Anyone Know How To "hand Split" Stone?

carlspackler

Kasota stone specifically. It's already on the house and I need to take it off and cut/break some of it so that it breaks at a 90 degree angle...then reinstall some of it. Never done that before but I'd think there's a trick of the trade involved that can be shared?

The stone is about 5-6" deep by anywhere from 1" to 8" tall. Width's don't matter as that's what I'm trying to control. I want to break it squarely yet leave it rough looking to match the existing stuff. Maybe I need to bring it into a stone shop but I'd rather do it myself as there are only 7 or 8 pieces to do.

Tscarborough

Not sure I understand. Do you have to repair a corner?

carlspackler

Not really. I need to take down a portion of a stone wall and convert it to board and batten. The pieces are interwoven into another section and I need to make that section flat/straight. To do so, I'll need to "cut/break" the stone. I've identified the sections I can reuse, but some of it I'll need to break straight to form a new width of stone. Hope that makes sense.

Basically, regardless of the job, how do you break a piece of rectangular shaped Kasota stone so it breaks square?

Tscarborough

Square on the edge, or split into 2 pieces parallel to the face?

Tscarborough

Never mind, I figured out what you are doing.

If I understand that stone correctly, it is dolomitic limestone and should break easily how you want it.

Use a 4" brickset, and gently score all the way around the stone with medium taps holding the brickset square to the face of the stone. Once you have the score all the way around, 2 or 3 good raps will break it off following your score. Make a sand bed and lay the stone on that to beat on it.

carlspackler

Thanks for the good info, that sounds logical. When scoring the stone, what should it be laying on to prevent breakage?

Tscarborough

A bed of sand or something else soft with no lumps.

Tscarborough

You could also just score it with an abrasive blade in a skill saw all the way around, then pop it off (5 bucks for the blade, VS 15 for the brickset). Dress the cut edge with a hammer to rough it up and turn the old uncut edge toward the board and batten.

carlspackler

I was thinking I'd use my air die grinder to score it. I work a lot with metal and this would seem to be a good alternate use for it.

Thanks again.