Bugger!

Told you that rock was tuff stuff - I gave it another hit with the rock breaker, and broke it instead.

Actually, I broke the attachment plate last year when digging the trenches for the garage slab, and had a go at welding it back together again myself. Trouble is, my welding gear is too small and not up to the task of welding this, so while I managed to tack it back together again it’s not strong enough to withstand the strongest rock. Hence it gave out again this afternoon. I’ll have to find a steel fabricator during the week and get them to fix it properly.

So once I gave up breaking bits of the bobcat, I got the rest of the first trench dug in less than an hour.

The rotary laser makes digging to depth a snap, so this trench is nice and consistent in depth, even if it’s not as straight as it could be. With so much rock in the ground it’s near impossible to cut a straight line, and besides that there’s so much slop in the backhoe arm and bucket that it’s a miracle I can dig within 10cm of my intended line :)

With this long trench done I turned my attention to the first short one in the same corner as the troublesome rock, but the seam runs straight across that corner of the slab so I hit it again in no time flat. I managed to break it up a little with the backhoe, but I really need the rock hammer to get to my depth so it will have to wait until next week.

At least I’m producing plenty of building materials here - the main spine of the dwelling which will be built on this slab is to be a slip-formed rock wall, so all this siltstone will be put to good use!