carving concrete blocks with an air hammer

[seafox]

I am cleaning old morter off of recycled concrete block and sometimes carving off the top of cinder block that is too tall. the best tool I have found is an air hammer and my widest chizzel is an inch wide

it works pretty well except some time the point won't stay flat but spins is their some way to keep the blade flat?

the two ideas I have thought about was bolt (loosely ) a lever to a tang welded onto the shaft

or take anouther chissel and weld a wide ( say three inch piece of tool steel on the end and maybe that will retard the turning

thankyou for your help and thoughts
jeffery

[Donn]

Try a right-angle grinder with a masonry wheel on it.

[alteran]

We have welded up wider chisels for something we do but its not easy to weld two hardened pieces of steel together and have them stay together on an air hammer. There is another type of air chisel that uses a hex shaft chisel that doesn't rotate but you would be spending a few hundred bucks to get one.

Just a few to do? How about a vice grip clamped on the chisel shaft as a handle.

[Mike Vogdes]

A nice brick chisel and a masons hammer would be your best bet to clean up CMU's...

[RonW]

Seafox, buy a $20. brick layers hammer, one end is shaped like a chisel. That is how brick layers clean the mortar off of bricks and blocks.

[seafox]

Thankyou for the ideas

I'm guessing I have 3 or 400
I will try the vice grip idea
the brick hammer idea will try also

I have a love of power tools. I don't know about the hamering idea I would love to have me arms to look like pop eye the sailor man after he eats his spinnage ; fraid they look more like olive oyles ;)

another though which may be blown by the hardness of the clissel would be to drill a 3/16th hole in the shaft and atack a handle 10 12 inch long so that the end I'm holding doesn't recipricate...

the other project is cutting a doorway through my basment wall I have cut the edge with a friction blade in a cicular saw ( actually a skil brand skill saw in fact) I still go down and cut30 to 45 second at a time before the dust impairs breathing
jeffery

[ssor]

Just put a diamond grit blade on your 7 1/4 portable saw and cut the excess mortar off the blocks. You can beat yourself to death trying to clean up fifty cent blocks. Don't loose track of the value of your time.

[seafox]

first of all thankyou for your sugestions
second I wonder why they make it so the chissels spin in the air hammer

so far I have tried a pick and it worked amazingly well I find I use both the pointed end and the aze end but it is slower and more tireing

thankyou for the thought about the value of my time I tend to think it has none though if I were to get a regular job it would be worth 250 an hour after the goverment gets through with me. self employed I can groose 8 and sometimes 10 an hour ( even more if I let other people bid for me and I use my tractor) this mornings paper delivers draged on to 6 hours long and grossed just under 7 an hour thankfully with the new milage rate the first 25$ is untaxed... now if the car will just atay together

the blocks on the other hand though I do not know their cost when ordered in bulk are currently 1$ each at lowes and home depo I get to break even if I spend less than 15 minutes on each block
jeffery

[ErikH]

When my friend had to do concrete cutting in his basement, the two of us came up with an idea.... which we never tried. But here it is anyway, maybe it'll work for you :D

Buy a clear plastic box (Walmart, etc) large enough to hold your circular saw. Cut two holes in it for your hands to go through and grasp the saw. Make the holes just to fit at first, you can expand them as needed. Cut another round hole and duct tape your shopvac hose to it.

Now you have a closed environment and dusto collection for a cost of about $5. try it with your saw UNPLUGGED first! Problems which we envisioned but never tested:

Problem: too much suction; box won't slide or collapses.
Solution: enlarge arm holes, or cut additional holes (see below)

Problem: can't see a $%^$!! thing with saw running.
Solution:cut a few notches along sides / back / front of box edge where it contacts concrete, which will suck air in. if you put the notches in the right place you should theoretically be able to see smile.gif

Problem: box breaks.
Solution: buy new box.

Problem: Do not own Shop Vac
Solution: Persuade wife to try cutting concrete (without box) for 30 seconds. Have wallet in pocket and car running.

if you DO try it, please let me know how it works!!