Wednesday, December 30, 2009

more rocks, yes please!

On December 17th, Jerome Morgan of Vessels Trucking brought me about 44,000 lbs. of Indiana Limestone that I'd bought from Victor Oolitic Limestone Company of Bloomington, Indiana.

Introducing 'Rock One'...

...and 'Rock Two'.

Several dustings of snow, freezing temperatures and Christmas 'stuff' kept me from getting the stones unloaded. But, I finally got around to drilling them into 5 separate pieces of about 8,000 lbs. apiece.

To split a large stone block into smaller pieces, you drill a series of holes about 8 inches apart. Then you put in these metal 'feathers and wedges'.

Then, you hammer the wedges to increase the pressure on the feathers. These stones were about 3 feet thick. Nothing was happening, so Meg goaded me by saying that I hammered like a little girl. "I am NOT a little girl!"

CRAAA...

...RAAACK!

Derrick of J.B.B. inc. of Hardinsburg, Kentucky showed up this morning to unload the stones. It was below freezing, with a brisk wind, but a great way to end the year, with all the potential that these blocks hold for the next year.

So many rocks, so little time.