would be MOST appreciated.

Many TIA.

MF






--
Wayne Boatwright *¿*
____________________________________________

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four,
unless there are three other people.

MF wrote:
Not a marital aid, and not explicitly home repair, I'm looking for a quarry
workers tool.
I need to break up a large irregular chunk of concrete (maybe 4x5x2 ft) and
I saw a technique on TOH some years ago for splitting granite - called (I
think) plug and feather.

It involves a line of holes drilled, and a series of devices hammered into
each, simultaneously. the devices, a pair of L shaped 'feathers' surrounding
a tapered steel 'plug'

Anyone ever heard of a source for these devices?

The concrete is probably very hard, having cured at the water's edge,
semi-submerged.

Any source - or better idea - would be MOST appreciated.

Renting http://tinyurl.com/78hw6 makes the most sense if time is of any
value to you. If you like exercise and consider it a challenge (the
tree stump in Shane), you could drill a bunch of holes along a line and
use _very_ dry wood wedges pounded into the holes, then pour water into
the holes and on the wedges. The wood will expand and exert tremendous
force. The block will split along your line. If it doesn't, you
didn't drill enough holes. This is how the Egyptians quarried the
stone for the pyramids.

R

R

Wayne Boatwright wrote:
On Wed 07 Sep 2005 10:26:35p, Bennett Price wrote in alt.home.repair:

I;m not sure about this but I think this technique was used to get
fairly regular sized (rectangular) chunks of granite while what you want
to do is just break it up. I'd rent a jack hammer for a few hours.

Not only that, but it will not work on concrete. Granite has a grain which
cleaves along the grain when separated with the feathers. Concrete has no
grain.

Sure it will work on concrete. The drilled holes in granite, or any
other quarried stone for that matter, are drilled straight down - they
ignore the grain when drilling.

R

Trow & Holden of Barre VT makes all sort of stone-cutting tools,
including "feathers & wedges." And ... they publish lots of useful
info.

See: http://trowandholden.com/

No connection with Co.

HTH,
J

You may want to look into expansive grout. There are many
formulations. This is used for demolition at hospitals and other
places where the dust and noise of conventional methods is not
acceptable. Here are a few:
http://www.daighcompany.com/company.asp
http://www.archerusa.com/Product_Dexpan_En1.html
http://www.new-technologies.org/ECT/Civil/soundche.htm

(top posted for your convenience)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"MF" wrote in message
...
Not a marital aid, and not explicitly home repair, I'm looking
for a quarry workers tool.
I need to break up a large irregular chunk of concrete (maybe
4x5x2 ft) and I saw a technique on TOH some years ago for
splitting granite - called (I think) plug and feather.

It involves a line of holes drilled, and a series of devices
hammered into each, simultaneously. the devices, a pair of L
shaped 'feathers' surrounding a tapered steel 'plug'

Anyone ever heard of a source for these devices?

The concrete is probably very hard, having cured at the water's
edge, semi-submerged.

Any source - or better idea - would be MOST appreciated.

Many TIA.

MF