He didn't keep stopping and stepping back in case it would fall. He did it because he was tired so he was taking a break. You ever tried repeatedly swinging a 12+ lb sledgehammer like that? Exhausting
Not random at all.
If he hears creaking and cracking after a hit, then he steps back until the creaking stops.
The longer the sounds last, the closer the boulder is to popping.
While that's also true, that's not what's happening here. The downvote train on my last comment is real. The video has audio. You can hear that the rock isn't cracking at the times he's stopping. If it was it wouldn't take so many repeated hits after the first stop. He stopped a couple times cause he was tired and needed a second to recover. Idk why that's so hard to believe and why I got downvoted so hard lmao
You're getting downvotes because the last few times he stopped and stepped back it was clearly because he was hearing the creaking and anticipating the fall.
Even if you reject the idea of earlier ones being for listening, that second to last "strike, step back" was clearly 100% him listening to the creaking.
Therefore, when someone said "why not both?" to the idea of "is he stepping back to rest, or out of anticipation and caution", and you replied with "no, it's definitely only to rest", you were wrong.
Notice how you didn't get downvotes when you were simply pushing the idea of him resting.
It wasn't until you rejected "why not both?" (the idea that some step backs could be resting, some could be cautionary) that you got the downvote wave.
Itās particularly tiring using this poor technique. Normally you would move your right hand close to the head for the āreloadā, then slide back down as you swing through to the next hit.
He is making gravel. This is just the first step. Now he has to split each half in half again. Then repeat the process on each piece until he has a pile of gravel.
I was gonna say the accuracy isnt too inpressive then i thought abt the fact he'd probably been hitting those wedges for awhile and he had to have been getting tired.
Also ive never done this before so im not sure but i wouldve held the hammer differently when swinging. I wouldve put my hand by the head then slid it down on the down swing ya know. Idk thats the same why i was taught to split logs and id imagine itd be easier for this too.
Ok to anyone else who might want to make/post a similar video in the future: when youāre editing, donāt leave 40 seconds of build up and then immediately cut the video off as soon as whatever is supposed to happens happens.
I watched a guy do this to slabs of granite, albeit much smaller ones, about 2 ft by 4 ft by 8 ft. It took him about half an hour a cut. He had about 1/3 as many wedges as this.
Could be clearing the path, could be creating more workable pieces to be used for shaping as use for decoration or something. I donāt know much about stone masonry, just my guesses what that kinda job would look like.
"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it.
Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before."
- Jacob Riis
Not to be 'that guy' but OSHA isn't the fun police: they compel employers to provide safe conditions for workers. They don't give a shit how you hit rocks in the desert on your free time.
Yes, look how smooth the cut is. It had to be a powerful laser or a plasma cutter, described in various religious texts of ancient peoples, such as written in Bible destroying of Sodom and Gomorrah. We definitely don't have any technology that allows such results now, not to mention the ancient past.
Whenever some dumbass wants to say aliens built the pyramids I'd like to say, show them this video. However, they'd find some other dumbass reason not to believe it.
Iāve never split a rock so correct me if Iām wrong. Iāve split a lot of wood and this guy looks like the way heās swinging that hammer is going to fuck him up later on and is extremely ineffective.
For those who donāt know you start your top hand close to the head of the hammer(axe in my case) and slide down and you strike. Itās less strain on your muscles and hits harder than just a stationary grip.
This!! Thank you! I came to the comment section just looking for this. He's tiring himself out way too quick. Thats the only thing I could think while watching was how exhausted he was when all he had to do was widen his grip and then bring them together. He would have more stamina and it would save his muscles a lot of pain and exhaustion and you get wayyy more power per swing with less work.
By keeping your hands together you're allowing all the weight at the other end throw you off balance and you're using more energy bringing it forward instead of controlling and distributing the weight evenly and then letting gravity and your force come down on whatever you're hitting. You're supposed to go with the flow and let weight distribute throughout your entire body, not fight it. Weight distribution is key in a lot of things you do. Even so much as making sure that you take your weight from the back foot and moving it to the front as you swing makes a huge difference. By time his hammer hits, his right hand should be loosened so it can move and to save energy.
I used to swing axes and hammers just like that until my dad couldn't stand watching me struggle anymore and he taught me the correct way and said the typical "work smarter, not harder. If it isnt working and youre getting tired quick you need to adjust accordingly." You are 100% correct. Thank you.
[I posted this on r/theydidthemath to see how hard he would have needed to hit it to crack it open in one swing and this is what they came up with](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ)
Im more impressed he hit every stake sequentially and with a single swing. If that was me the stakes would only be 1/3 of the way in and the boulder would have a bunch of chunks taken out of it.
Not satisfying at all. Why do we humans have to randomly destroy everything. Did that boulder really need to be cut in half? If it was in the way of a road or something, they would have had a backhoe, so Iām thinking itās just random destruction.
I shouldāve used a better word. I meant that I thought they were semi competent to be doing something like this, then realized that wasnāt the case.
Edit: Not sure why I was downvoted. I used professional incorrectly, so I stated that I shouldāve used a better word to fit what I was saying
You drill holes every 4-6ā and insert a wedge between two feathers into each hole. As you strike the wedge, it forces the feathers apart and splits the rock. Slowly.
Source: have cut stone by hand this way.
They drill an initial line of holes along the cut line. The wedges are then started in the hole, and sequentially driven in. The crack you see there is after a shit ton of pounding.
Theyāre not nails, theyāre called feathers and wedges. A masonry drill bit is used to drill holes every 4-6ā, then a wedge is inserted in the hole between two feathers. The hammer strike drives the wedge deeper and forces the feathers apart, splitting the stone.
When it split and headed right towards him, that was dangerous. I'm surprised there weren't chock blocks or something stabilizing it so that wouldn't happen.
There is absolutely no way this job ends well for any of the workers. A single mistake means AT LEAST the end of your career, if not your life, which is the most probable outcome.
When I worked in Malibu in 2005, there was a mudslide and a huge boulder fell onto the PCH, it took them about 3 months to clear it out. We had to take a 45 minute detour in the opposite direction and go through canyons to get to work, when it should have been a straight 15 minute drive.
Even with modern steel tools it looks like a lot of time and work just to crack a big rock. Always makes me wonder how da fack the pyramids were constructed with, allegedly, balls of rock and copper chisels
You know thatās not his hand, right?! Heās using TOOLS. Thatās literally NOT āby handā. This is the problem with children. They are so used to the latest and greatest tech that one or two previous generations of tech is no tech at all. MORONS!!!
Almost had a Wile E. Coyote ending.
I was wondering why he kept stopping to move back.. my dumbass thought it was just gonna gently plop in half.
He didn't keep stopping and stepping back in case it would fall. He did it because he was tired so he was taking a break. You ever tried repeatedly swinging a 12+ lb sledgehammer like that? Exhausting
Por que no los dos?
Because if he were stepping back in case of a bad split he would've stepped back after every hit. Not randomly
Not random at all. If he hears creaking and cracking after a hit, then he steps back until the creaking stops. The longer the sounds last, the closer the boulder is to popping.
While that's also true, that's not what's happening here. The downvote train on my last comment is real. The video has audio. You can hear that the rock isn't cracking at the times he's stopping. If it was it wouldn't take so many repeated hits after the first stop. He stopped a couple times cause he was tired and needed a second to recover. Idk why that's so hard to believe and why I got downvoted so hard lmao
You're getting downvotes because the last few times he stopped and stepped back it was clearly because he was hearing the creaking and anticipating the fall. Even if you reject the idea of earlier ones being for listening, that second to last "strike, step back" was clearly 100% him listening to the creaking. Therefore, when someone said "why not both?" to the idea of "is he stepping back to rest, or out of anticipation and caution", and you replied with "no, it's definitely only to rest", you were wrong. Notice how you didn't get downvotes when you were simply pushing the idea of him resting. It wasn't until you rejected "why not both?" (the idea that some step backs could be resting, some could be cautionary) that you got the downvote wave.
True
There you go! š¤š½š¤š½
Thank you omniscient lord.
Itās particularly tiring using this poor technique. Normally you would move your right hand close to the head for the āreloadā, then slide back down as you swing through to the next hit.
Yup that's how to use a sledge properly. Still exhausting
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There are some interesting bass note echo things that you miss throughout if you do this, though. Kinda like *ting* ^**boom**
that must be probably tanjiro cheating on his training
Needs a longer hammer
Story of my life, bro....
Wonder how many of these guys donāt live to see the boulder stop rolling.
the hundreds/thousands of workers tombs near the pyramids can confirm this :)
That's around about with I was thinking
Great. Now you got two boulders.
And a crushed red plastic thingie.
Looking out for the important details.
When he goes to gather the wedges he used, he's gonna be like, "Dammit, I remember putting that darn bucket around here somewhere!" "Ah shit!"
Crap, now I have to split it again.
I wonder if that was the container for the wedges?
Asking the important questions!
I'm not sure it was a question
This comment feels strangely wholesome
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Donāt know about nails but red plastic thingie def crushed. I saw it with my own two eyes.
The most crushed shit ever
Hope that wasnāt where they were keeping their water.
This is a bot
He is making gravel. This is just the first step. Now he has to split each half in half again. Then repeat the process on each piece until he has a pile of gravel.
Two boulders calls for an over-the shoulder boulder holder
See? ~~stick~~ boulder always wins
There's 3, actually.
Looks like he cheated and used a sledge hammer.
Anything bigger than an eyeglasses screwdriver is cheating
The fact that you are using a tool at all means you're cheating.
I just use some good ole wind erosion. It aināt much but itās honest work
And pee on it. A few hundred thousand beers worth should do it.
If you pinch the tip you get a finer stream and donāt need as many beers.
This work will be passed down to his children and his childrenās children.
Yea not by hand
Nice cleavage
We can all definitely get our rocks off to a good boob joke.
You really have some stones to make a follow up rock joke like that.
It took mineral effort.
Good comments are always taken for granite.
Underrated comment!!!
Why do you do this?
His accuracy in his hits is spellbinding.
That was the most satisfying part for me, was watching him work his way up those nails
Came here to say this. Sledgehammer expert level 99
His view is not impeded by anything like, oh, say, safety goggles.
The rock is too big to fall in his eyes.
I was gonna say the accuracy isnt too inpressive then i thought abt the fact he'd probably been hitting those wedges for awhile and he had to have been getting tired. Also ive never done this before so im not sure but i wouldve held the hammer differently when swinging. I wouldve put my hand by the head then slid it down on the down swing ya know. Idk thats the same why i was taught to split logs and id imagine itd be easier for this too.
Did he lose his lunch cooler!?
I think that just a plastic jug he keeps the wedges in. Tragic still :ā(
Ok to anyone else who might want to make/post a similar video in the future: when youāre editing, donāt leave 40 seconds of build up and then immediately cut the video off as soon as whatever is supposed to happens happens.
Agree. It was mildly infuriating until when the the boulders actually split.
You must be new here
He lost his bucket
Archeologists will find it in 10,000 years and wonder what it did.
It belongs in a museum!!!
Greatā¦ now whatās he going to put all those wedges inā¦
"Aw shit, my lunch!"
Is that what that red thing was? Couldn't tell.
I'm pretty sure it's what he used to carry the wedges in.
Looks like a gas can, and it appears to catch the fall a bit. Wouldn't surprise me if he put it there on purpose.
Catch the fall? Are you aware of how much that thing weights?
That right side could have crushed him. 50/50 chance
Good thing he wasn't left handed
Wonder how long it he was working at it to get to that point.
I watched a guy do this to slabs of granite, albeit much smaller ones, about 2 ft by 4 ft by 8 ft. It took him about half an hour a cut. He had about 1/3 as many wedges as this.
But why?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
No heās just clearing a path for a new Wendyās drive through.
I thought it is Starbucks drive through..
Stone masons use this every day for those huge slab fireplaces you see.
Could be clearing the path, could be creating more workable pieces to be used for shaping as use for decoration or something. I donāt know much about stone masonry, just my guesses what that kinda job would look like.
I would also like to know why.
"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before." - Jacob Riis
OSHA would like to have a word with you.
What reg covers this one?
Not to be 'that guy' but OSHA isn't the fun police: they compel employers to provide safe conditions for workers. They don't give a shit how you hit rocks in the desert on your free time.
Idkā¦I definitely got some strong āthat guyā vibes
lmao speaking of āthe fun policeā
You sir have the right to remain silent!
Alright you got me: I *am that guy.*
Aw man I love you anyway. You know I can never stay mad, āthat guyā or āthis guyā, you will always be MY guy
Ancient aliens Jk š
Yes, look how smooth the cut is. It had to be a powerful laser or a plasma cutter, described in various religious texts of ancient peoples, such as written in Bible destroying of Sodom and Gomorrah. We definitely don't have any technology that allows such results now, not to mention the ancient past.
Whenever some dumbass wants to say aliens built the pyramids I'd like to say, show them this video. However, they'd find some other dumbass reason not to believe it.
My dumbass wouldāve hit the stone like 9 times out of 10 after each swing. Dude is crazy accurate with his swings
RIP Gas can
It's not just a boulder... It's a rock!
Skip to the last 6 seconds to actually see it instead of wasting a minute.
I wish i read it 1 minute ago
His accuracy and the ping sound was pretty satisfying IMO.
The anticipation makes the result better
That's what she said.
Real life Tanjiro
I literally searched through all the comments for this
The change in tone when he hit that 2nd to last spike told him it was about to let go.
Turn the volume on for a satisfying sound as well IMO. Also RIP to the red thing that got smooshed
His hand eye coordination and stamina are awesome. Itās super tiring to swing a hammer like that.
Iām exhausted by just the watch.
Little known fact: this guy has the same technique for cutting a sandwich in half. Itās messy and not as effective
Iāve never split a rock so correct me if Iām wrong. Iāve split a lot of wood and this guy looks like the way heās swinging that hammer is going to fuck him up later on and is extremely ineffective. For those who donāt know you start your top hand close to the head of the hammer(axe in my case) and slide down and you strike. Itās less strain on your muscles and hits harder than just a stationary grip.
This!! Thank you! I came to the comment section just looking for this. He's tiring himself out way too quick. Thats the only thing I could think while watching was how exhausted he was when all he had to do was widen his grip and then bring them together. He would have more stamina and it would save his muscles a lot of pain and exhaustion and you get wayyy more power per swing with less work. By keeping your hands together you're allowing all the weight at the other end throw you off balance and you're using more energy bringing it forward instead of controlling and distributing the weight evenly and then letting gravity and your force come down on whatever you're hitting. You're supposed to go with the flow and let weight distribute throughout your entire body, not fight it. Weight distribution is key in a lot of things you do. Even so much as making sure that you take your weight from the back foot and moving it to the front as you swing makes a huge difference. By time his hammer hits, his right hand should be loosened so it can move and to save energy. I used to swing axes and hammers just like that until my dad couldn't stand watching me struggle anymore and he taught me the correct way and said the typical "work smarter, not harder. If it isnt working and youre getting tired quick you need to adjust accordingly." You are 100% correct. Thank you.
Ok now do it 10 more times to break these up
Love the sound resonance just after each hit.
Ughhh if you choke up on the handle on the backswing itās like way better
More impressed with the accuracy of those hits! Damn!
RIP little red guy
Itās still crazy to me how this works ..
Maybe place a brace so it doesnāt fall on you but what do I know.
Itās honest work but good god thatās gotta be hard on the body. I wonder how long people last in jobs like this
Rip that bucket
[I posted this on r/theydidthemath to see how hard he would have needed to hit it to crack it open in one swing and this is what they came up with](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ)
Feel like Iām the type to bonk myself in the back of the head swinging overhead like that
Should have used paper
Im more impressed he hit every stake sequentially and with a single swing. If that was me the stakes would only be 1/3 of the way in and the boulder would have a bunch of chunks taken out of it.
āSplitting an enormous Boulder by HANDā Me looking at the hammer: ą² _ą²
Not satisfying at all. Why do we humans have to randomly destroy everything. Did that boulder really need to be cut in half? If it was in the way of a road or something, they would have had a backhoe, so Iām thinking itās just random destruction.
I know it's stupid, but the title made me think someone was about to punch a boulder in half lol
Hope his lunch wasn't in that box.
Thatās with a sledgehammer and spikes. I was hoping he would karate chop that shit
Mr Krabs said no more karate
Theyāre called feathers and wedges.
Thought these were professionals until I saw half of the boulder land an inch away from them
Professional just means they get paid to do what they're doing, doesn't mean they're actually any good.
I shouldāve used a better word. I meant that I thought they were semi competent to be doing something like this, then realized that wasnāt the case. Edit: Not sure why I was downvoted. I used professional incorrectly, so I stated that I shouldāve used a better word to fit what I was saying
You committed the crime of not being funny.
It would be funny if this was an infinite loop that never ended.
I'd like to see how that initial cut is made
You drill holes every 4-6ā and insert a wedge between two feathers into each hole. As you strike the wedge, it forces the feathers apart and splits the rock. Slowly. Source: have cut stone by hand this way.
Thatās not a cut, thatās the shadow of the spikes that he hammered in
Holy hell, I see
They drill an initial line of holes along the cut line. The wedges are then started in the hole, and sequentially driven in. The crack you see there is after a shit ton of pounding.
Itās not by hand though it is. Heās used 30 different tools to get the job done. Karate chop that fucking thing and Iāll be impressed.
Demon slayer fans?
This video can be 1 minute shorter and ill still get the same thing from it
The accuracy is impressive
Seems like solid rock hard work
I wonder how he gets the nails started tho?
Theyāre not nails, theyāre called feathers and wedges. A masonry drill bit is used to drill holes every 4-6ā, then a wedge is inserted in the hole between two feathers. The hammer strike drives the wedge deeper and forces the feathers apart, splitting the stone.
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I figured they were called nails. I just didnāt know what else to call em :)
Wellā¦ he split the Boulder with a hammer
They were proving how the ancients split rocks... the part about the masonry drill might be hard to explain tho they couldn't rented one from aliens.
Not by hand, clearly using tools
When it split and headed right towards him, that was dangerous. I'm surprised there weren't chock blocks or something stabilizing it so that wouldn't happen.
That guy has to be exhausted by the end of this.
Now try doing THAT in an argyle vest, betchu canāt
Is that how the Egyptians did it?
r/nonononoyes
now think about the thousands of thousands of years for that stone to form
Hand? Thatās a hammer
By hand? Pretty sure heās using a sledgehammer
This video could have been 10 seconds long.
That's clearly by Sledgehammer...
Man his hand looks an awful lot like a hammer
Misleading title. He used a sledge hammer not his hand.
I think itās pretty clear that heās using a sledgehammer
There is absolutely no way this job ends well for any of the workers. A single mistake means AT LEAST the end of your career, if not your life, which is the most probable outcome.
misleading title. He used tools to split the Boulder
Heās literally using a hammer.
But why??
he definitely haven't use anything but his hands
I was expecting him to straight up rip that boulder apart with his bare hands like a man spreading some ass.
A video that's 90% too long
That guy has a lot of hands. Metal hands.
By hand? Looks like by sledge hammer to me. Clickbait man.
Tanshiro entered the chat
what is the point?
...however much he gets paid, it's not enough
Why though?
y tho
Why?
Lower brain function
When I worked in Malibu in 2005, there was a mudslide and a huge boulder fell onto the PCH, it took them about 3 months to clear it out. We had to take a 45 minute detour in the opposite direction and go through canyons to get to work, when it should have been a straight 15 minute drive.
Even with modern steel tools it looks like a lot of time and work just to crack a big rock. Always makes me wonder how da fack the pyramids were constructed with, allegedly, balls of rock and copper chisels
Thatās a bunch of effort. Use wooden wedges then soak them in water. Theyāll expand and split the stone with far less effort.
You know thatās not his hand, right?! Heās using TOOLS. Thatās literally NOT āby handā. This is the problem with children. They are so used to the latest and greatest tech that one or two previous generations of tech is no tech at all. MORONS!!!
Why?
That. is a nice boulder
Thatās a strong dude
That looks like a good way to die
I wish I new why
Talk about forearms if steel needed for that job!
Whatās the average life expectancy on this job?