Bear Mountain, November 2006 (How to Split a Rock)
Draw yourself a nice straight line where you want to split the rock. Drive a rift in the rock by beating the hell out of it. We went across the rock from top to bottom 14 times.
Drill holes about every 6" along the rift.
Have your wife drill some of the holes if you get tired.
Here's what the rock looks like once it's scored and drilled.
Now it's time to use some wedges to split the rock. Drop the 'feathers' into the holes.
Center the spikes between the feathers.
Now we're set up and ready to split.
Always listen to the guy who's done this before.
Start tapping in the spikes evenly. You can tell by the pitch and how easily they move that they have even pressure.
Get a bigger hammer if you need one.
Once all the spikes are tight, the rock might start making some noises.
Yep, I hear some cracklin'.
The rock is talking to us!
A crack starts to appear along the score line between the spikes.
Keep driving the spikes in evenly and you'll end up with a nice crack.
Once it's cracked through, drive the center spike in and remove the others. Then use a big-ass bar to open it up.
If you've got any energy left, make some more splits in the rock.
Send the pieces down the zip-line to the work site.