(206) 2/26/2025
Rock splitting at Haverstraw State Park

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Haverstraw Beach State Park

Today's crew of volunteers

Take a look at where are we working today

Wow, that's beautiful

A never-ending cycle of natural rock falls

We harvest from the talus pile

Rocks like this will be split along fissures

This giant rock will be split multiple times

With hammer drill in hand,
our chief gets the project started

It's a long break, but Chris will follow the fissure

Feathers and wedges are set in the holes

Next, it's tappy tap and wait

After waiting about 2 minutes
Dr. Dave does the next series of tappy taps

Six minutes after we started we have a crack

Two minutes later, we have a split

Very noticeable oxidation in the fissure

Dr. Dave starts drilling another big rock

First series of holes are drilled and
set with feathers and wedges

Waiting between tappy taps
is the hardest part of breaking rocks

As you can see, this is not an easy site to navigate

This one looks like it's starting to split

A little help from a rock bar and the split has opened

This is a beautiful but dangerous place to be working

Joe is doing the tappy tap
on the second column of feathers and wedges

Marty, doing his best Erik impression

Dr. Dave working on the last series of holes

Now it's just tappy tap and wait

Cold chisels would have made this process easier,
unfortunately Marty forgot to bring them

That big rock is now broken into pieces,
the excavator can move

Using a rope-puller, Russ, Joe and Dr. Dave,
moved rocks closer to the road,
making it easier for the excavator to harvest



© Marty Costello 2013 - 2025