Avoiding Boulders

The people that used to only do small time sluicing viewed at the fact of removing boulders as a great amount of unneeded work not to mention the expense it involved so they simply worked around these. Obviously in cases when it was absolutely necessary, the small time sluicer would remove a big boulder and the people in this day and age that are doing dredging should do the same with boulders. It’s a lot less work, less dangerous and time saving.

The biggest reason you do not want to get involved with boulders is due to the weight they have. We will give you an example of three different types of boulders and weight; one of these boulders can be forty eight inches in diameter and have the shape of a sphere, the other one can be a rectangle of twelve by twenty four by forty eight inches, and the third one can be one that is somewhat flat and be of six inches thick by thirty inches by sixty inches. There are not a lot of rocks that are like this but on the other hand there are many that do look somewhat like this and besides the weights on these can be worked out without difficulty so that he or she can get an idea of what it would involve and require in order to mobilize them and remove them from an area. If we were to give you an example with a weight of one hundred and seventy pounds per cubic foot for example we could give you an idea of the granite or density of it.

When this is calculated you will see that the flatter stone is the lightest one of all and weighs 1,062 pounds, the rectangular boulder weighs 1,360 pounds, and the rounded one weighs the most at 5,695 pounds. This is a good way of judging the weight of a boulder and it also demonstrates how tricky boulders can actually be since in some cases they look smaller than what they actually weigh. However that is not all. You will also need to keep in mind how much these boulders would weigh under the water since this is the place they would need to be removed in many cases.

In the case of our imaginary or example boulders, we would obtain a weight of around six hundred and seventy, eight hundred and sixty and 3,600 pounds. It is not difficult to see that if this stone were being raised from the water by a crane or by the use of a winch the abrupt increase of the weight as it broke through the water would be quite a considerable amount and it could even be over one ton in some cases. Even when the strength that would be necessary in order to move these stones is reduced when the angle of the pull is inclined, the work and the amount of time that is spent on just moving one alone can be a good amount and in some cases a waste of time.

If there were only one boulder in a stream it probably would not be such a big deal, however if you have ever been to one of these streams you know that in most cases boulders don’t come on their own, there are several to many of them and moving them around is just a waste of your time. It will be a hell of a lot easier to work around them or to work down them or on the side in order for the gravel under them is able to get exposed and dredged. It is definitely a much quicker way of getting the job done, however, you do need to be careful when doing this.