For breaking ground directly, a chisel and point crowbar would be best – its thick and weighted construction make it an effective tool for breaking and wrecking work. A shorter chisel and point crowbar can be lifted higher with more ease than a longer bar – thus, the force when dropping it onto the ground you wish to break will be greater.
A pinch point bar can be used as an aid when breaking up concrete slabs and other paving. However, there are other bars which are more suited to this task (see: Pry Bars). As this task depends on leverage, a longer bar will make things easier for you by minimising the amount of force you will have to put in to lift the slab.
What else will you need?
A sledgehammer
A co-worker
Wonkee’s hoof-by-hoof guide: How to break rock or concrete with a bar
There are two ways you can break concrete or rock using a large crowbar:
Using a chisel and point crowbar, you can break through thin layers of concrete, rock, or tarmac by following these simple steps:
1. Raise the bar up above the area you want to break through.
2. Bring the pointed end down onto the concrete, rock or tarmac, using the full weight of the bar as the driving force.
3. Turn the bar over and raise it again.
4. Bring the chisel edge of the bar down onto the concrete, rock or tarmac, again using the full weight of the bar as the driving force.
5. When cracks begin to appear, wedge the pointed end of the bar into them and lever the debris apart. If the cracks are very narrow, you can use the chisel edge to get between them.
6. Repeat this process over the whole area you wish to break up, using your bar as a lever to separate and lift loose chunks of debris for disposal.
Using a pinch point bar as an aid to break up concrete slabs or other paving, you can:
1. Insert the wedge end of the bar under the edge of the slab you want to break up, and push down on the opposite end, levering it upward.
2. Have your helper strike the slab with a heavy striking tool, such as a sledgehammer, to break it up.
3. Remove the bar, and repeat this process on each slab until all are broken up, or as desired.
