In the previous posts in the “how to remove railroad ties without really trying” series, we’ve taken an in-depth look at what is required before we start throwin’ out our backs trying to get those eyesores removed.  Now that we’ve got the right tools for the project, we can start removing the railroad ties with little to no impact or pain.

First, you’ll need to prep your area.  If you have grass, weeds, mulch, excess dirt, you’ll need to remove that so you’ll have easier access to the railroad ties.  To this end, I’ve used my Ryobi weed trimmer/edger with great success.  You’ll want to make sure you have a clear area to work with — it makes things 100 times easier.

Next, take your flat or square head shovel and start to dig a straight line  along the inside of the railroad ties (the side opposite the grass/material the railroad tie was edging).  I’d recommend going down at least 4 to 8 inches, depending on the size of the railroad ties.

Once the area on the inside of the railroad ties is clear, take your prybar or action bar and see if you can raise the railroad tie out of the ground.  In most instances, the railroad ties will have rotted slightly from years of being in wet soil, so you’ll have some mud/dirt that has filled in, making the railroad tie you’re trying to remove a wee-bit heavier.  No matter, this is what the sledgehammer is for!

With your prybar/action bar having successfully propped up the railroad tie, grab your flat or square head shovel and use it to assist the prybar in keeping the railroad tie above ground level.

Finally, the fun part: sledgehammer away.  Very methodically, take your first swing at the exposed end of the railroad tie.  Before you start swinging away, see what happened with your first swing.  Did it move anything else out of place?  Will it drive the railroad tie into your foundation?  Your siding?  Other landscaping?

With all that safety stuff out of the way, take your aggression out with the sledgehammer!  You’re almost done!

With the railroad tie successfully removed, the hardest part of the job is moving the dead weight railroad tie from the jobsite to the proper burial place.  For me, living in the city, it was a Gorilla Cart ride down my alley to the Yard Waste Only dumpster.  For non-city dwellers, you may want to check with your local waste management company to find out how to dispose of the railroad tie properly.

In our final post in this series, my wife will detail what we ended up doing with the cleared area. (Hint: it looks awesome now)

In our last post in the “how to remove railroad ties without really trying” series, we examined the right prybar/action bar for the project.  Now we’ll take a look at finding the right sledge hammer.

The primary purpose of the sledge hammer is to let the hammer head do all of the hard work so you don’t have to — something that I’m sure everyone can agree is a good thing!  To that end, there are a lot of various weights, sizes and shapes of sledge hammers.  Based on the needs of the job, I feel comfortable recommending a sledge hammer with a head weight anywhere between 4 pounds and 10 pounds.  Anything more than 10 pounds would be overkill for this project and would cost considerably more than you probably want to spend.

I used my father’s old 8 pound sledge hammer (as you can see in the picture, it’s quite old and rusty) because I was still searching around for the right tool.  Don’t get me wrong - it’s a great sledge hammer, but the handle was splintered towards the hammer’s head and would snag on my work gloves.

My solution is to spend about $30 and buy the Rubbermaid Roughneck 8-Lb. Sledge Hammer.  It’s important to note that while not all sledge hammers are created equal, most are constructed well enough to handle most around-the-house and outdoors jobs.  We’re not using ours for professional demolition projects or commercial applications, so just make sure the bases are covered:

• Hardened steel head
• Cushion grip
• 4 - 10 Lb

You should be good to go.  With all the tools out of the way, let’s detail how we’re going to remove those railroad ties!

Our last post in the “how to remove railroad ties without really trying” series featured finding the right flat-head/square shovel for the job.  Now we’ll take a good look at prybars - one of the most necessary tools for this particular project.

Readers of this blog will note how much I fawn over Stanley’s FatMax Xtreme FuBar.  It’s for good reason: the FuBar just flat-out OWNS.  In fact, I get downright giddy when I think about how sweet it is to demo things with it.

That said, it should come as no surprise to anyone who frequents this here blog that I’m going to recommend the Stanley FatMax Xtreme FuBar III as the most perfect prybar/demobar for any and all of your demolition needs.  With a 30″ length, the FatMax Xtreme FuBar III has superior leveraging capabilities.  At 8.5 pounds, the FuBar III is light and balanced enough for swinging precision and maximum striking power.

Now, I know what you’re thinking - “Why is this FuBar III necessary when all I need is to pry up some railroad ties?  Can’t I just get an action bar that’ll do the same thing?”

My answer is simple: Yes, you can.  However, it’s worth noting that the FuBar III is extremely versatile - it’s excellent for prying, splitting, board bending and heavy striking jobs - so it goes far beyond the one or two applications of most normal action or prybars.

Trust me on this - you won’t be disappointed with the Stanley FatMax Xtreme  FuBar III!

In my last post in the “How to remove railroad ties without really trying” series, I laid out some basic tools for the job.  This post will focus on the most important item for the job – work gloves.

You may be asking yourself – “Why do I need work gloves?”  The answer is simple: they save your hands from all sorts of wear and tear.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in the yard raking leaves or shoveling dirt without work gloves and ended up with some serious calluses on the meat of my hands.  As an added bonus, they’ll keep your hands clean and free of debris and sharp objects.

I recommend a glove with a padded palm.  When operating high-vibration tools, like a tiller, the padded palm can really come in handy.  When swinging a sledgehammer, like this job entails, the padding will save your hands from developing all sorts of unsightly calluses.

As for gloves, I’ve been wearing a lot of different kinds over the years.  I think I’ve finally settled on a pair of Milwaukee Heavy Duty Work Gloves. The gloves feature the padded palm with memory foam to reduce vibration and minimize hand fatigue.  The gloves also have silicone finger pads for superior gripping - which, as I’m sure you can imagine, are just what you’ll want to have when swinging an axe or sledgehammer.  To top it off, the gloves are very comfortable, which cannot be understated!

In my previous post, ‘How to remove railroad ties without really trying,’ I spoke at length about how sore I was after doing roughly 75% of the job with the wrong set of tools.  And just like yesterday, I’m here to set you straight.

First and foremost, you need to prep your area.  In my case, this meant pulling out my weed whacker and trimming all of the renegade zoysia that had grown over the railroad ties.  Once the area is clear and you can see your target, make sure you have the following tools on hand:

• Work gloves – quite possibly the most important item for the job.  A baseball player who cares about his hands wears a pair of batting gloves to the plate, so why shouldn’t you wear a pair of gloves, too?
• Flat shovel – used for digging a straight line behind the railroad tie.  More on that later, though.
• Prybar/Action bar – the meat and potatoes of the operation.  The prybar is used to work underneath the railroad tie to prop it up for our next essential tool…
• Sledgehammer – the single most important tool for removing these blasted railroad ties.  If you don’t believe me, just try to remove one of these guys from the ground with nothing but your lower back:
  

I’ll explore each of the above mentioned tools for the job in my next post in this series.

The former owners of our home were not expert gardeners.  In fact, there seemed to be little rhyme or reason in the landscaping.  We had four large bushes in the backyard, 50-year old ivy along the fence and six yew bushes in front of the house.  Needless to say, they all had to go.

The Black & Decker Alligator Lopper 4.5-AMP Electric Chain Saw went through a honeysuckle bush like butter.  Since we were putting cobblestones in that area, we dug down around the roots about six inches and used the saw to cut below grade.  I loved avoiding digging up the root ball.  We used the same technique on an unidentifiable bush that was tearing our screens.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get away with that trick with the ivy.  However, the saw was easily able to get through the toughest and oldest vines so we could get to the roots with a shovel.

The yew bushes were a huge project.  We had three on each side of the front door, and I believe they were planted when the house was built.  Since we didn’t have access to a Bobcat, I knew we couldn’t pull the bushes out by the roots.  The “honeysuckle method” was our only option.  The saw made quick work of the trunk, and was able to cut through the exposed roots quickly.  If we had this saw two years ago, we’d never have worried about how to get rid of the yews.

We don’t have any trees on our urban lot, but we’ve loaned the saw to friends and family who lost tree limbs in storms and it cuts them up quickly and safely.  This is a great tool for small to medium jobs and for those of us who are intimidated by “big” chain saws.

Recently, my wife and I tore a big hole in our hose to install a door for easy access to our patio.  I’ll be honest - getting over the mental hump that comes with performing heavy surgery on your house is quite a challenge, but if you set out to do it with the right tools at your disposal, it’s actually a rather easy process (albeit a time-consuming one).

Of all the tools needed for this job, the heaviest used was easily our Ryobi Reciprocating Saw.  We put this guy through his paces cutting through studs, drywall and nails and didn’t hear a peep about being overworked.  In fact, when all was said and done, it actually fueled my desire to cut through more stuff, even though it probably wasn’t a good idea to do so!

This smooth operator has a toolless blade clamp for quick blade changes (which is necessary with the amount of stuff we had the reciprocating saw cutting through) and a very comfortable front grip for easy maneuvering. Weighing in at 5.08 pounds, the Ryobi Reciprocating Saw struck the perfect balance of “just light enough” for our heavy-duty needs.

In addition to making light work of our project, the Ryobi Reciprocating Saw is well-versed in cutting various materials from PCV Pipe to galvanized pipe and just about anything in between.  I even used it to cut down a honeysuckle bush in my back yard with relative ease.

The Ryobi Reciprocating Saw not only lived up to my expectations, but exceeded them.  At under $50, what’s stopping you from picking one up?

I can’t believe it took me four posts to write about my all-time favorite tool: the Stanley Fubar.  I’m firmly convinced that the Fubar was a gift from the Gods so that we may be more efficient deconstructors!

At it’s very core, the Stanley Fubar is a demolition machine. It’s a 4-in-1 tool for prying, board-bending, splitting and my personal favorite, striking jobs. I’ve never had more fun demolishing then when I’ve got the Fubar in my hand - and once you get your hands on one, you’ll immediately know why.

Expertly designed as one piece of solid-forged steel, the Fubar really is a jack of all trades. It has a comfortable handle for easy gripping, two-tiered jaws for grabbing and a beveled nail slot for pulling and prying tricky nails. Weighing in a 4 pounds, the Stanley Tools FatMax Xtreme Fubar is a must for any DIYer’s tool collection.

The marketing wizards over at Stanley Tools put together a wonderful website extolling the virtues of Fubar demolition, so head on over and smash some virtual stuff.  After destroying a toilet from the comfort of your computer chair, how can you possibly avoid dropping as little as $35 on this sweet utility bar?