that is some amazingly soft sandstone... I've mined the stuff in Pennsylvania and I can assure you they don't just crumble and fall apart... hydraulic splitters are needed to separate the pieces. Being that soft I'm amazed you don't have water problems.
Yeah, I’ve been doing some work in My backyard in Sydney, Australia. The sandstone is like flint in some places. Sparking at the tip of the jackhammer. It’s just so hard.
We have a pipe from the surface with an electric fan, it runs constantly when we're working. As we go deeper we plan on extending some air lines. The tunnel also "breathes" to some extent through temperature differences with the outside.
You could take the tires off the wagons and lay pipes down for tracks. Much easier to move the sand. Also consider digging at a slight incline 1-2 degrees. Easier to get the sand out. Later on you could level it if desired. (After the vast majority is removed)
woow, thats so cool! if i can ever visit the US i'll make sure to drop by and lend you a hand. looks like really exciting projects! greetings from germany and keep digging folks
Very cool. Every time I see sandland sand closeup I think of how tasty it looks. All that sand and your pond make me wonder if a hydroponic vegetable garden is feasible.
here in iceland we dont have any sandstone but we do have palagonite which is basically volcanic sandstone formed from eruptions under ice. mountains are often made of it and i plan to dig a tunnel into one nearby my house. its about the same hardness as sandstone and very easy and fun to work with!
Very cool! I've seen something similar in Naples Italy, they have hardened volcanic ash called Tufa. Lots of tunnels dating back to the Roam empire or even earlier.
I have 40 acres in Hudspeth County and I think you give me an idea to take advantage of this 120' mound that I have of the looks like it's some sedimentary rock
I tried replying to this earlier but YT ate it. I'd suggest checking your local state geological survey, or USGS, or a major local university for geological maps. See if you can find out more details about what your hill is made of and how easy it might be to dig.
Although it's a lot softer than what it's designed for, try a concrete saw. The only real issue I see is it's usually gas powered, but I imagine there are electric ones out there
at first I was thinking "why would anyone dig a tunnel just for fun?", but I realized that there is something interesting about touching matter that has never been touched before, and which has probably been millions of years without being exposed to sunlight.. Not to mention that I've also invested a lot in my hobbies without expecting anything but fun in return :P
Probably a pickaxe, that's how most of these were dug in the old days before power tools. I don't think the tunneling crews even bothered blasting, since the sandstone is so soft.
We don't really want combustion engines in the tunnel, even propane puts out CO2. I've been thinking of turning my electric mini tank into a mini skid steer...
This is interesting to me. I have a (huge) slab of basalt that doesn't seem (from the surface) to have any fractures I am thinking of tunneling and putting storage chambers in. Agreement that jack hammers (based on some experiments) is probably the best way lacking a mole machine.
A lot of people are missing that as a male there is something inherently calming about digging a hole. Most kids especially boys enjoy digging holes outside. As men most of us never grow out of this calming fascination. If you go to the beach and a child is digging a good hole, there will end up being several grown men watching the hole being dug. We also do this at construction sites. If someone is digging then I am watching. And most of the time want to join in the hole digging. If I had undeveloped land somewhere, I would dig holes as well.
This makes me want to try it at home... I think there is either Gysum or Sand Stone under the dirt where I live. A sandstone tunnel would make a great fallout bunker.
@@saveitforparts I just need to start digging straight down and see what I hit. I know there is a former gypsum quarry half a mile from me so may be worth digging down.... be good when the nukes start flying.
Depending where you live, you might be able to find geological maps or well drilling records that tell you how deep the different layers are. Sometimes those are online. More cities/counties etc are also doing LIDAR surveys that show pretty accurate elevation data, if you can find a website for that you could check the elevation of the exposed gypsum at the quarry vs your place. If you dig straight down, make sure to have some ventilation and some way to deal with water! Sandstone can erode if it gets wet and I think gypsum does even faster. Air can get stale at the bottom of a hole if there's no other vent or cross flow.
These days we do wear helmets and respirators, some of the footage in this one is a little older. But usually nothing significant falls from the ceiling if you maintain that arched shape.
It's all volunteer, the owner doesn't have enough money to pay people. There are sandstone outcroppings in a few parts of the Midwest, especially along the rivers.
@@saveitforparts I figured it was volunteer. There is some sandstone carved out above the lower wisconsin river on hwy 60, between Sauk City and spring green. Private property but I somehow stumbled upon it a few years back and it peaked my interest and curiosity.
I live in the same region as you it appears. I’m off the Kickapoo River valley. I’d love a tunnel from my house in the hollow on one side of a creek to my hilltop 300 feet up and 1600 feet back on the other side of the creek. Is that even remotely doable? I could start the tunnel on the other side of the creek if the creek is a huge obstacle. Gotta be mostly sandstone. I know for sure up near the top of the hill are exposed sandstone rock faces. I’d love to check out your project.
You'd have to check your local geological maps for the exact elevation and thickness of the sandstone, 300ft might end up going through several different kinds of rock. Most counties have maps and info like that online in various formats. You might want something a little more industrial than our setup for a tunnel that far. If you have good water flow you could try hydraulic tunneling (blasting the sandstone with high pressure water). And of course you'd have to check local ordinances for hillside construction and sand disposal. Parts of Wisconsin are basically still in the 1800s and haven't invented building codes or the environment yet, but other parts have laws about erosion and sediment runoff. We store our sand in a DNR-approved containment area and have it hauled away once we have a big enough pile.
Limestone is quite a bit harder, so not as easy to dig through. It tends to have fractures and cracks that you could try enlarging or use to pry out chunks, but you won't be able to carve through it like sandstone. On the plus side, limestone is more likely to have natural caves!
@@saveitforparts thank you for the reply! If I needed to tunnel through about 30 feet of limestone (enough for a human to crawl through), how would you recommend doing this?
@@maxl2994 I suppose tools like we're using could work, they would just be much slower on limestone. We currently use electric "demolition hammers", the cheapest ones are ~$100 and the name brand ones are more like $400+. We use wide spade bits, but something like a narrow chisel bit might work better for limestone. You'd likely need to re-sharpen your bit every few hours on a grinding wheel. Hope that helps!
It looks like pretty soft sandstone. I started digging a shaft for a wine cellar/whatever under my previous Sydney house using a hammer and cold chisel (for a bit a relaxation in the evenings) and our sandstone can be pretty hard (especially when you hit bands of 'ironstone'). Sydney sandstone has compressive strength of 40-70 Mpa. Not sure how this compares to the sandstone at Sandland, but from the video it seems quite soft.
I've heard about the Sydney sandstone, but never been there myself (went to Melbourne once and checked out some tunnels there :-) ). There's a guy who goes by "Paleas" on RUclips digging tunnels under a building in Sydney.
This video spoke to me. I have always wanted to buy some desert land and dig my home out of the rock, kinda like that guy in Fresno did with the hard pan there. A mostly-underground arboretum and whatnot. Any idea where I can go to learn about the mechanical properties of sandstone? What angles to carve that remain stable? Load bearing capacity? How to drill and or attach things without compromising the integrity of walls or load bearing elements?
It depends on the type of sandstone, we're in the Jordan formation, similar to nearby St. Peter sandstone. Both are pretty soft when fresh but tend to harden up a bit when exposed to air (so the first few inches are tougher when you're starting to dig from the surface). I know there are similar sandstone formations in other places (Utah, Turkey, the UK, etc), but there are also harder sandstones that are worse for tunneling and better for buildings (ours would be too crumbly for that). We've based our tunnels largely on existing tunnels, brewery caves, etc that we've seen in the area. As long as there's no water flow across the sandstone and you don't let it dry out too much, the tunnels generally don't need to be lined or supported. People will sometimes line them with brick or cement for extra strength, or if they want to heat or dehumidify a space. There are a few scientific studies directly related to our local sandstones, not all of them are online but some are in university archives. The Journal of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering has some good stuff, anything by professor Ray Sterling from the UMN Underground Space Center in the '70s, or more recently stuff like onepetro.org/ARMAUSRMS/proceedings-abstract/ARMA15/All-ARMA15/ARMA-2015-679/66025?redirectedFrom=PDF If you're not in the Midwest I'd suggest looking for existing sandstone mines / caves / tunnels in the area and try to find out how they were designed, mined, and how stable they are. Brewery cellars are also fairly common where there's easily-excavated sandstone.
Granite would take a lot more effort for sure! There are plenty of hard-rock mines, but they used heavy equipment or dynamite, so not exactly a hobby project.
Easiest way is to drill a line of holes then hammer in wooden, bone ( tips of antlers) or metal pegs thus spliting off slabs that you can use. On the other hand there's Dexpan. Work smarter not harder. All the best Pete.
... So, I watched a vid by that colinfurze dude, & ended up here... its 11pm at night... ... not sure if thats good or bad.. I'm going to be honest... this looks like a crazy epic undertaking.
how is something so soft and crumbly and easy to excavate strong enough to not collapse without tunnel support beams etc? i believe you guys, you're the experts, im just watching a youtube video (youtube algorithm after watching a colin furze video, lol) but anyway, i am just surprised its that strong/ safe.
Maybe an occasional overnight camping trip, but nothing long-term. We'd probably have to line and insulate the sandstone with something to keep the humidity down.
Wouldn’t there be a miniature underground railway or an underground light railway. There have been sandstone tunnels big and large enough for a standard gauge train, heavy rail. Large sandstone tunnels are strong enough that they didn’t need stone or brick lining. But ones in the city needed concrete lining for a heavy electrical railway system. Quite interesting.
We have a short inclined railway made of wood to haul some of the sand out. We've discussed trying to do mine carts but the rubber-tired garden wagons seem to work well enough.
All the books I have are from the 1920s from my great-grandfather (a mining engineer). They're not super relevant today since they tell you how many donkeys to use for hauling :-) I'm not sure if there's a good book on small-scale sandstone tunneling.
I'd like to learn everything about building tunnels (e.g. how can I build a 200km tunnel system? Can I dig a tunnel under any type of materials? If so, the kind of technique to use etc). Tunnels are the future!
When we're doing really precise work we use something called a Disto (electronic surveying device). That way we can make sure the passage is going the right direction for the right distance to connect loops. You can use a handheld compass and tape measure as well, you just have to be really careful to line things up!
@@question7615 Its where the cavemen slept. The didn't have Casper mattress' because they couldn't listen to podcasts, slept on the rock, thought it was comfy enough, and that's where we get the term from.
We have an air pipe and fan to the loading station. Currently we have two entrances and are digging a third at a slightly different elevation, which will also help with airflow.
@@saveitforparts keep in mind c02 is heavier that oxygen. at your deepest part you should bore a hole straight down, and blow in fresh air, this will displace the c02. keep it up, great videos
It would be a lot slower with limestone, it's not so easily broken up as sandstone. I think you could probably still do it, but the tools would wear out faster.
@@saveitforparts Appreciate the info...I was told I have limestone but it appears to be an old coral reef. The exposed parts are full of little holes and easily broken. Then you hit seems of flint. The flint has some weird crystals growing in some of it. The limestone under the ground turns into one big piece that looks more like sandstone and is wet and abrasive. I am on the edge of the Edwards Plateau in Texas. I want to make a root cellar/tornado shelter in a steep hillside but was afraid the rock was to brittle to mess with.
@@cbriangilbert1978 I can't remember if I suggested a state/college geology dept before or if that was someone else? I bet they'd know based on your elevation and location, or they'd have some bedrock maps you could consult. A smaller room like a tornado shelter would be less effort than a larger tunnel system, but would still probably be slower in limestone than sandstone. If the rock is damp then you'll probably want to vent it for food storage to control humidity, and maybe add supports in case it gets more crumbly as it dries out. I know our sandstone loosens up if it gets too dry.
By the way, the cheapest electric jackhammers I've found that are actually decent quality are "XtremepowerUS". I use the 1400W version. Yes they're a knock-off import but they seem to do OK. With any electric jackhammer you want to let it rest and cool off after about 10 minutes of heavy use, that gives you time to shovel out the material as well. If you have a compressed air tool I think you can run it longer since they're self-cooling.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolabra Don't forget the period of ancient Greek and Roman Empire sappers use pickaxe mattock tool to dig / sapping tunnel. Pickaxe mattock tool without sounding of loudly. It's very quiet and calm down. On the contrary, Drilling machine and digging tunnel cracked rock machine very loudly sounds which can awaken the enemy
@@saveitforparts oh thats super interesting. I live too far to visit any time soon but thats definitely a place I wanna visit next time I go on a road trip
Does anyone know the name of the channel with I think a guy from néw Zealand Palo something who digs tunnels in an abandoned foundation or something I lost my channel and now can't find him cheers for any help on this
@@CrunchyLimes thank you, that's him. This has been winding me up for weeks & weeks not being able to find him thanks you very much & have a good nite 👍
@@saveitforparts yeh would love to see mountains get leveled and turned in to cities considering they would be ideal places for contraction if people don't mind leveling large mountain ranges but I think we need mountains over Walmart's and condos (i prefer independent owned and BANNING corporations form operation in the area cos they will steal the land from the founders eventually NEVER take investment for cooperate owned projects try keep things family owned and teach only trade skills to your kids which bennfit the town you build collage is a mugs game) maybe if architecture can intergrade without taking too much natural land away and having an decent monorail and undergrounds network for transport you might have an amazing place to live I mean would take a visionary to see it though but who knows maybe someone is already guiding that process as we speak.
No water issues, it's all above the water table and Sandstone is pretty porous, so any moisture just kind of soaks in and disappears. The freshly-mined sand is actually a little damp, which also helps keep the dust down!
You watch ONE Colin Furze video, and all of a sudden your recommendations is all tunnels!
lol same
hahaha
Haha, wondered why this came up in my feed
im not complaining lol
😂
Collin a few months ago "Write that down write that down!"
that is some amazingly soft sandstone... I've mined the stuff in Pennsylvania and I can assure you they don't just crumble and fall apart... hydraulic splitters are needed to separate the pieces. Being that soft I'm amazed you don't have water problems.
Yeah, I’ve been doing some work in My backyard in Sydney, Australia.
The sandstone is like flint in some places. Sparking at the tip of the jackhammer. It’s just so hard.
There is probably a difference in what other minerals are mixed in. In Tennessee there is a lot of iron, and copper, mixed in.
@@rhondasisco-cleveland2665 Maybe, but they're playing with stuff that's literally like packed sand, not stone at all.
@@kleetus92 lucky them.
POV: you get this recommended from watching Colin Furze
Haha, that's awesome. I saw he was finally getting on the tunnel bandwagon :-D
This is so cool! What a fantastic hobby. Shame I'm not in the area otherwise I'd dig for days
I love your channel so much. I’m all in on your tech stuff, but I didn’t expect to find something on tunnel digging from you.
This is so bloody cool! Would you mind telling me a little about how you deal with ventilation ?
We have a pipe from the surface with an electric fan, it runs constantly when we're working. As we go deeper we plan on extending some air lines. The tunnel also "breathes" to some extent through temperature differences with the outside.
A ventilation hole on top, an air suctioning hole from below.
Hot, used air goes out the top, clean air is sucked in from a lower level.
At 3:20 you can see a PVC pipe and fan.
You could take the tires off the wagons and lay pipes down for tracks. Much easier to move the sand. Also consider digging at a slight incline 1-2 degrees. Easier to get the sand out. Later on you could level it if desired. (After the vast majority is removed)
woow, thats so cool! if i can ever visit the US i'll make sure to drop by and lend you a hand. looks like really exciting projects! greetings from germany and keep digging folks
Very cool. Every time I see sandland sand closeup I think of how tasty it looks. All that sand and your pond make me wonder if a hydroponic vegetable garden is feasible.
Did you guys make it to the other side of the mountain?
I recognize all those caves in St. Paul some crazy shit under that city
Спасибо большое! Очень интересно!
here in iceland we dont have any sandstone but we do have palagonite which is basically volcanic sandstone formed from eruptions under ice. mountains are often made of it and i plan to dig a tunnel into one nearby my house. its about the same hardness as sandstone and very easy and fun to work with!
Very cool! I've seen something similar in Naples Italy, they have hardened volcanic ash called Tufa. Lots of tunnels dating back to the Roam empire or even earlier.
I have 40 acres in Hudspeth County and I think you give me an idea to take advantage of this 120' mound that I have of the looks like it's some sedimentary rock
I tried replying to this earlier but YT ate it. I'd suggest checking your local state geological survey, or USGS, or a major local university for geological maps. See if you can find out more details about what your hill is made of and how easy it might be to dig.
Man oh man that winch really tied that haul tunnel together.
Although it's a lot softer than what it's designed for, try a concrete saw. The only real issue I see is it's usually gas powered, but I imagine there are electric ones out there
I absolutely want to come out here and work with y'all! I'm in Chicago but it is worth the drive.
at first I was thinking "why would anyone dig a tunnel just for fun?", but I realized that there is something interesting about touching matter that has never been touched before, and which has probably been millions of years without being exposed to sunlight.. Not to mention that I've also invested a lot in my hobbies without expecting anything but fun in return :P
What is the best non mechanical tool for tunnelling have you found Eg pick axe or sledgehammer?
Probably a pickaxe, that's how most of these were dug in the old days before power tools. I don't think the tunneling crews even bothered blasting, since the sandstone is so soft.
This was very interesting, thanks.
I’m glad you warned me not to try to dig sandstone tunnels at home.
have you run the sand though a sluice? It might have some gold!
Wonder if you cold use a propane skid steer with a jack hammer attachment?
Tunnels would be larger but you could move a lot more material
We don't really want combustion engines in the tunnel, even propane puts out CO2. I've been thinking of turning my electric mini tank into a mini skid steer...
This is interesting to me. I have a (huge) slab of basalt that doesn't seem (from the surface) to have any fractures I am thinking of tunneling and putting storage chambers in. Agreement that jack hammers (based on some experiments) is probably the best way lacking a mole machine.
A lot of people are missing that as a male there is something inherently calming about digging a hole. Most kids especially boys enjoy digging holes outside. As men most of us never grow out of this calming fascination. If you go to the beach and a child is digging a good hole, there will end up being several grown men watching the hole being dug. We also do this at construction sites. If someone is digging then I am watching. And most of the time want to join in the hole digging. If I had undeveloped land somewhere, I would dig holes as well.
This makes me want to try it at home... I think there is either Gysum or Sand Stone under the dirt where I live. A sandstone tunnel would make a great fallout bunker.
Sounds awesome! Gypsum is a little less stable than Sandstone, or so I hear. Maybe easier to dig though.
@@saveitforparts I just need to start digging straight down and see what I hit. I know there is a former gypsum quarry half a mile from me so may be worth digging down.... be good when the nukes start flying.
Depending where you live, you might be able to find geological maps or well drilling records that tell you how deep the different layers are. Sometimes those are online. More cities/counties etc are also doing LIDAR surveys that show pretty accurate elevation data, if you can find a website for that you could check the elevation of the exposed gypsum at the quarry vs your place.
If you dig straight down, make sure to have some ventilation and some way to deal with water! Sandstone can erode if it gets wet and I think gypsum does even faster. Air can get stale at the bottom of a hole if there's no other vent or cross flow.
@@saveitforparts I would love to see this tunnel sometime. Want to see how it's done so I can start one
Man, sandstone's so cool. It's so soft, you don't even need to wear helmets or make any support structures while tunneling through it.
These days we do wear helmets and respirators, some of the footage in this one is a little older. But usually nothing significant falls from the ceiling if you maintain that arched shape.
Hiring full time? Sign me up. I live in Madison. One day I hope to find a property like yours!
It's all volunteer, the owner doesn't have enough money to pay people. There are sandstone outcroppings in a few parts of the Midwest, especially along the rivers.
@@saveitforparts I figured it was volunteer. There is some sandstone carved out above the lower wisconsin river on hwy 60, between Sauk City and spring green. Private property but I somehow stumbled upon it a few years back and it peaked my interest and curiosity.
I watched the Colin Furze series, and then discovered there was another project much closer to home!
Keep the ceilings somewhat arched, and don't go to wide unsupported and it should be safe .
Do you answer questions about support structure of DIY tunnels?
awesome video
I thought you were gonna say the product of sandland is the empty space inside your heart will be filled T-T
I WATCHED ONE COLIN FURZE VIDEO, ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So *that's* why this video is suddenly getting views, Furze stole our idea! ;-)
Nice hello from Australia opal miner here Lightning Ridge NSW
God I'd love to have that sort of ground under my house and be able to just dig out new rooms as needed
I live in the same region as you it appears. I’m off the Kickapoo River valley. I’d love a tunnel from my house in the hollow on one side of a creek to my hilltop 300 feet up and 1600 feet back on the other side of the creek. Is that even remotely doable? I could start the tunnel on the other side of the creek if the creek is a huge obstacle. Gotta be mostly sandstone. I know for sure up near the top of the hill are exposed sandstone rock faces. I’d love to check out your project.
You'd have to check your local geological maps for the exact elevation and thickness of the sandstone, 300ft might end up going through several different kinds of rock. Most counties have maps and info like that online in various formats. You might want something a little more industrial than our setup for a tunnel that far. If you have good water flow you could try hydraulic tunneling (blasting the sandstone with high pressure water). And of course you'd have to check local ordinances for hillside construction and sand disposal. Parts of Wisconsin are basically still in the 1800s and haven't invented building codes or the environment yet, but other parts have laws about erosion and sediment runoff. We store our sand in a DNR-approved containment area and have it hauled away once we have a big enough pile.
Do you know if tunneling through limestone would be significantly different in the processes used? Thanks!
Limestone is quite a bit harder, so not as easy to dig through. It tends to have fractures and cracks that you could try enlarging or use to pry out chunks, but you won't be able to carve through it like sandstone. On the plus side, limestone is more likely to have natural caves!
@@saveitforparts thank you for the reply! If I needed to tunnel through about 30 feet of limestone (enough for a human to crawl through), how would you recommend doing this?
@@maxl2994 I suppose tools like we're using could work, they would just be much slower on limestone. We currently use electric "demolition hammers", the cheapest ones are ~$100 and the name brand ones are more like $400+. We use wide spade bits, but something like a narrow chisel bit might work better for limestone. You'd likely need to re-sharpen your bit every few hours on a grinding wheel. Hope that helps!
It looks like pretty soft sandstone. I started digging a shaft for a wine cellar/whatever under my previous Sydney house using a hammer and cold chisel (for a bit a relaxation in the evenings) and our sandstone can be pretty hard (especially when you hit bands of 'ironstone'). Sydney sandstone has compressive strength of 40-70 Mpa. Not sure how this compares to the sandstone at Sandland, but from the video it seems quite soft.
I've heard about the Sydney sandstone, but never been there myself (went to Melbourne once and checked out some tunnels there :-) ). There's a guy who goes by "Paleas" on RUclips digging tunnels under a building in Sydney.
Thats so cool!
This is awesome, recreational mining!
I live in Baldwin Wisconsin... Would be awesome if I could help dig for a day. This is the kind of stuff I love
The owner's website is tunnelcity.com and has links to his Facebook and email if you want to contact him. He's usually looking for help!
There's no address or phone number would totally love to come volunteer.
@@gaberomo7156 You can email the owner at digsandland@gmail.com, that's probably the easiest way to get ahold of him. Or Facebook messages.
This video spoke to me. I have always wanted to buy some desert land and dig my home out of the rock, kinda like that guy in Fresno did with the hard pan there. A mostly-underground arboretum and whatnot. Any idea where I can go to learn about the mechanical properties of sandstone? What angles to carve that remain stable? Load bearing capacity? How to drill and or attach things without compromising the integrity of walls or load bearing elements?
It depends on the type of sandstone, we're in the Jordan formation, similar to nearby St. Peter sandstone. Both are pretty soft when fresh but tend to harden up a bit when exposed to air (so the first few inches are tougher when you're starting to dig from the surface). I know there are similar sandstone formations in other places (Utah, Turkey, the UK, etc), but there are also harder sandstones that are worse for tunneling and better for buildings (ours would be too crumbly for that).
We've based our tunnels largely on existing tunnels, brewery caves, etc that we've seen in the area. As long as there's no water flow across the sandstone and you don't let it dry out too much, the tunnels generally don't need to be lined or supported. People will sometimes line them with brick or cement for extra strength, or if they want to heat or dehumidify a space. There are a few scientific studies directly related to our local sandstones, not all of them are online but some are in university archives. The Journal of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering has some good stuff, anything by professor Ray Sterling from the UMN Underground Space Center in the '70s, or more recently stuff like onepetro.org/ARMAUSRMS/proceedings-abstract/ARMA15/All-ARMA15/ARMA-2015-679/66025?redirectedFrom=PDF
If you're not in the Midwest I'd suggest looking for existing sandstone mines / caves / tunnels in the area and try to find out how they were designed, mined, and how stable they are. Brewery cellars are also fairly common where there's easily-excavated sandstone.
Now imagine all the work the ancients had to do without power tools :)
2:50 nice, free sand
This is so cool!!!
Teljes infrastruktúra😮🎉 Nagyin sok kerdésem lenne. Awesome job i would ask about imbering wo is pro in it
I wish I could do this on my property. Lots of stone, but its granite.
Still the idea haunts me that i could have spaces inside the rock
Granite would take a lot more effort for sure! There are plenty of hard-rock mines, but they used heavy equipment or dynamite, so not exactly a hobby project.
Give it a shot anyway 😎😁
can you talk about ventilation and air?
We have a fan bringing in fresh air through a duct from the surface, the stale air goes out the inclined tunnel.
Easiest way is to drill a line of holes then hammer in wooden, bone ( tips of antlers) or metal pegs thus spliting off slabs that you can use. On the other hand there's Dexpan.
Work smarter not harder.
All the best Pete.
... So, I watched a vid by that colinfurze dude, & ended up here... its 11pm at night...
... not sure if thats good or bad..
I'm going to be honest... this looks like a crazy epic undertaking.
This reminds me of Rambos tunnels at his house
Great remake of Home Alone. Better than the original.
Just a thought could you recompress the powdered sandstone back into solid bricks for buildings and sell?.
I've experimented with that a bit: ruclips.net/video/JzRXCfmucCA/видео.html
Thank you for the share
Do you have any tips for digging tunnels in limestone?
Limestone is a lot harder, usually the pros have to use dynamite. Sandstone is much easier!
how is something so soft and crumbly and easy to excavate strong enough to not collapse without tunnel support beams etc? i believe you guys, you're the experts, im just watching a youtube video (youtube algorithm after watching a colin furze video, lol) but anyway, i am just surprised its that strong/ safe.
Are any of these tunnels to be used for housing?
Maybe an occasional overnight camping trip, but nothing long-term. We'd probably have to line and insulate the sandstone with something to keep the humidity down.
Wouldn’t there be a miniature underground railway or an underground light railway. There have been sandstone tunnels big and large enough for a standard gauge train, heavy rail. Large sandstone tunnels are strong enough that they didn’t need stone or brick lining. But ones in the city needed concrete lining for a heavy electrical railway system. Quite interesting.
We have a short inclined railway made of wood to haul some of the sand out. We've discussed trying to do mine carts but the rubber-tired garden wagons seem to work well enough.
Someday I'll have one.
Can you recommend some books to learn everything about how to build tunnels?
All the books I have are from the 1920s from my great-grandfather (a mining engineer). They're not super relevant today since they tell you how many donkeys to use for hauling :-) I'm not sure if there's a good book on small-scale sandstone tunneling.
Awesome!
I'd like to learn everything about building tunnels (e.g. how can I build a 200km tunnel system? Can I dig a tunnel under any type of materials? If so, the kind of technique to use etc). Tunnels are the future!
200 kilometres? like 120 miles?
IRL Minecraft ! I love it!
What is the led lighting used in the tunnels?
We've had some random LED strips, they keep dying from moisture though.
How to use compass in digging tunnel for exact location?
When we're doing really precise work we use something called a Disto (electronic surveying device). That way we can make sure the passage is going the right direction for the right distance to connect loops. You can use a handheld compass and tape measure as well, you just have to be really careful to line things up!
What is the maximum depth of your excavation? Things become difficult after 100 ft or so once you reach bedrock.
We're technically IN the bedrock, it's a thick sandstone formation. Our adits are into the side of a hill so the vertical depth varies.
Wait bed rock is real?😂😂😂
@@question7615 Its where the cavemen slept. The didn't have Casper mattress' because they couldn't listen to podcasts, slept on the rock, thought it was comfy enough, and that's where we get the term from.
@@Youchubeswindon thats pretty cool not gonna lie
How are you getting fresh air down there?
We have an air pipe and fan to the loading station. Currently we have two entrances and are digging a third at a slightly different elevation, which will also help with airflow.
@@saveitforparts keep in mind c02 is heavier that oxygen. at your deepest part you should bore a hole straight down, and blow in fresh air, this will displace the c02. keep it up, great videos
When Minecraft chat tells you once to often to go touch grass🤣
Can you do this with limestone?
It would be a lot slower with limestone, it's not so easily broken up as sandstone. I think you could probably still do it, but the tools would wear out faster.
@@saveitforparts Appreciate the info...I was told I have limestone but it appears to be an old coral reef. The exposed parts are full of little holes and easily broken. Then you hit seems of flint. The flint has some weird crystals growing in some of it. The limestone under the ground turns into one big piece that looks more like sandstone and is wet and abrasive. I am on the edge of the Edwards Plateau in Texas. I want to make a root cellar/tornado shelter in a steep hillside but was afraid the rock was to brittle to mess with.
@@cbriangilbert1978 I can't remember if I suggested a state/college geology dept before or if that was someone else? I bet they'd know based on your elevation and location, or they'd have some bedrock maps you could consult. A smaller room like a tornado shelter would be less effort than a larger tunnel system, but would still probably be slower in limestone than sandstone. If the rock is damp then you'll probably want to vent it for food storage to control humidity, and maybe add supports in case it gets more crumbly as it dries out. I know our sandstone loosens up if it gets too dry.
By the way, the cheapest electric jackhammers I've found that are actually decent quality are "XtremepowerUS". I use the 1400W version. Yes they're a knock-off import but they seem to do OK. With any electric jackhammer you want to let it rest and cool off after about 10 minutes of heavy use, that gives you time to shovel out the material as well. If you have a compressed air tool I think you can run it longer since they're self-cooling.
@@saveitforparts Appreciate it! That is way cheaper than the ones I was looking at.
I will look in the link thank you
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolabra
Don't forget the period of ancient Greek and Roman Empire sappers use pickaxe mattock tool to dig / sapping tunnel. Pickaxe mattock tool without sounding of loudly. It's very quiet and calm down. On the contrary, Drilling machine and digging tunnel cracked rock machine very loudly sounds which can awaken the enemy
Do you ever have issues with flooding?
Nope, we're above the groundwater table. Any small spills tend to just soak in to the sandstone or work their way down one of the cracks.
@@saveitforparts oh thats super interesting. I live too far to visit any time soon but thats definitely a place I wanna visit next time I go on a road trip
Looks like a lot of work .
Hauling the sand out is the hardest/slowest part. It's actually kind of fun though!
@@saveitforparts Yes it looks very interesting .
Does anyone know the name of the channel with I think a guy from néw Zealand Palo something who digs tunnels in an abandoned foundation or something I lost my channel and now can't find him cheers for any help on this
I think it is Paleas
@@CrunchyLimes thank you, that's him. This has been winding me up for weeks & weeks not being able to find him thanks you very much & have a good nite 👍
Good I deal I think we should all go under ground every person you can fit underground your saving humaity
idk why but now I feel driven to dig
so cool
I have an urge to smoothen all the surfaces
I've thought about coming in with a wire brush and smoothing things out :-)
watch out whit the gravel bro
Are you not concerned from Radon Gas or other hazards?
I have another video on air quality, not too much CO and only dust issues when we're actively digging
h elp i can not stop dig tunnel when i see sand stone i dig i can not stop please
mmm
Ha! 00:05 It is easy when your dog does the hard work!
Made my own cheap underground storage, which leads into a cheese cave, then a wine cave and finally a bunker at the end.
That would be cool to see!
Hear me out. Underground rollercoaster.
How hard would it be to tunnel through lime stone? ⚠️
Limestone is much harder, you can do it but it will take 10x as long.
@@saveitforparts ok thanks for letting me know.
Make a whole home down there
in decades this land will be awesome
We think it's awesome now! But hopefully people will still be visiting even when the midwest has all been paved over for Walmarts and condos!
@@saveitforparts yeh would love to see mountains get leveled and turned in to cities considering they would be ideal places for contraction if people don't mind leveling large mountain ranges but I think we need mountains over Walmart's and condos (i prefer independent owned and BANNING corporations form operation in the area cos they will steal the land from the founders eventually NEVER take investment for cooperate owned projects try keep things family owned and teach only trade skills to your kids which bennfit the town you build collage is a mugs game)
maybe if architecture can intergrade without taking too much natural land away and having an decent monorail and undergrounds network for transport you might have an amazing place to live I mean would take a visionary to see it though but who knows maybe someone is already guiding that process as we speak.
Please make sure that no one who goes down there will carve out a real Amigara fault, my nightmares are already full thanks.
Cool
This is super cool! One question though. Have you had any trouble with flooding or water leakage?
No water issues, it's all above the water table and Sandstone is pretty porous, so any moisture just kind of soaks in and disappears. The freshly-mined sand is actually a little damp, which also helps keep the dust down!
if you were using efficiency v and haste 2 that would be much easier
What about hard clay shale mix?
There is a clay layer but it's pretty thin and not all that hard to get through.
colin furze be watching this video on repeat
It would be easier to use vacuum truck system to remove the sand and it would also remove bad air
We've tried some small vacuums, can't afford a big one!
Wow!
I helped remove sand from big pile, truck, tractor.
Exactly.
Colin Furze has altered my recommendations.
You should put some artifacts from different cultures and different eras in the tunnels just to confuse the hell out of future archaeologists.
Explosives are much more fun to use as excavation tool 😜👍