Concrete vs. Hammer

[Dobber]

Reading Don's great thread again made me want to share a recent experience.
A few days ago I got the opportunity to play with a new tool that I'd never had in my hands before, and hope to never again.
A family member had an old cellar torn out and the due to a mechanical breakdown on a friends hoe, was left with a corner of heavily reinforced wall sticking out of the ground. It was about 5 feet in one direction and about 2 feet in the other. Highest point was maybe 10" above grade.
I got the bright idea to borrow an electric Bosch jack hammer from work and help out.
It was one of those deals where a bright idea turns to dull pain.
Hammer for 10 seconds, chunk breaks off, point of hammer slides off top of wall with the chunk of concrete. Point sticks about 6" into the fill dirt.
Lift hammer, set on new spot, 10 seconds later, lift hammer, repeat, repeat repeat.
My old heart and my pride were saved by a couple of strapping young men who wanted to play with the pretty new toy also.
One of the angels even gave me a cold beer to sip while I sat on a stump. Of course I couldn't drink it for a while until I was able to breath normally.
When I returned it to work, I told the friend that helped me load it up the day before, that if he ever saw me touch it again, hit me in the head with something.
Bottom line: Concrete seems to make a home where you pour it, and it really doesn't like to relocated.

Dobber

[DDA52]

Yup...that is about the size of it.


That is why I try not to do any breaking without a Bobcat hammer....everything else is way too painful.

[cutter]

lolol
Great coming of age story, Dobber.

[Dobber]

There was a little more. My pride didn't actually escape undamaged.
A couple of my grandkids were allowed into the area when the hammering was complete.
It was in the upper 90's and the humity felt like it was pretty high.
I'm setting on the stump with the bib of my overalls unfastened and laying on my lap. T-shirt is totally soaked except for a the ends of the sleeves.
The baby says, "Pawpaw, you're wet."
The older one says "You're kinda white too."
I said "Its ok. I was red a little bit ago. It'll even out in a while."
I looked up and both of the young men were grinning, but I did notice that at least one of them was sweating.

Dobber

[cutter]

Well, the thing with those wise young men is they'll get to learn their lessons in humility too - if they're lucky enough to live long enough. If they're not, well then it really doesn't matter.

[RED caddy]

Back when I was young and foolish, (as opposed to old and foolish, now) I had occasion to demo one wall of a cellar, (for an expansion) I did the first hour with a hammer, (even with the exuberience of youth, that 10 Lb hammer kicked my azz ) then I had an epifiny, I borrowed a pnumatic jack hammer, hung it horizontal from my cherry picker and was done before dark. (Pawpaw said: There might be hope for you yet...I like to think he was right) RED

[markct]

yea i have a fieldstone foundation to break up a couple years ago. it was in pretty bad shape so didnt seem like too big of a task to break apart, so i got a good deal on a new makita electric jackhammer off ebay, it worked pretty good but definatly was alot of effort, but chipped away a little at a time for a few weeks. then i was given a gradall excavator that had been rolled over and the cab crushed, so i put the chipping on hold and made a new cab for the machine, and that made fast work of breaking apart the rest of the walls!