Altering my Environment

I have a narrow lot that slopes a a few feet across the narrow direction. To create a flatter area for a narrow grass strip, I decided to use retaining blocks. I found the ones I liked best (Verdura Brand) but their design is best suited to stacking, and that is not what I needed. This photo show a Verdura 30 block.


The rounded part is good and the squarish bits tend to show through the soil and interfere with the grass I want to plant next to the blocks.

So, if I don't like something I see if I can change it. In this case that means removing the parts I don't like. I tried pounding off the square parts with a 5 pound sledge, but it tended to ruin the parts I wanted to keep. Then I tried using an abrasive saw blade to cut the block. Very time consuming and it chewed up abrasive blades.

New plan. First I drill two 3/8" holes using my hammer drill.


Then I use my new purchased stone feathers shown here. (About $32 for a set of 5 with shipping. The internet is a wonderful thing.)


And I placed them in the holes aligned in the directions that I want the split to occur.


Tap on each in turn until a crack forms. Keep on tapping and then, presto.


Repeat for the other side. Position the block in my retaining line.

Repeat as needed.

It turns out that modifying the blocks does not take much time. Moving and positioning these 65 pound objects consumes most of the effort. But I like the results.

Rick