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Have you ever used an electric jack hammer? They are great machines for breaking up concrete and pavement around the home or at construction sites. However I was really not prepared for the workout that I was going to get when I used this thing. Now most people reading this are probably saying, well yeah, they shake like crazy and after an hour of using one of these machines, every bone in his body was all shook up!

Actually the electric jack hammer I rented was a Bosch 11304 Brute which has a great feature called shock mounted handles. In other words the handles move in relation to the jack hammer and so most of the vibration from the jack hammer is absorbed by the handles and not by the operator. This is absolutely a great feature and reduces the wear and tear on your body significantly.

The Bosch 11304 Brute electric jack hammer features 15.0 amp draw, an impact energy of 43 pounds, weighs 64 pounds and a 1-1/8 inch Hex shank size. The guys at the rental store gave a 5 minute instruction on how to use the electric jack hammer and sent me on my way with a heavy duty extension chord as well. The unit fits easily in the trunk of your car. Be careful when placing the electric jack hammer into your trunk and lifting it out. The unit is heavy and you are lifting from an awkward position. If you can, I would advise getting someone to assist in lifting the electric jack hammer into and out of the car.

Man handling an electric jack hammer that weighs 64 pound with out the drill bit which weighs another 18 pounds for over 2 hours provides a workout that you will never get at the gym. I am no slouch, however I was totally exhausted after 2 hours work, but my slab of concrete was all broken up! I now have a great deal of respect for men who do this on construction sites for many hours every day.

My slab of concrete was the apron around our pool. The electric jack hammer dealt with this easily, however some concrete chips went into the pool. You have to be very careful removing these chips to avoid damaging the vinyl liner. In this particular case as well, one needs to be very careful to maintain your balance. The Bosch 1134 Brute electric jack hammer is top heavy and if you are not careful, you and the electric jack hammer can topple over, in my situation, into the pool. Fortunately this did not happen!

This is an electric jack hammer and draws up to 15 amps which most household outlets will handle. However you do need to use a heavy duty extension chord when using these machines. If not the voltage drop on the extension chord will be too much and  the electric jack hammer will not develop the power needed. I also understand that the motor could overheat as well.

Operation of the Electric Jack Hammer

Operation of the electric jack hammer is relatively straight forward, however the simple trick about using these machines is like many machines. Let the electric jack hammer do the work and you just point it in the right direction. I would place the bit in the location I wanted and pressed the button to start it and watched it drill into the concrete slab I was trying to brake up. No problem except that the first time I let the bit get too deep in the concrete to the point it was almost buried. Of course lifting a 64 pound electric jack hammer up when the bit is buried in concrete is not the easiest thing to do. Eventually I was able to get it out and started another location.

Next thing I learned is that you drill a series of holes along a line and eventually a chunk will break off of the main slab. You may have to break up this chunk into a smaller size so you can carry the pieces of concrete. Once I got the hang of it , jack hammering this concrete slab went fairly smoothly. I was breaking up a concrete slab that was approximately 3 inches to 5 inches thick. The Bosch 11304 Brute electric jack hammer handled this with ease. Just get into a routine of drill into the concrete about 2 inches, lift and move along a line about 3 inches and eventually a slab will break off . Read the rest of this entry »

Many home owners would love to have a new patio built for their homes complete with barbecue pit, walkways, flower gardens and more. Most settle for 2 foot basic square cement patio stones provided by the builder simply because of the cost. Contracting with a landscape company can cost thousands of dollars and most consumers just cannot afford it or they do not want to spend the money. There is another alternative and that is to do it yourself. The only real difficult parts of the job are making sure your patio is level and cutting the stones.

This particular post is going to focus on using a patio stone tub saw.  For more information about actually designing and building your patio, there are many web sites that will discuss the design and preparation of a backyard patio along with the construction and building of your patio. As long as you are not afraid of a little hard work, any home owner can build their own patio and save thousands of dollars in the process. As a rule of thumb, add to the cost of materials, the materials multiplied by 1.5 or 2 times to get an estimate of the cost of hiring a contractor to do the entire job. Back to using a patio stone tub saw.

Patio stone tub saws are actually quite easy to use as long as you practice safe working conditions and follow the instructions provided by your local rental company. We will discuss whether you should rent or purchase one of these machines a little later in this post.

The first thing you should know about patio stone tub saws is that they will cut through patio stones as much as 2.5 inches thick as if they were made of butter. Just push them through at a steady speed, listen to the sound of the motor and if it begins to slow down, then let up the pressure. You will quickly determine what the best speed of cutting is with these saws.

Set up is straight forward. Pick a location that is close to your work area, with access to power and a water hose. Another important consideration is that these machines will generate a lot of wet particulate which when it drys will coat everything with a fine white dust.  I installed a wood barrier around mine to limit the amount of spray and particulate from the stone cutter. This also makes cleanup much easier. Once you have hooked up the power and the water hose to the machine, complete several test cuts just to get a feel for the process of cutting patio stones. Always make sure the water is running to keep the blade wet and cool.

Safety Considerations

As with all home renovation projects and this includes patio stone tub saws, safety is paramount. These machines are pretty easy to use and safe as well, but there are a few things you should consider. First of all always connect the power chord with a heavy duty extension chord. If you do not have one, most equipment rental companies can provide one of these. Second the electrical outlet you use should have a ground fault breaker. You are wet, you will be standing in water sometimes and you want to make sure that there is little chance of receiving a shock.

Third, as we mentioned never operate the saw without water. The patio stone tub saw comes with a small water pump which pumps water out of the tub ( that’s why it is called a tub saw) through tubes to spray the water onto the saw blade. If it runs dry, you will generate lots of dust and the blade could over heat.

Eye protection is an absolute must. Wear goggles even if you wear glasses. The goggles will protect your glasses and more importantly will prevent particles from the tub saw getting into your eyes. Also wear sound protection for your ears. These tub saws are loud and the sound is quite ear piercing. If you do not wear ear protection at the very least you will not be able to hear properly for several days and the worst is that you could damage your ears permanently.

The last safety concern is always wear leather gloves. Water and the particulate from the stones you are cutting combine to form a paste which will rub your fingers raw. It can get quite painful if you are doing a lot of stone cutting. The gloves will get wet and it will be messy, but at least your hands will not be sore. Some people will also wear a rubber apron around them to protect their clothes and avoid getting soaked from the water spray. This is a great idea, makes the job a lot more comfortable, especially if it is cool. No one wants to be wet in cold weather.

Rent or Purchase a Patio Stone Tub Saw

Now back to renting or purchasing a patio stone tub saw.  I have rented one of these machines several times for a 24 hour period and found this to be the most economical for my purposes. I planned my rental around spending a day of stone cutting, so I had all of my stones placed and marked for cutting prior to picking up the saw, which made the process quite efficient. The cost in Canadian dollars was around $45 for the day, which is quite reasonable.

The rental company also rented a 1.5 horsepower patio stone tub saw to me.  This is quite important since a 1.5 horse power motor will draw just less than 15 amps so you won’t be tripping your circuit breaker very often. Three horse power tub saws can cut faster, however unless you have a 20 amp or 30 amp outlet, you will be tripping your circuit breaker all of the time. This is an important consideration if you plan to purchase a patio stone sub saw.

One last point, get to know the folks at the equipment rental company you use. They have lots of experience and will take the time to show you how to use these tub saws, some of the tricks and safety issues and will often throw in the heavy gauge extension chord you will probably need as well for free.

Kubota’s small (compact) tractor called the B7001 is a compact diesel three cylinder machine that is the ideal hobby tractor or small farm extra duties tractor. Kubota as for quite a while now been the leader when it comes to compact equipment, and it doesn’t seem to be any change in that trend coming in the near future. Their reliability factor can never be overstated because when it comes to the dollars and cents at the bottom line we need the most efficient compact tractors possible, without expensive and stressful downtime.

If you have never purchased a Kubota tractor before, rented a Kubota tractor, or used one you may not understand why they are so popular and in such high demand. I urge you to rent a Kubota sometimes so you can see for yourself.

I have actually used the compact B7001 for a small backyard project and was not surprised to see how easily the job was done and how well is litte tractor performed. There is a lot of power in that little three cylinder diesel engine, and more than you would ever need for the job you are trying to accomplish.

I found this could little review to back up my belief on Kubota equipment. The review is on the B7001 model as well. This operator was doing a small job rotovating, and you can read it here. They included a picture of the used B7001 tractor and the small rotovator he was using.

You can generally pick up a used B7001 for as little as $2-$3000 US and upwards of $12,000 depending on the shape it is in and if they are including any attachments or implements. You want to make sure you are dealing with a reputable seller of course and is preferred you get a reconditioned or refurbished tractor. Read the rest of this entry »