Hard Granite excavation without using Explosives 

Noise sensitive neighbours, who'd rather listen to days of hammering and porta packs running rather then a millisecond of blast noise hahah, another great video mate, you're unbeatable!

As a safety professional, I really appreciate the bit about wearing a full face respirator, even outdoors. Silicosis is a horrible disease and by the time you are affected, it's far too late.

It’s always good to see a man who understands his kit and takes proper care of it. Well done Dave.

Like everyone here Dave, I love watching you break rocks really fast. But there is something so satisfying about watching you break rocks really slowly and quietly with the plugs and feathers, especially the hydraulic ones. Great fun.

Blasting is awesome ... but those Hydraulic Breakers are absolutely mesmerizing!!! Between the slow creep of the rock, and the sound of it being slowing torn apart .. no words for that, just WOW!!! Thanks for sharing 🇨🇦

The sound of granite cracking is so amazing.

If neighbours whinge about the noise your making, just hire a fire engine and leave it running with the siren going. Will take their minds right of anything your doing.

Thanks for such a long and different episode.

Great to hear the rock ''groaning'' as the hydraulics get to work. I guess you could label that job as a bit of a laborious PITA! Kudos for great work Dave - hope the $ return was adequate! Your equipment inventory must represent a huge investment, plus replacing damaged stuff.

People are funny, so they complain about using explosives (when explosives were probably used when the lot that they have was developed) but would rather hear a drill drilling 3X as many holes, and 4X as many hours of equipment running to get the rock out without explosives. I hate the Karens and the "not in my backyard" attitude. That Job had a large amount of work for you! I have used small squib charges on the Potato Chips, very little noise. But the Feathers seemed to work well seeing that it was so hard and brittle.

I do hope the person who was threatening to sue enjoyed the many days of noise and vibration that the extra drilling & breaking caused. I'm sure you could and would have come up with a blasting plan that would have caused minimum vibration and got the job done in a fraction of the time!

Great video as usual. You do a nice job of explaining and then demonstrating how you tackle a job. Not every expert can do that. "There's nothing easy about the way I'm doing it."

I just love the sound of the rock cracking

You can make enough noise to upset the neighbour, but not enough to scare away a 6 foot mouse.

When you quote, chat to the neighbor to find out their thought. If they have issues, either decline to job or include budget for them to have a holiday whilst you get the job done.

I never knew watching rocks break could be so much fun....

There is something very satisfying and pleasurable seeing and hearing the cracks being made @24:53

Amazing work! That grout splitting is incredible. It seems to me that the intelligent approach by the neighbors would have been to promise not to complain or call the authorities but at the end they wanted a big and several smaller rocks placed in their yards…….would have made for spectacular landscaping for no expense!

I cannot imagine how unreasonable a neighbor has to be to not have that same amount of rock gone in a small series of millisecond blasts...

Cracking performance sir. Bet the neighbours were glad to see the back of your truck.👍👍👍 When you build a house on a slope on top of rocks and fail to spend the money building the correct footings your bound to suffer cracks. Aside from that. Imagine the noise made by a 7 magnitude earthquake in a granite mountain area. Terrifying. My suggestion for a new method Dave is plasma gouging. Low noise and keeps ya warm in winter.

Really enjoy seeing the means an methods. Thanks for taking time to make the video Dave. Excellent effects and editing too.

There's Dave. The hardest working man on RU-vid minding his own business when some disgruntled with the world for someone else's mistake comes over and says it'll be all Dave's fault that his house is falling apart before he even got to the job site and he will seek restitution out of his hyde. Almost causes a person to wish misfortune find him, though we know better than that and it will likely find him without our assistance. Thank you Dave for another incredible lesson on how you work magic by being even harder than the granite with your stick to it work ethic. You are an amazing soul. May God bless you that much more.Already liked and subscribed.

G'day Dave your workmanship is amazing mate. I really injoy watching and learning 👍

I hope that the site owner approached the neighbour to pay half your bill for the extended time and effort that was involved in not using explosives. A good job Dave under difficult circumstances.

A NICE LOOONG episode =)=) It just made my weekend, Good on ya Dave!!

The Neighbor complains about the blasting noise, but not the drilling....Crazy neighbor Love the content thx

A masterclass in rock 'blasting', thx Dave. Have a nice Sunday. Greetings from the Netherlands 👌😎

It is really amazing how you do this and the different techniques that you have to do the job. I really enjoy watching you breaking these rocks and granite. Keep making these videos. Sam from the US

Like all of these other viewers, I really enjoy your work, Dave. Thanks!

thank you Mr D for sharing this i enjoyed it very much - its nice to see what else you do aside from sending rocks - a happy site manager and calm for the mad neighbor

Don’t they know your demolition Dave not expanding goo Dave and I like to see you explode them well we all do things we don’t want to your a good guy

GREAT VIDEO, THANK YOU, DAVEY!. I CANNOT BUT IMAGINE ALL THE GIGANTIC MEGALITHIC CONSTRUCTS AROUND THIS AND OTHER PLANETS. THEY HAD TO DO THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOU ARE DOING!

Bloody good work Dave mate 💪💪💪

If I'd been the neighbor I think I would have preferred hearing one or two days of hammering, pops, and muffled thuds to many days of hammering.

Accidentally mixes up crack n go with water bottle, by Friday he looks like Augustus Gloop. Love watching stuff like this, it goes at a pace I can keep up with 😅

Awesome video, Dave! Damn, what a hard slow slog this job must have been and then there was the neighbour…. Love the way you go about it and the respect for your tools is great to see. Hope the next job is a little easier for you. Thanks again.

This was really interesting to watch. Thanks for sharing!

For some reason I really like the crunching sound the hydraulic crackers make as the rock starts to give way. Wouldn't want to stand too close though, lest I get hit by shards spalling off the surface.

That seemed like a pain in the butt job, I like the hydraulic splitters and the plug and feathers. Too bad about that neighbor . Great job and a great video.

Great job Dave! That second piece was quite the massive bit of granite! Well done breaking that up, you had a good plan. The splitters are a work out for sure, but you've never been scared of a good time! Cheers bud, I'm glad this one is over for you!

Thank you Dave. They called in the right man for this tough job. You make the impossible posssible. Those hydraulic splitters were a really good investment.

There something very satisfying watching the battle between the rock and hydraulic power. Glad you had a good talking to that person giving short holes.😉 The different hardness of rock is surprising. Thanks for the video. Cheers

Excellent video Dave. No Big Booms, But very enjoyable just the same. Thanks for sharing.

Hello sir, watched this video with great interest. I'm not a demolition guy, but an older mason so I can relate. At the end of the video you mention it's not easy and you would be open to any ideas that could help the process. It occured to me that it's a lot like quarrying stone. If you started the job at the lowest point and began by removing material to create a space then you could split your ledge toward that space. The stone would have somewhere to go, it wouldn't just be squeezing against itself. If the finished space could be emptied as you went to the desired depth it should require less holes and your cracks would run deeper. You could also get some nice usable blocks as a by product. Thats the first time I've seen those hydraulic feather and wedge drivers . I was just gifted a 60"x70"x21" pink granite block and my next project will be to build a moon gate next to our koi pond. Greetings from CT, USA.⚒

How can this be so interesting to watch. Thanks, it’s a nice alternative to boom

Interesting as always Dave. Well done!

Just goes to show the raw power of the explosive when it just turns it to dust. Mate you are one hard working son of a gun. Keep up the good work

Terrific result Dave and definitely worth the effort of which there was plenty. The Developer must have been really happy to eventually see that granite gone.

Great video Dave start to finish a lot of graft thanks.

Your such an expert ! I’ve watched a lot of your videos . I appreciate that you take the time to explain what your doing and why as we are mostly clueless ! I’m always impressed that you do all of this by yourself and you don’t even have somebody to lend a hand! Keep up the cool work!😊

Seismic, Dave. Simply seismic

Wow, your sure sunk some hours into that job. Great video, thanks for putting it up.

It looks like you have plenty of jerks down under as well. I hope they enjoy weeks of hammering. Let them explain to the new home owners the cost overruns. :)

MM77 Approved 👍🏼👍🏼………………………………………………….I’m willing to bet he wasn’t complaining about noise when HIS property was being developed!!! You KNOW I like seeing rocks fly, but those hydraulic splitters………………………there’s something oddly satisfying about watching them.

Great video Dave. Thanks👍👍👏🏻👏🏻

It would be cool if they used the granite that was broken out to make a wall or something on the property! Great video, this looks like a very enjoyable line of work.

I really enjoyed this. I know it was a lot of work. 😊

Nice job Dave - ''precious'' neighbours can be a real PITA, .............. just remember to charge PITA prices, ................keep you a troshing and take care.

Awesome video Dave 👍👍. Time for a couple of cold ones

Patience wins the war not the size of your bomb. Great job Dave

Hi Dave, Good seeing you again! "very hard rock" was a bit of an under statement! Sorry to hear the neighbor was such a jerk! How many drill bits did you use? Thank goodness for the Aussie Biscuit mix to save the day! Did the neighbor complain about all the jackhammering, too? You really earned a day off after this one! BIG thumbs up!! Good safety advice, too!! How's Blaster Girl? Take Care, Stay safe, Jim

Wow. That was a lot of work. Early on in the video I was thinking "this might be a good job for the hydraulic breakers". 🙂

Nice to see your video Dave I am sure this job would have been over and done in a week if you had all your tools at your disposal. Some folks get a bun in the oven and really can't let go! They can only see their perspective and we all have to step around their detritus.

Aristotle said that nothing is what rocks dream of. If they did dream Dave you would be their nightmare.

I could listen to hydraulics cracking rock all day.... but its less 'colorful' n explosive. Good to see ya mate. I been doing some 1200 sq m slabs lately.... tired

Being cautious on liabilities on preexisting damage is a great idea.and I wouldnt doubt damage claims would come flying in the door. Unless it was at my house, , in which case I provide beer after work... I wish you were close. My friends and i Discovered a prehistoric river bed< unworked in Utah, united states,> and this is covered with a extremely hard top layer called " ironcap, the rock structure is called " gossen"and its iocated being in a isolated part of the desert. Thise ancient untouched old riverbeds in this area are notorious for placer gold content and the area... There is so much legal paperwork I might never get clearance to blast exploratory holes so I have to keep prospecting...elsewhere.. Mining is extremely hard work, even working surface placer gold deposits... and of course you dont know if there is gold there till you look.

Thats awesome how you did that an so cool you brought your video gear too❤❤❤

Awesome video. I missed the boom but this was very entertaining

The power of a simple wedge.....amazing.

"nothing easy about the way I'm doing it..." Nothing better than the way you choose do it on every job, it's up to you to decide based on other folks' noise toleration and safety.

Great video.

Howdy demo Dave I like the longer video

i really love these videos. that granite is tuff stuff !!! on the internet they got giant hydraulic splitters that hang from the excavator boom by chain. but they need giant 4 inch holes !!! i was thinking theres got to be a way to make a portable drill press type machine that could drill with large diamond tip core bits. drilling with core bits is quiet and not so hard on the back. then the excavator could come in after with giant splitter and bust it up. -not fun like blasting tho !!!

Wow! Much respect, that was a lot of hand drilling. I did a little when I was young and everything about it hurt. A lot of folks don't realize how hard a rock drill is on your joints and body. Honestly, the only thing that could have possibly made it marginally easier would have been to use a mini excavator with a small drill attachment. I'm not sure such an attachment in the size you needed exists , but I would imagine it would cost much more to do the job and you would be getting on and off the machine consistently if working solo. Great Job!

Very cool!

The sound of the rock cracking is very satisfying. 👍👍👍👍👍👍

that extra 50mm makes all the difference!

There is nothing quite like the sound of ancient granite ripping apart under powerful mechanical advantage.💰

This is my favorite song!

Jackleg is the best friend at least you’re well punched, you have nice machine for this task! Just the cracking granite sound is the best sound ever, but overall its seem less trouble to use 3/4” bit and pull down 50gr detcord and bury all 😬

Another day of keeping everybody happy and still getting the job done.

Good morning from Texas

An amazing enthralling vid yo watch very different to normal approach enjoyed watching it Also Dave. That URI guy you mentioned could I get his name spelt right so I can look his work up please if ya don’t mind thanks keep up a very interesting channel to watch every episode made available cheers

They were blasting rox less than 1/4 mile from my house, didn't really know what was happening, it was like someone was kicking my toilet 🚽, then I heard boom boom boom kinda muffled, about a hour later I went outside, looked across the way. They were clearing a small hill for a home improvement center, then I heard 💥 boom 💥 again and saw a bit of dust in the air, I had it figured then! 😆

Was literally about to ask "Lysterfield?" when you mentioned it...

them air legs where really tricky for the short guys when doing a high hole an that's not a sound you like to here working in a tunnel all that cracking brings back bad memory's

From you initial description of the job I had 2 thoughts, from my experiences of doing the same job. I was called to finish when the previous contractor left after the using $15,000 of the same expanding chemical cracking compound, that didn't work. Firstly since he admitted he would try to sue for existing cracks in his foundation, before blasting just shows, he is a prick. I would set for one blast and tell him that since he admitted he already had cracks he can pound sand, and call his bluff about the law suit. Second, and least headache, is to use the bedrock as your foundation, cut forms to the contours of the rock, and bond rebar into the bedrock, that is a much better foundation than concrete on dirt anyway. The hydraulic splitters work good though.

Send the noise sensitive neighbours on an all expense paid holiday while you blast? Might be a lot less expansive and much quicker.

Another great job, by DD. I hope you were compensated adequately. I think I would have charged in the $20-30,000 US dollar range for that job. I have had to do a job with similar neighbors in similar faulty construction projects, so know what you are up against. Most of these people don't want new houses in front of there view. That is the biggest, behind the scenes reason, for no blasting. I hope the additional noise and time of noise, was enjoyed by the bad neighbors.I hope you direct the drill exhaust toward their house, whenever possible. Only down side to that, is here in the States, we would have to erect acoustic barriers. Coming soon to Australia.

23:06 sounds like something is about to implode, or a sinkhole is opening up! Creepy sound, that sound would keep me up at night, when I did septic systems, and such the Lazer level would keep me up, I'd heat it when I dozed off to sleep, I'd hear beep , beep , beeeeep and nearly jump up, it drove me insane about 4 nights a week, the other three I was either too tired to dream, or too drunk! Even 5-6 months later I'd hear it, crazy how the mind works!

Must've been a tad tedious drilling all those close spaced holes in the big flat area. Watching you beat in those small plugs & feathers brings to mind Monty Python's "mouse organ" sketch. 😁 (Hmm, I may have said that before - memory's going...🙃).

Great job. Wonderful video and thanks Dave for sharing.

Awe mate, this job cracked me up!! 😂

Very interesting....

Probably would've been a 2 day job with the bangers I reckon, the owner of the block must've been pulling their hair out at the extra time and expense to get the rock out.

Those hydraulic splitters are the ducks nuts. The force they exert is mind boggling. With 8,500 psi on a 3 inch ram, you have around 26 tonnes of force. Multiply that by the taper of the plug, ( and I got no idea how to do that) and the forces generated are almost unstoppable.

That looked like a real slog, and bloody hard work Dave. You didn't really say why the neighbor didn't want you using explosives? I assumed it's perfectly safe if the holes are well covered.

lovely walling stone you made there.

It tickles me to see the kangaroos "supervising" your work.

Sound of cracking rock is so satisfying.