In this video, a stonecutter demonstrates a traditional method for splitting an enormous slab of rock. Holes are drilled down the length, expansion sheaths inserted, and metal wedges carefully hammered in until the cracks join to form a neat split down the entire length of the stone.
After hours of careful work, now he has two problems.
Dennis Carter, founder and owner of Deer Isle Hostel in Maine uses a 2-pound hammer to cut a 26,000 pound block of lovely Deer Isle granite into two equal parts. This is the first of many cuts. When finished, the resulting smaller blocks will be used to make the foundation of a workshop that he is building at the Hostel.
Here's a less sedative illustration of the same technoque, using sledgehammers to get the job done quickly and wads of grass (!) instead of metal sheaths.
