# breaking up dragon stone, how?



## a1Matt

I have some dragon stone and want to break it into smaller pieces.

I am unsure what the results will be, or what the best way to break it is.

I really am a bit clueless at this kind of thing so any input appreciated!

One of the main things I am wondering is when you break it do you get more 'swiss cheese holes' or are they only on the outside edges. (I suspect outside edges, as they look like sand erosion, and the sand would not be able to get inside.. just a guess though...)

I also guess I use a hammer and chisel and try to line it up along the existing 'lines' of the stone.
Are there different chisels, which one is best?


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## mlgt

*Re: breaking up dragon stone*

Buying smaller pieces?


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## a1Matt

*Re: breaking up dragon stone*

that would have been first choice... but I've not seen any small pieces in any of the local LFS for many months now and ran out of patience (I know I could get it online but I am too tight to pay the postage).


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## mlgt

*Re: breaking up dragon stone*

I see maybe ring around some places. Or get someone to do it for you


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## a1Matt

*Re: breaking up dragon stone*

I'm gonna smash at least one of the pieces whatever 
Just be nice to have a bit of guidance before I do.

I know other people on here have done it, so lets hope they read this thread!


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## Lisa_Perry75

I smashed up some mini landscape rock. I used hammer and chisel. Health and Safety USEFUL fact no. 1) wear some kind of eye protection   I managed to send a shard of rock flying which luckily just hit me in the face not my eye - but was pretty close.


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## viktorlantos

Dragon breaks easily. If you drop it from your hand it's enough to break into pieces.


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## danmil3s

when ever ive smashed rock i covered it with a tea towel (don't use the wife's best) and used a lump hammer and bolster never broken up dragon stone. but a big hammer cant fail


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## NeilW

I used a lump hammer and bolster for mine with a towel and sunglasses for protection   

Its surprisingly full of clay too!


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## amy4342

I tried throwing mine, but I ended up breaking stuff in my parents garage, rather than the rock. So I reverted to a hammer - I covered it with a carrier bag so that all the pieces stayed in the carrier bag rather than flying off everywhere (and probably breaking more stuff! lol).


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## ghostsword

I have broken large pieces of it. Towel and hammer does not fail. You need to wear glasses, the bits that may fly off are pretty sharp.

I have also drilled it, a power drill does a good job of it.


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## flygja

I've broken some up before too. But my recommendation is not to hammer and chisel along the veins. This causes the dragon stone to break up into slate-like pieces, which isn't that nice for iwagumi layouts. OK if you wanna line some driftwood or sand/soil borders. I'd recommend bashing it at spots where it'd make lumps of rock rather than slates. 

Hard to explain without actually bashing some rocks in front of you, hope you get what I mean.


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## a1Matt

Thanks for the input everyone.
It has been very helpful, and I am feeling confident about smashing up the rock now.

(I may not feed back on the results for some time as I am going to experiment with cement\polystyrene structures for a while before I get to the smashing rock stage.)



			
				flygja said:
			
		

> I've broken some up before too. But my recommendation is not to hammer and chisel along the veins. This causes the dragon stone to break up into slate-like pieces, which isn't that nice for iwagumi layouts. OK if you wanna line some driftwood or sand/soil borders. I'd recommend bashing it at spots where it'd make lumps of rock rather than slates.
> 
> Hard to explain without actually bashing some rocks in front of you, hope you get what I mean.



I get what you mean   
I had not thought about it that way :idea: 

Keep the advice coming people


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## ghostsword

a1Matt said:
			
		

> I am going to experiment with cement\polystyrene structures for a while before I get to the smashing rock stage.)



I would like to take some tips from you on this. I need to build a collumn that is somewhat light. 

Do you have any tips on how to mix the cement and polystyrene structure?


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## a1Matt

I have no tips as I've not done it yet!

I will do a test to see if simply slapping cement onto a polystyrene structure will stick.
If that fails then I will research what I could coat the polystyrene with.
Not sure when I will do all this, sometime in the next few months.


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## Piece-of-fish

I will double flygja not to hammer along the veins for the same reason.  unless the piece is really really thick.
And yes, you will get the same cheese holes inside...


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## a1Matt

Piece-of-fish said:
			
		

> And yes, you will get the same cheese holes inside...



AWESOME!


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## flygja

Usually people get blocks of styrofoam, shape them with a hobby knife, then either melt the surface (to get rid of the compressed balls look) or spray it with resin (not sure which). It is then spray-painted to look like rocks. I'm not sure why you'd wanna slap cement on them? 

It's not all cheese holes in mine when I smashed up my dragon rock. Some were relatively smooth, greenish grayish in colour. I guess that was the "vein".


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## a1Matt

Thanks for your comments Fly   



			
				flygja said:
			
		

> I'm not sure why you'd wanna slap cement on them?



I appreciate this seems a weird thing to do!

There are a few reasons I have for doing this. I am not sure at all that any of them are good reasons, it is all going to be a bit experimental, but this is what I am thinking...

- if I use just cement it is quite heavy and cumbersome.  The flat bases of the polystyrene will sit nicely on the floor of the tank, but polystyrene floats and needs glueing down.  Hopefully a combo of both will be more manageable to move around the tank and put in situ (and move about at a later date if the urge takes me).

- I like the effect the reefers get with their "DIY live rock" so want to see if I can copy this (they add various things to the cement mix, then wash them out after to get little pockets of holes. they use salt, pens, bits of pasta, grains of rice, all sorts).

- I want to add a covering of sand and pieces of dragon stone in places.  I hope to use the cement to 'glue' these in place.

The cement bits will then have moss on them (got about 15 species to home, so will create lots of flat ledges throughout the tank, which is a 160litre, 2 foot cube).

This is all quite ambitious for me, and if I can not get the look I want it may never get to the stage of having water in it! I will enjoy the process regardless though 

Comments welcome!


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## LondonDragon

Dragon stone crumbles very easy, so you must be careful doing this, if you hammer it hard you must end up with dust! lol

Pointy chisel should do the trick to get it to break the way you want.


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## mlgt

It aint half dusty! Non stop rinsing with water and there still muck!

Fun breaking up the stone though!


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## ghostsword

I must have a different dragon stone.. Quite hard to crack it..  Did not crumble.


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## a1Matt

I've done a lot of surfing trying to work out the real name of dragon stone (with no luck).

Along the way I came across a couple of references to there being two sources of the stone, Japan and Turkey.
Apparently the stuff from Turkey has more of a reddish\orange hue.

Not sure how reliable that info is, but if it does hold true then I expect the Turkish stuff is what ADC stock and that it is easier to break.

I could well be talking rubbish!


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## ghostsword

ahh.. make sense.. I got my rocks at TGM.. bloody expensive, but tough as rocks..  As they should be.. They may last me my whole life, and maybe more. 

Dragon stone seems to be basalt.


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## Piece-of-fish

a1Matt said:
			
		

> I've done a lot of surfing trying to work out the real name of dragon stone (with no luck).
> 
> Along the way I came across a couple of references to there being two sources of the stone, Japan and Turkey.
> Apparently the stuff from Turkey has more of a reddish\orange hue.
> 
> Not sure how reliable that info is, but if it does hold true then I expect the Turkish stuff is what ADC stock and that it is easier to break.
> 
> I could well be talking rubbish!



Thats right, heard the same thing from Rik (mlgt) and can confirm from my experience. Ordered some from aquaessentials and it came in both varieties. The more reddish/orange did break easily and the greyish was hard. Ended up sending greyish back and keeping reddish which i used on my 'green and green'.


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## a1Matt

That is good to have it confirmed.

I'd love to find out what it is really called.
Like Luis says it is accepted to be a basalt stone, but which one?
If we knew that we could actively look for more (hopefully cheaper) suppliers.

I know this has been asked many times before, so do not expect an answer!


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## ghostsword

From where Paulo is, up north in Portugal, there are lots of basalts there, and some look very good.  

Next time I go to Lisbon I will check it out, most hill got lots.. Massive boulders.


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## a1Matt

That picture looks familiar... I think it is the giants causeway (Antrim, Ireland)!


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## ghostsword

a1Matt said:
			
		

> That picture looks familiar... I think it is the giants causeway (Antrim, Ireland)!



Yep..

These ones are in portugal:
CabeÃ§o de Montachique - Loures/Mafra. DijunÃ§Ã£o PrismÃ¡tica em Basaltos. Escoada de Lava.


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## a1Matt

Very inspiring


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## mlgt

Almost looks like a painting.


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## LondonDragon

Yep there are plenty of rocks in the north of Portugal, I live near a river there aswell so it would be great to go rumbling!! When a rumbling trip to the north of Portugal?


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## ghostsword

LondonDragon said:
			
		

> Yep there are plenty of rocks in the north of Portugal, I live near a river there aswell so it would be great to go rumbling!! When a rumbling trip to the north of Portugal?



Sign me in, local knowledge is always good..  

We may also find plants..


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## James R

This is interesting as this is what I want to do as have three very large pieces. Strange thing happened though, I put a piece in my existing tank, rinsed and soaked it and the barbs hated it, sat under cover and wouldnt come out. Took it out and back to normal


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## DTL

Just wondering if anyone has used an electric tile saw to cut this??


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## James R

I broke mine off last night by just bashing it with another piece, breaks of well easily. But as has been previously stated loads of brown clay inside. Going to jet wash it and use in my next tank


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