"My neighbors say if I ever get arrested and sent up the river I'll be in my glory busting rocks," says Ron Gallati, Wyoming, Minn., who made his own rock splitter.

"It all started a few years ago when I decided I wanted a field stone fireplace," Gallati explains. "I found someone to split the stone by hand for me. Then I decided I wanted a field stone retaining wall, but the fellow who split the stones for the fireplace wasn't available. I couldn't find anyone else to split the stones, so I made my own splitter that's powered by my log splitter.

"It's basically a paper-cutter style cutter with a hard-faced cutting edge and a 6-to-1 ratio of leverage."

The steel knife Gallati made is 1 1/2-in. thick by 8-in. high by 5-ft. long with a cutting edge angled to 30 degrees. The blade's 1 1/2-in. thick hard facing is made out of steel bar stock welded to the edge of the blade. An adjustable pin in one end allows the blade to pivot on an I-beam. The log splitter mounts vertically at the opposite end of the blade. Its hydraulic cylinder attaches to the open end of the blade and powers it up and down.

The splitter cuts rocks, slicing them in half so they have one flat side. It cuts through field stones handily, but may not be suitable for granite-type rocks, says Gallati who's only used it on field stones. The splitter cuts rocks up to the size of basketballs, but struggles with anything bigger, he says.