Monday, February 21, 2011

a rock and a hard place...

Unscheduled Alpine run this morning...seems the last bag of range feed I had was not Benita's choice.  (A bag I purchased two weeks ago was torn and all taped up -  filled with another brand).  Made good use of the trip and picked up parts for a series of solar ovens I am building to sell locally.  Before hitting the road, I placed my order for more Benita mugs - as soon as they arrive I will put a purchase link on the blog.  Just as well that I spent the morning north.  Nice shade on the east side when I got home so I could start excavating by hand the area for 2 water tanks.  Found a huge mass of bedrock right where I'd rather it wasn't.  Hopefully I can chip away at it to create a nice level spot for the NE side tanks.  67,87,45,0,B
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11 comments:

Boo Barksdale said...

John,
Please get a mecanized piece of equipment with a hoe ram for this work, you could break something more than a hand tool out there.

February 21, 2011 at 9:38 PM
Gavin Thomas said...

Wow, that bedrock looks a little tough to deal with. Shame you don't have a jack hammer.

February 21, 2011 at 11:21 PM
Dani said...

We also have shale about 3 feet below our ground, but we have the added bonus (?) of clay above it.

The clay may be rock hard in summer and sticky soft in winter, but it will take the addition of compost to improve it.

What are you going to grow there? Or is the water you're planning on collecting solely for yours and Benita's use?

February 21, 2011 at 11:57 PM
rj said...

Seems that a raised bed of gravel would be better than trying to level rock. Use railroad ties, concrete, blocks, or steel on the perimeter.

February 22, 2011 at 5:56 AM
John Wells said...

problem is I got tall tanks and low gutters...just need to shave off a couple of inches then lay down a level bed of sand.

February 22, 2011 at 6:36 AM
mike said...

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/outdoor-projects/4274976

February 22, 2011 at 8:11 AM
tffnguy said...

John, I sure hope some of that rock isn't some of the massive boulders I see being ripped up by the people putting in septic systems out here! What about putting a smaller tank there with a high volume automatic sump pump in it to pump it to the other tanks? The right pump shouldn't take too much juice to run.

Might be a good idea to do some test drilling with a hammer drill to see how thick it is first before trying to bust it all out. I got in to one area here and drilled about 10 inches and still never got through the rock.

February 22, 2011 at 8:36 AM
Anonymous said...

In Odessa we used to take a Gatoraid bottle put in about 4" of Muratic acid, than a handful of pool chlorine crystals wrapped in Aluminum foil. Put the foil in the acid screw on the lid and run. It would blow a hole big enough for a clothes line/fence post. Plus it was just really fun watching it blow up!
Good idea David.

February 22, 2011 at 9:10 AM
Unknown said...
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February 22, 2011 at 12:45 PM
KMS Woodworks said...

cut deep grooves with a dry diamond blade every few inches with a circular saw then bust out the slices with a sledge...

February 22, 2011 at 1:11 PM
Shadowmoss said...

Frann and I think alike. I was thinking a couple of well placed small charges of kaboom (pick your choice) would make short(er) work of the rock.

February 22, 2011 at 7:40 PM

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