I work for Konecranes and have visited Finland many times and The thing i enjoyed most in the Finnish culture is that a way always exists to get something done so never walk away from the issue when the challenge to overcome is so much fun ! well that and Beer and Sauna ! . Really appreciate the videos and keep it up !
My great-grandfather was a stone mason in a granite quarry that was located on the coast of the U.S. state of Maine. He became manager of the quarry. He had many Finns working in the quarry. So to see a Finn forging mason's tools and splitting stones reminds me of him.
Alright, I'm a stone-cutter, sculptor, shrinker-of-rocks and I watched the video with interest, (there's not enough videos of stone guys on you tube). Nice work all around, some rookie mistakes but that's how we learn. I was ready to move on with out comment and then the bloopers came on... Thumbs up for you Mr. Finn Crafter! Thanks for the laugh!
Now, you're an experienced stonecutter :) Best way to save your self some time and $ is to listen to the stone near the end. You'll get that hollow sound as you strike indicating the stone has split. You can begin retrieving your steel by driving only one wedge to enlarge the crack and loosen the rest of the feathers and wedges. This saves you from looking for the wedges on the ground amidst the rubble. Splitting dirty field-stone can be unpredictable (as you found), but less so the more you do. How did the big one turn out?
Ok, thanks for the tip! The big one went with 5 holes, each about 4 inch deep. Gave it about 1.5 hours, listened to the cracks developing, favoured the wedges where surface cracks were visible. Split clean through the middle, and was finally able to move it with the tractor.
My grandparents came from Finland. My grandfather fought against the Russians in what he called the Winter War, you may have heard of it. He has all kinds of stories of dressing in white to blend in with the snow and having to use his sword on the Russians to preserve limited bullets. Then they came to the U.S. and he worked in the iron ore mines in Northern Minnesota, but he had learned carpentry in Finland so he did that as well and built a Finnish Lutheran Church that is still in use. People in those days worked harder than we could ever imagine. Most Americans today have it really easy.
Just an observation and a suggestion. It might save you some labor by walking along any set of railroad tracks and pick up a few spikes. I know around here they are just laying along the track where ever they have replaced the old wooden ties with new ones.
Have done that. Originally my plan was to make the wedges from railroad spikes but the ones i had were too badly rusted to fit the 22 mm hole. Thanks for the tip anyway!
It is hard to produce good blooper material when the instance something goes wrong is usually littered with verbal assaults and the most godawful language one can imagine. Guess it is part of the way we Finns generally get stuff done.
Good work bro.. Tx for sharing. Once I also made it bcoz it aint available in any hardware stores in my place. Let me share a bit here plz. For feather, I made diagonal cut to the round iron to get different thickness. I think thats d most important point for feather to work well. The rest... same things as u did. For wedge.. I used old leaf spring from truck, d thickest I found.. nearly 20mm, cut it directly into shape of wedge. All cutting using plasma, other methods were too difficult for me. Thats all. I'll be glad for further discussion. Tx!
Thanks for your comment. My feathers are tapered. At first i thought making a diagonal cut to the round stock would be too hard so i just split it in half figuring i could grind in the taper. Bad idea. I eventually had to make that diagonal cut anyway to get the different thickness in the feathers. I didn't put that into the video. I have no experience with plasma but i bet it is way faster than using an angle grinder.
Actually... I didnt do it my self. I knew nothing abt plasma. I went to a workshop... they had plasma... they did all cutting.. didnt cost me much. Using torch then cost me even way less. Before that I went to some ironsmiths... They did nothing I expected but cost me quite much.
You're as smart as a whip but just as talkative as the rock you split. I was hoping you would break out into a chain gang song while hammering on the spreader spikes but no. P.S. keep making videos, I dig them.
Yes, lots of red granite rock in Southern Finland. Wish i had one of those gasoline rock drills. Several 22 mm holes with my beat up Einhell hammer drill is not much fun.
FinnCrafted i do not have your blacksmith knowledge , since you know granite working what do you think of Egyptians working granite without necessary tools ?
francois clermont I'm no rock worker so i can't say. What we now call necessary tools may be unnecessary to others. Not that many decades ago holes in stone were still drilled with a hammer and hand drill. Tools are only an extension of the mind. Know how is what should be at the base of any craft.
Bronze, yes, but mostly dry wood, to which one adds water so the wood expands. That goes for the Incans too, except they didn't have much metal ( copper and lead, not bronze) to work with.
What steel did you use for the feathers? For the wedges you used spring steel, right? Because i have to split some big stones, they disturb during boating in the holiday house in sweden.
For the feathers some ordinary mild steel will do just fine. Yes, the wedges are spring steel. During use, I found that unhardened and tempered, even the spring steel wedges will bend eventually (not as easily as mild steel though).
Let me tell you something that I'VE always wanted to try. Apparently one can stuff dry wood into the holes drilled into the rock and then wet it. The expansion when it soaks up the water is enough to crack the rock?
Never heard of that, but there seems to be some info on it on the web. Here in Finland we can also opt to drill the holes deep and let them fill with water. Ice formation will crack the rock during winter.
Mahtavaa! oon aina halunnu testata tuota, mutta jäis noi reijät poraatta. Ja on sulla hienot sepän vehkeet. Just yritin ettiä netistä tuollaista jalallista ruuvipenkkiä. Tää on pakko jakaa.
Vanhalla Einhellin koneella syntyi nämä reijät (hädin tuskin). Jos totta puhutaan niin en ole tästä ruuvipenkistä kovin vakuuttunut kaikissa hommissa. Kestää toki lyöntejä hyvin mutta pitokyky on hieman heikko ja kiinnitettävän kappaleen asettamisen kanssa saa olla tarkkana.
Hello! No, this steel seems to be plenty tough without hardening. I just decided it was not worth the effort to put them through the hardening/temper cycle. Normalizing might be a good idea though. Most importantly the upper part of the wedges should be soft so as not to shatter when you hit them with the hammer.
May I ask .. why did you straighten that spring? Why not use a regular other straight bar of steel? Does it have something to do with the type of steel?
I wanted to try spring steel for the wedges as it is much tougher than mild steel. It resists bending and mushrooming at the top when being driven into the rock, giving longer service. When using these wedges i later found out that they are likely bend no matter what. They are consumable tools.
Nope. It would not be traditional. I have no tamahagane steel, and no experience with the correct techniques. These are things best left to the real katana smiths.
motkoloko I think by hitting each wedge with different force and different number of times one can separate rock evenly. They judge by sound that wedge produces. If you use chemical compound it can do split that not desired.
Hir sir, thanks a bunch. A bingewatched your entire channel. You rock! How come I never stumbled upon your channel before?! Have you heard of Diresta? You sure can compete with him. I am a graphic designer, if you ever want help with your logo? ;)
Glad to hear, this channel is only about 9 months old! Sure, who has not heard of Jimmy, he is a great inspiration to most of us. I don't consider myself a competitor however. My logo sure needs some attention but that is still on the "to-do-list".
"Getting rid of a rock"...and thats how its done....exept the sides could use a cut line guide or even a wedge either side.....if you actually have use for a squared evenly cut stone.
Sometimes they are inconveniently located and too heavy to move even with the tractor. This particular rock was only a small one to test the wedges on.
Great build & experiment. Now you have the tools for a lifetime or two. Love the bloopers!!
My esteem compliments. The mistakes are what gives humor to us all. Many Thanx from Texas USA
Thanks for the cool and informative video on splitting rocks.
We learn something new everyday.
Thanks for the support, appreciated!
Bloopers notwithstanding excellent forging skills and the split was effective for what you wanted so well done all round.
Nice work. Good idea using the spring to make the wedges as its high tensile steel. Love the out takes too👍
I work for Konecranes and have visited Finland many times and The thing i enjoyed most in the Finnish culture is that a way always exists to get something done so never walk away from the issue when the challenge to overcome is so much fun ! well that and Beer and Sauna ! . Really appreciate the videos and keep it up !
Also the term most common i hear when well annoyed is perkele :)
Glad to hear and thanks for your support! Yes, i might take a few "perkeles" but usually the job gets done in some way.
My great-grandfather was a stone mason in a granite quarry that was located on the coast of the U.S. state of Maine. He became manager of the quarry. He had many Finns working in the quarry. So to see a Finn forging mason's tools and splitting stones reminds me of him.
Espetacular. Grande vídeo. Continue com o bom trabalho!!!
awesome cut-reel at the end. nice work.
Explains why the shot of the rock falling apart was cut short!
Outtakes were the best!
Now I can relate to the Bloppers! Murphy is my mentor. LOL!
Somehow I see myself losing a finger or burning down my garage trying to build these! Love the bloopers at the end! thanks for the video!!
The bloopers and outtakes were the best!
Thanks, will try to include some in the future as well.
Alright, I'm a stone-cutter, sculptor, shrinker-of-rocks and I watched the video with interest, (there's not enough videos of stone guys on you tube). Nice work all around, some rookie mistakes but that's how we learn. I was ready to move on with out comment and then the bloopers came on... Thumbs up for you Mr. Finn Crafter! Thanks for the laugh!
Happy it was of interest to you! I had literally no practical experience working with rock prior to this.
Now, you're an experienced stonecutter :)
Best way to save your self some time and $ is to listen to the stone near the end. You'll get that hollow sound as you strike indicating the stone has split. You can begin retrieving your steel by driving only one wedge to enlarge the crack and loosen the rest of the feathers and wedges. This saves you from looking for the wedges on the ground amidst the rubble.
Splitting dirty field-stone can be unpredictable (as you found), but less so the more you do. How did the big one turn out?
Ok, thanks for the tip! The big one went with 5 holes, each about 4 inch deep. Gave it about 1.5 hours, listened to the cracks developing, favoured the wedges where surface cracks were visible. Split clean through the middle, and was finally able to move it with the tractor.
This is GOLD information
Excellent video
Nice and clear with good close ups
You said so much without any words. True Finn!
Great video, drill 2/3 of stone in depth then plug and feather always works
Swear like a sailor. Love it!
My grandparents came from Finland. My grandfather fought against the Russians in what he called the Winter War, you may have heard of it. He has all kinds of stories of dressing in white to blend in with the snow and having to use his sword on the Russians to preserve limited bullets. Then they came to the U.S. and he worked in the iron ore mines in Northern Minnesota, but he had learned carpentry in Finland so he did that as well and built a Finnish Lutheran Church that is still in use. People in those days worked harder than we could ever imagine. Most Americans today have it really easy.
Thanks for sharing that story. Living in Finland one can't avoid hearing about the winter war. My grandfather also fought in it.
Great video, in the UK these are known as a wedge and feathers.
Appreciate your input on that! I saw the word "feathers" used somewhere but did not know if it was British or US origin.
Same in Canada and the US. I believe Lee Valley Tools use to sell these, and probably still do.
Better if you can make your own, of course.... :-)
Back in the 70's working for sewers dept. city of Vancouver BC they were commonly referred to as Plug and feathers
Great idea , thank you for your video, time and effort
Thank you for the support!
seems to be a nice place to make projects !
Nice take on this tools !
When I saw the spring I was like "he is kidding here !" and, no you wasn't ^^
Thanks for your comment!
Skillful 👍
beautiful job
Thank you!
You can help me make tools
I enjoyed this video, thanks. Nice moves at the end, btw!
Grate job .. go ahead
that turns out nice!
Nice!
Thanks for stopping by SWC!
Scrap wood City fracking good job...
Good video
Excellent
bravo technicien bravo tua yres.bien fait
A lot of effort in straightening out the spring. How long did that take? I see what you mean by family homestead.
Thank you for sharing this video info.
You are welcome!
Just an observation and a suggestion. It might save you some labor by walking along any set of railroad tracks and pick up a few spikes. I know around here they are just laying along the track where ever they have replaced the old wooden ties with new ones.
Have done that. Originally my plan was to make the wedges from railroad spikes but the ones i had were too badly rusted to fit the 22 mm hole. Thanks for the tip anyway!
Awesome to watch, but best of all are the bloopers. It shows that you're just like the rest of all. lol
It is hard to produce good blooper material when the instance something goes wrong is usually littered with verbal assaults and the most godawful language one can imagine. Guess it is part of the way we Finns generally get stuff done.
Nice clip
Good work bro.. Tx for sharing.
Once I also made it bcoz it aint available in any hardware stores in my place. Let me share a bit here plz.
For feather, I made diagonal cut to the round iron to get different thickness. I think thats d most important point for feather to work well. The rest... same things as u did.
For wedge.. I used old leaf spring from truck, d thickest I found.. nearly 20mm, cut it directly into shape of wedge. All cutting using plasma, other methods were too difficult for me.
Thats all. I'll be glad for further discussion. Tx!
Thanks for your comment. My feathers are tapered. At first i thought making a diagonal cut to the round stock would be too hard so i just split it in half figuring i could grind in the taper. Bad idea. I eventually had to make that diagonal cut anyway to get the different thickness in the feathers. I didn't put that into the video. I have no experience with plasma but i bet it is way faster than using an angle grinder.
Actually... I didnt do it my self. I knew nothing abt plasma. I went to a workshop... they had plasma... they did all cutting.. didnt cost me much. Using torch then cost me even way less.
Before that I went to some ironsmiths... They did nothing I expected but cost me quite much.
Cant imagine using angle grinder to cut that thick, hard, and long. But u did it very well. Neat hand you have!
nice job man
Thanks man
Goodjob
thanks for sharing
You're as smart as a whip but just as talkative as the rock you split. I was hoping you would break out into a chain gang song while hammering on the spreader spikes but no. P.S. keep making videos, I dig them.
:D I guess that is just the Finnish way. I might give myself a voice at some point.
Fantastic thanks!!
Awesome vid . Do you let the steel cool down by itself or do you dip in oil?
just found your channel, rad stuff, subscribed!
Say, have you tried cutting steps on boulders withous splitting the whole stone?
nice granite rock , feather and wedge or shims and wedge , i had used that 50 years ago drilling with Pionjar gasoline rock drill
Yes, lots of red granite rock in Southern Finland. Wish i had one of those gasoline rock drills. Several 22 mm holes with my beat up Einhell hammer drill is not much fun.
FinnCrafted
i do not have your blacksmith knowledge , since you know granite working what do you think of Egyptians working granite without necessary tools ?
francois clermont I'm no rock worker so i can't say. What we now call necessary tools may be unnecessary to others. Not that many decades ago holes in stone were still drilled with a hammer and hand drill. Tools are only an extension of the mind. Know how is what should be at the base of any craft.
FinnCrafted
but in Egypt 5,000 years ago they do not had iron to work with only bronze
Bronze, yes, but mostly dry wood, to which one adds water so the wood expands. That goes for the Incans too, except they didn't have much metal ( copper and lead, not bronze) to work with.
I have to use 2 of these on my wife twice a year
Cool vid! You're pouring water on the stone while drilling. Is it because you want to bind the dust? Or for cooling?
Both. Keeping the drill cool and clearing the hole from dust. I find it speeds up the process and the drills last a little longer.
What steel did you use for the feathers? For the wedges you used spring steel, right?
Because i have to split some big stones, they disturb during boating in the holiday house in sweden.
For the feathers some ordinary mild steel will do just fine. Yes, the wedges are spring steel. During use, I found that unhardened and tempered, even the spring steel wedges will bend eventually (not as easily as mild steel though).
Thx!
Maybe I will forge some of them and try it.
Cool. Nice work. Is it black coal? Where did you get it from?
dang that rod had some big defects.
Let me tell you something that I'VE always wanted to try. Apparently one can stuff dry wood into the holes drilled into the rock and then wet it. The expansion when it soaks up the water is enough to crack the rock?
Never heard of that, but there seems to be some info on it on the web. Here in Finland we can also opt to drill the holes deep and let them fill with water. Ice formation will crack the rock during winter.
seen it done with rice and a wooden "cork"
Mahtavaa! oon aina halunnu testata tuota, mutta jäis noi reijät poraatta. Ja on sulla hienot sepän vehkeet. Just yritin ettiä netistä tuollaista jalallista ruuvipenkkiä. Tää on pakko jakaa.
Vanhalla Einhellin koneella syntyi nämä reijät (hädin tuskin). Jos totta puhutaan niin en ole tästä ruuvipenkistä kovin vakuuttunut kaikissa hommissa. Kestää toki lyöntejä hyvin mutta pitokyky on hieman heikko ja kiinnitettävän kappaleen asettamisen kanssa saa olla tarkkana.
Nice blacksmith work, but how much time did you spend making them? Market price of one set is 15 EUR
Thanks. For me this is more about learning stuff than trying to minimize time or effort.
thank you
LOL
BTW, great job
funny bloopers at the end. Thanks for including them. Why are you removing the rocks?
The rocks were removed to clear a driving path around our barn. Thanks for commenting!
appreciated mate thanks
Good from start to finish - speciel the finish :-)BTW: how long did it take to make those tools.
I think this was about 6 hours total. Including splitting the rock.
Hello fellow blacksmith! Did you harden and temper your wedges?
Hello! No, this steel seems to be plenty tough without hardening. I just decided it was not worth the effort to put them through the hardening/temper cycle. Normalizing might be a good idea though. Most importantly the upper part of the wedges should be soft so as not to shatter when you hit them with the hammer.
kick ass bro
May I ask .. why did you straighten that spring? Why not use a regular other straight bar of steel? Does it have something to do with the type of steel?
I wanted to try spring steel for the wedges as it is much tougher than mild steel. It resists bending and mushrooming at the top when being driven into the rock, giving longer service. When using these wedges i later found out that they are likely bend no matter what. They are consumable tools.
Greetings from Argentina 🇦🇷 @vida serrana
Any special reason you used the spring to make the wedges? Seems to me that any kind of steel would do. Anyway, keep up the good work. Thanks!
Spring steel makes the wedges last longer and more resistant to bending. I guess any steel would do in a pinch, but i need these to last a while.
Can I use a grey metal watering can instead of a green plastid onc? Will it affect the cracking? Inquiring minds need to know.
I used a black one when working on a bigger rock and it took way longer to split, so i would stick to green.
Thanks, I will defer to your infinite wisdom.
Skills that will be needed after this society takes a shit.
Hopefully not, but sometimes it does feels like the shit is already heading for the fan.
Legend
Tipical muscian who can break the stones
Turns into ElectroBOOM at the end there
So, what to do with the rock? Mayby stone cutting board?
Maybe a stone foundation for some building or construction at some point.
subscribed!
Aye aye, captain! Welcome!
Just saw this in the RUclips areas of interest. LOL!
Will you show us the rock you need to get rid of?
Probably not. I will try to keep this channel more about the builds and less about the homesteading.
AWERSOME!
Olá , meu amigo. Esta é sua nova oficina?
No. This is the blacksmith shop.
Will you use that rock fot something? Or someone just said you could not brake it?
The rock needed to be removed to make way for a small path/road. It may end up being used for something eventually.
Nice, just waiting for the video.
+FinnCrafted You should sculpt (veistää) something out of it. Maybe Kekkonen or better yet, late great Lemmy.
My vote goes to Kekkonen! Less detailed work on the hair… :D
What type of steel is the round stock You used to make the Feathers from ?
That is just some ordinary mild steel.
Good
i recall seeing some dude do this during cold weather. As the crack started he left water in it to freeze overnight.
Yes, that is a good option and saves some energy as well.
i do not think it can work with granite , never happens with our rock
sounds like a stones tune
Never put that much weight on an impact drill, it makes it work slower^^
Yes thats true. Guess its just bad habit trying to force it anyway.
can you also make a video how to forge a traditional katana
Nope. It would not be traditional. I have no tamahagane steel, and no experience with the correct techniques. These are things best left to the real katana smiths.
Why you no use chemically expanding "slug dynamite" coumpound, hole+overnight wait and done!
motkoloko I think by hitting each wedge with different force and different number of times one can separate rock evenly. They judge by sound that wedge produces. If you use chemical compound it can do split that not desired.
and end up with accidental stone damage...?...or smashed stone
make this tools hardened plz. heat and cool down in oil and normalize with baking 200-300 a couple hours in any oven. good luck
I love smart man, but this is the job that the ancient of middle age made.
you still need some lessons from dad, you are better movie star
Hir sir, thanks a bunch. A bingewatched your entire channel. You rock! How come I never stumbled upon your channel before?! Have you heard of Diresta? You sure can compete with him.
I am a graphic designer, if you ever want help with your logo? ;)
Glad to hear, this channel is only about 9 months old! Sure, who has not heard of Jimmy, he is a great inspiration to most of us. I don't consider myself a competitor however. My logo sure needs some attention but that is still on the "to-do-list".
I spent 3 days busting up a concrete porch with a sledge hammer, why am I just seeing this video now.
😀😀👍🏻
Здорово. :-)
FinnCrafted - can i buy your shims and wedges ?
M Best
yeah buy them from the Micon catalogs. feather wedges.
spring steel for wedge (harder)
i can't find them ! Can you post the link ?
"Getting rid of a rock"...and thats how its done....exept the sides could use a cut line guide or even a wedge either side.....if you actually have use for a squared evenly cut stone.
Yea Exactly like to 2000 years ago.....
Kauan kesti tollasen kierrejousen suoristaminen?
Ehkä noin 20 min siinä meni. Nopeammin jos vaan pätkii sen valmiiks osiin ja sit suoristaa.
You play golf ?
As you do fire wood,
Never give strenght AT down, let it, juste orientation
🇫🇷
What's the point of cracking rocks like that ?
Sometimes they are inconveniently located and too heavy to move even with the tractor. This particular rock was only a small one to test the wedges on.
Thanks for the reply,l just wondered was anything ever found inside one like gold or diamond .?
No, I think the geology of bedrock in Southern Finland may not be quite optimal for diamonds. Gold can be found further north in Lapland.
and why?
Get a real vice from harbor freight would you