What Garden is complete without a couple large Stones? But do you really know about stone transport? Decorative Stones are nice, but that`s only the first step.
If you’re like me, you refuse to pay money for Stones. I mean, you can dig them up right? And I absolutely abhor fake stones, or pre-fab stones or even those stones that have been cut to look interesting. Disgusting, really really disgusting.
So, I was talking to my Neighbor “Kessel”, who has (for lack of a better term) a Rock-Fetish. He has many moderately sized rocks in his yard. Some…and I kid you not, are around 300 pounds. That`s a stone weight of 300 pounds.
Let’s talk about Rock size/weight and moving stones. When I first tried to uproot an 18 inch by 18 inch rock last year, I was unable to move it. It took my father, brother and myself full effort to transport that stone 100 feet back to the house. At the end of that “move”, we were so exhausted we just sat around the stone for several minutes afterward to catch our breath.
As with most important things in life, size can be deceiving. Rocks are typically oblong and their weight is distributed in strange ways. Moving stones can sometimes place most of the weight on one arm, and very little (or less anyway) on the other. So, you’re trying to lift 100 pounds, but 70 pounds is on your left arm. You can imagine the havoc that plays when trying to lift anything seriously heavy. Furthermore, the oblong nature of rocks, makes them all the more difficult pulling them out of the ground, as they hook into the Earth.
In my estimation, a 1 foot by 1 foot rock weighs about 100 pounds. A 2×2 rock – you’re at 200 pounds and upwards. You’re thinking, that’s ridiculous. I challenge you to go find a 1×1 stone and try and lift it. It will surprise you.
Ok, back to my neighbour Kessel. He loves rocks, and has them all over his yard. On an extended in-depth conversation on care and cultivation of rocks, I asked him where he found all these rocks? “Oh yeah, I love rocks. I *Pick them up wherever I find them*”.
Hold on Kessel, some of these garden stones are higher then my knee. “Oh yes, I lift them myself. I once loaded my minivan with over 1 tonne of rocks and drove them home”. And he’s not kidding either, because I’ve seen him haul several hundred pounds of rock out of his minivan (That’s a separate story on it’s own).
Well, that got me thinking. I’m a big cheapo, so his statement resonated. Why don’t I just go find my own decorative stones and bring them home? Well, because the last time I tried, My father, brother and I, almost died lifting a rock the size of a briefcase.
Case closed right? Well no, it’s amazing what saving some money will allow me to accomplish. I was/am not willing to spend money on stone. So, I was driving somewhere on a Sunday morning and I drove past a large Apartment/Condominium development project. Lots of construction happening, and hey, check it out, they were digging, hitting rocks, pulling these rocks out of the ground, and piling them up in several large mounds close to the road. I pulled over and walked over to see what I could find.
Well, I spent 20 minutes there, canvassing the area and planning (And let me tell you, Stone transport can be highly technical work).
Reasonably sure I could handle some of the smaller models, I pulled out 3 rocks. 2 fist sized, and 1 the size of my head. Well this “head” rock was so difficult to lift and load into my car, that it took me 15 minutes to move it 15 feet, and afterwards , I sat in my car covered in sweat. My hands were shaking by the time I was done. Once unloaded though, these rocks looked awesome in my yard. And the rest, so they say, is history.
Well, I went back. Every week in fact for about 10 weeks. I went back to that same Condo Development (45 minutes from my house) and I did it again. And each time I went back, I brought home bigger and bigger rocks.
Well, let me tell you, when I finally lifted a heavy stone about 2″x2″, I almost killed myself. It must have weighed a little under 200 pounds. I got it home, but it was such a workout that I decided I had to implement some form of technology going forward, because 2×2 was just too heavy and dangerous.
So the next week, I brought out some stone lifting equipment with me, and damn, what a difference.
Inventory: Dad’s dolly, a heavy shovel, a pickaxe, and a long steel bar. The dolly allowed me to transport various sized stones 20 feet with NO EFFORT. With that Dolly, I started transporting 3 or 4 200 pound rocks at a time (200 pounds is pretty much my limit. I’m not able to lift anything heavier.)
So let’s fast forward to the present. 10 weeks later, I have have brought in about 16 moderate sized rocks that now border my garden. They look great and provide me with a great conversation piece.
After all that effort, I have several lessons learned. If you’re not able to lift heavy stones, don’t allow that to be a stopping point. Hire some high school kids to do your lifting for you. Or even your spouse.
Seven stages of getting a rock out of a field and into your backyard:
1. Surveying: Probably the most important step. You could be a 300 pound powerlifter, but if you don’t know where to look for stones, you’re going to have a bare garden. The best place is always new housing developments. Typically though, other gardeners will already be taking stones themselves. But as I found, Condo dwellers don’t want stones.
2. Get the Rock out of the ground: Tools for use:
- Heavy duty Pick Axe’s: To dig in around rocks and loosen them for lifting
- Steel bars: Long Steel bars can be jammed under the rock, then pressed in a seesaw action to pull the rock out of the ground. With a strong steel bar (at least 4 feet long), you can pop out good size rocks with some simple effort.
- Heavy Duty Shovel: A typical shovel will not be able to life a rock without damaging it’s handle. Use the shovel to dig around rocks, and to do some minor lifting.
3. Transport the Rock to your transportation:
- Your Arms/Legs - You can just lift the rock in your arms and walk it to your car. But you need to have some physical & mental strength. A great workout BTW (Powerlifters will routinely haul rocks as exercise). But not the best method as you are limited by your own energy. Most non-athletes will not last outside of 2 big rocks.
- Dolley - You need a heavy duty dolley that can withstand serious weight. My father’s dolley was meant to haul Ovens, but a 200 pound stone broke it (Refer to my note about Oblong Rock sizes above.)
4. Load the Rock into your transportation
- You easily transported a 200 pound rock to your car via a dolley. But damn, now you have to lift it 2 feet from the ground up in to your car. There’s 2 ways of doing this:
a. Good Deadlift technique. Use your legs, keep your back straight and wear gloves. It’s a great exercise as well. - b. Get a 4 inch thick wooden plank. Lay it from your car trunk down onto the road. Ensure it can withstand your weight + the rock. With a truck, you can wheel your dolley right into the truck bed. Very easy. Kessel swears by this technique.
5. Transport home
- a. ENSURE YOUR ROCKS ARE DISTRIBUTED EVENLY THROUGHOUT YOUR CAR TRUNK. Placing 2-3 rocks all on one side will destroy your suspension. Kessel, my neighbor, hauled over 1 tonne in a Windstar Minivan. So your vehicle can probably handle the weight as long as you distribute it properly. I’ve hauled up to 500 pounds in Stones in my Minivan.
6. Unload the rock from your transportation
- a. If you used the plank ramp, then just wheel out your rocks the same way you loaded them.
- b. If you manually lifted the rocks, remember that you don’t want to drop the stone on your driveway. It will put a hole in the pavement. Use Gloves, and proper Deadlifting technique (Goggle “Deadlift” for technique).
6. Move the rock from transportation to final location
- a. Dolley again, but watch your lawn. It can’t handle a 200 pound dolley being wheeled around. Try to move fast and minimize traffic over the same areas. You can lay wooden boards down on your grass to protect. (This distributes the weight of the dolley over a 6 foot area.
- Rolling: If your garden is close to your car, you could conceivably roll the rock into its final resting place.
7. Convince your spouse you’re not moving the rock anymore
- At a later day, it’s a guarantee that your wife will ask you to move the rock 15 feet to the left by the kitchen window. Because the sun looks so much brighter there. I recommend you pretend you can’t hear her.
Equipment we’ve discussed
1. Pickaxe - Pick Mattock
2. Dolley: Hand Truck, 400 Lb. Capacity
This bad boy can take up to 400 pounds. Should handle most moderate sized rocks.
3. Steel Bars: Fulton Wrecker Pry Bar
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Conclusion
So at the end of the day, if you want Garden Stones / Decorative Stones, then you’re going to have invest a little time and effort to learn proper “stones transport” skills and the science behind moving stones.
Spend some time, energy and muscle (A great weight loss technique as well) and make your garden as beautiful as it can be.