Homemade atlas stones

[Dave Van Skike]

Originally Posted by Kelly White

Old follow up, but I ended up making a "stone" out of a polyform boat fender/buoy. You can get them free if you are around the coast, because they tend to melt in the sun making them un-usable for nice boats after a few years of use.

Pretty cheap on ebay too. They have all sizes from 15" to retarted big.

I cut a small 2 sided flap in the top to pour the concrete (I actually used "precision grout" I think it is heaver than concrete) drilled about 50 holes in the fender for drainage and filled up half way with concrete, added about 80lbs of chain and then topped off with concrete. The outer material makes it easier to pickup (good or bad) and it took about 1 hour to make.

Small ones may be cool to throw, due to the fact that they are very grippy.

I think I have the A-2, second smallest. New it is 32$polyform
It shows 8.2 gallons of space. Concrete is about 18lbs/gallon i think, so with the chain it is about 225lbs.

Pretty cheap way to get a good implement.

The picture is a big ass one, not mine.

interesting. have you popped it out of the mold? I'm interested in how the low shrink grout holds up. I've made a concrete countertop out of that for exterior use but is was very slick and I was concerned it wouldn't hold up in my application. I could see it working well for a stone. Did you add any fibers?

[Kelly White]

I did not pop it out, and I am not sure if I am. I think I am going to keep it in the ball. With the loop at the top you can clip in handels for farmers walks

As far as the grout, it holds up great (although it will crackif not supported properly on a countertop), and the specs seem to show much higher psi than concrete. I have done two outside countertops, and a interior countertop with the grout over the past 6 years, holds up well. If I was going to make a complete round stone out of it, I would use fibers. There are a few vendors that make countertop blend that does not show the "fuzz" from the fibers in the finished product, and needs no rebar. That stuff would be the deal for a heavy use stone. http://www.scpusa.com/index.php?q=node/60 Those guys are doing overhangs without rebar.

[Dave Van Skike]

Originally Posted by Kelly White

I did not pop it out, and I am not sure if I am. I think I am going to keep it in the ball. With the loop at the top you can clip in handels for farmers walks

As far as the grout, it holds up great (although it will crackif not supported properly on a countertop), and the specs seem to show much higher psi than concrete. I have done two outside countertops, and a interior countertop with the grout over the past 6 years, holds up well. If I was going to make a complete round stone out of it, I would use fibers. There are a few vendors that make countertop blend that does not show the "fuzz" from the fibers in the finished product, and needs no rebar. That stuff would be the deal for a heavy use stone. http://www.scpusa.com/index.php?q=node/60 Those guys are doing overhangs without rebar.

Thanks Kelly. That's perfect. I have some leftover grout I may try a small throwing stone..like a 25# Braemar stone with fiber and see how it holds up. At the end of the day, it might be a little too slick for an atlas stone.

[Hugh Gilmore]

Hi Guys, I just happend to finally get round to making one of these, its sitting curing as we speak, unfortunately im broke and also didnt want to spend a fortune shipping a atlas stone mold to ireland so I knocked together a home made mold.

First of all I took a beach ball and covered it with paper mache, let it set for 3 years yes thats how long ago I started this, lol.

Then I covered the mold in "skim" its the finish coat of plaster that plasters put on block walls , half a bag will cost you nothing if you know someone , then I just added water to the power and smeared it on the outside for strength.

Today it got filled with concrete

its sitting curing now in two days i will try and remove it and see how it looks and let you know.

might have been a wasted post if it all goes pear shaped but its looking good so far.

[Hugh Gilmore]

IT WORKED !!

Really suprised it did such a good job,

I have tried to up load a pic but its too big and im not sure what to do to fix that, i am going to Up load it to my blog where i have a video of the mould and will eventually have a video of the final stage

http://adversityathletics.com/2011/0...tone-part-one/

[Matt Matijevich]

Originally Posted by Hugh Gilmore

First of all I took a beach ball and covered it with paper mache, let it set for 3 years yes thats how long ago I started this, lol.

Great patience.

Originally Posted by Hugh Gilmore

I have tried to up load a pic but its too big and im not sure what to do to fix that

Try this site: http://imgur.com/

[Hugh Gilmore]

http://adversityathletics.files.word...1/stonevap.jpg

sorry i had a bad link in there, i have edited the link to take you to the how to article on my blog in my previous post and here above is the link to a picture.

yeah unfortuantely my circumstances have been less than ideal the past few years but, you have no idea how frigging big a smile i had after lifting it.

i havent weighed it but its estimated that it should be about 50 or so kg.