Hello All,

Since the subject of feathes and wedges has come up several times, I thought I would post a note about a jury rigged set of feathers and wedges that work well with sedimentary rocks, or where any cracks already exist in the rock.

Most auto repair shops have broken leaf springs and they are often more than willing to give you a few pieces. Cut to length (about 6" to 10") and sharpened, they make great "feathers". They already have a slight bend to them, and can be driven into layers of sedimentary rock. I ususally drive the first feather with the curve down. The second feather goes in, curve up, right on top of the first. Then, a splitting wedge can be driven in between the two feathers. Using several sets along a crack can really crack out some rock. If there are any bedding planes or existing cracks in the rock, you don't have to drill holes.

I use these to remove blocks of rock searching for Herkimer diamonds. You can realy split the dolomite up with these. I have also used them at a number of quarries in sedimentary rock to split large pieces of rock, looking for large pockets. I have succesfully recovered a number of large and intact pockets this way. It sure beats trying to break up large rocks a small piece at a time and only having small pieces of pockets to show for your hard work.

Regards,
Al O

From Al O - May 23, 2002 at 06:15:26
Email: cairngorm_pa[ ]hotmail.com