I am wanting to build a retaining wall on my property out of the natural stone on my property. I have an outcropping that I’ve chipped some pieces off, but I cant’ get them to break very uniformly. I believe the rock is sandstone but I’m not sure. Do any off you have any suggestions for me? I’ve tried drilling with a hammer drill and using a punch to split it, but it didn’t work very good. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. Thanks
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Some sandstone will split right where you want it too, other formations will only split where it wants too, and there's not much you can do about it. If you were to use the drill-split method, you'll need to get a few sets of wedges and feathers- they will channel the splitting force into two directions, rather than all around the hole. You can google wedge and feather.
I prefer to score a line on the stone with a diamond saw or diamond blade in a angle grinder, and then chisel along the line. If the stone is tough to split well, score deeper and from top and bottom.
Good luck
Ive laid quite a bit of sand stone and is my favorite.
I often use "three corner" pocket rock formed by depressions made from water falls and such. If you get a good pocket in the rock its worth squareing up.
I use an air chisel with a straight bit kept sharp. Start a score cut across the rock at an angle to mark it through. Some thick rock of 6 inches or more require a few passes of scoring . Once you are satisied with the scoring from some practice , puncture cut the start of the cut with a slight bevel to the waste portion and it should crack and fall away crumbling leaving the good stuff in tact. On edges that dont offer resistance you can cut them straight down. At any rate sometimes it is necesary to turn the stone over and dress the angled cut.
Good laying to you .
Tim