Feathers and wedges

As I told you in yesterday’s post, my pal Buzzy, just knew how to do things right, and he had an amazing collection of antique tools, some of which are still available. Now, I can’t imagine that too many readers of this blog have occasion to cut stone, but, for instance, if you have a giant boulder in your front yard that you are tired of, you’ll be glad that you read here about feathers and wedges.

Buzzy had some, and he loaned them to me when I had to break one foot off a piece of granite so I could use it as a front step. First thing you’ll need to do to cut stone is to rent an rotary hammer drill. Bore a series of holes in the rock along your cut line every 5-7 inches, and then insert an iron feather in each side of each hole. Slip a wedge between the feathers and tap it in place until it is secure. Then tap each wedge in sequence, along the line of holes. Tap tap tap tap tap. Just when you least expect it the rock will break. This technology has been around since Fred Flintstone.