BurnsFamily Blog

Is there a home improvement project that DOESN’T benefit from power tools? So far we can’t find one, and fitting flagstone has proven this Truth again. In a previous post we mentioned that gently asking the flagstone to follow our commands and crack along a prescribed line was … well … frustrating.

Creating a large “step” around the backyard deck was an even more constrained environment, with less room for error. After a few more frustrating hours wrestling with the stone (and losing), we wondered to ourselves “isn’t there a way we can apply a power tool to this problem?!?”

Thankfully, God had already invented the Angle Grinder.

Secretly, I’ve always wanted a reason to buy one of these Bad Boys. Welding nerds use them, so do “Car guys”. But I haven’t found a good excuse to take up welding (I’m still working on that one), and I know I’m not good enough to do my own auto body work. That’s ruled out getting an Angle Grinder. Until now.

I found this guy’s website, who had a nice write up how to intimidate flagstone into submission with an angle grinder. We walked down to Home Depot — How many of our sentences start out with that phrase? — and bought the cheapest angle grinder that could still handle a diamond-edged stone-cutting blade. (Say those last 6 words again. Oh yeah….)

Boy, oh BOY does this thing slice through flagstone! “Cuts like butter” is almost appropriate here, but cutting butter doesn’t create nearly this much mess. Oh, and Safety First! There’s a pile of accidents to be had with this tool. Exposed blade spinning at 13,000 RPM, shards of glass-sharp stone flying everywhere, 110 dB of ear-spiltting noise, and clouds of stone dust. When this project is done, I hope enjoying the backyard is as much fun as creating it was!

Here’s a sneak-peak of how things are shaping up back there..