Stu Gardiner & Mark Denning
Not the best start to the day, Mark had somehow managed to loose his STEN light, probably from when we were digging on the previous Saturday, he had his helmet attached onto his back pack and it must have come loose and fallen into the grass, we looked everywhere and could not find it.
Anyway, generator rigged up we headed underground, however just as we approached Talus Mark realised he had forgotten the dust masks and had to go all the way back to the van.
At the dig face the drill was plugged in and to my surprise it lasted 2 seconds and stopped, after sometime Mark appeared and by luck he noticed that the generator was on 240v instead of 110v, he switched it over and all was fine.
We set about widening the approach to the current dig face and although the rock was very tough, a combination of many many holes, chisels and plugs and feathers saw the hole wide enough to start removing the loose mud beyond. All bags were filled along with the skips until we had totally filled the digging area to the point where we could just about exit.
The dig face is now workable although a large (loose) boulder will need to be removed somehow to allow the mud beyond to be dug. The choked passage is looking good with signs of a good flow of water, the mud is loose and the small rocks come out with ease.
Future sessions will again see lot's of hauling and a massive increase in spoil being deposited in Talus.
NOTE: We will require another Hilti 8mm SDS as we managed to destroy the end of it.
Total time underground: 7 hours
Saturday 18 June 2011
Whitepit - 15/06/11
Estelle Sandford, Stu Gardiner, Mike Moxon & Henry Dawson
All the filled bags and skips were taken up to Talus and deposited before work carried on at the dig face, around 4 bags of mud were extracted from the hole along with a large slab of rock which made the area bigger quite quickly.
The approach to the dig is quite snug so the generator and drill will be needed for the weekend.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
All the filled bags and skips were taken up to Talus and deposited before work carried on at the dig face, around 4 bags of mud were extracted from the hole along with a large slab of rock which made the area bigger quite quickly.
The approach to the dig is quite snug so the generator and drill will be needed for the weekend.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
Sunday 12 June 2011
Whitepit - 11th June 2011
Stu Gardiner, Mark Denning & Estelle Sandford
With the newly installed 110v cable to the dig face we transported the small generator to the surface depression and connected the cable before starting the generator.
Once at the dig face we connected the Bosch Hammer Drill and to our relief the drill worked meaning the very old cable was still in a working condition. We started out by drilling lot's of 10mm holes in the rocks that needed removing, once this was done we bored them out to 16mm to allow the insertion of the plugs and feathers.
Quick progress was made and lot's of rock and rubble was removed. With the increased drill power the dust being generated was considerably more than that of previous battery powered sessions so we had with us some luxury dust mask (thanks Mark).
During an over ambitious rock splitting moment the plugs and feathers became wedged, we had with us an SDS chisel bit so this was used in an attempt to break the surrounding rock, and to our surprise this worked extremely well and the remainder of the session was spent using the chisel bit to remove a huge amount of rock and stal making the foot sized hole now body sized.
All bags were filled and even the skip so the dig face is currently packed with spoil needing to be removed during the next session.
It is thought that another generator / drill session is needed before hopefully the digging will be mainly mud and small rocks meaning lot's of skip hauling and digging as usual.
Total time underground: 7 hours
With the newly installed 110v cable to the dig face we transported the small generator to the surface depression and connected the cable before starting the generator.
Once at the dig face we connected the Bosch Hammer Drill and to our relief the drill worked meaning the very old cable was still in a working condition. We started out by drilling lot's of 10mm holes in the rocks that needed removing, once this was done we bored them out to 16mm to allow the insertion of the plugs and feathers.
Quick progress was made and lot's of rock and rubble was removed. With the increased drill power the dust being generated was considerably more than that of previous battery powered sessions so we had with us some luxury dust mask (thanks Mark).
During an over ambitious rock splitting moment the plugs and feathers became wedged, we had with us an SDS chisel bit so this was used in an attempt to break the surrounding rock, and to our surprise this worked extremely well and the remainder of the session was spent using the chisel bit to remove a huge amount of rock and stal making the foot sized hole now body sized.
All bags were filled and even the skip so the dig face is currently packed with spoil needing to be removed during the next session.
It is thought that another generator / drill session is needed before hopefully the digging will be mainly mud and small rocks meaning lot's of skip hauling and digging as usual.
Total time underground: 7 hours
Whitepit - 08th June 2011
Mark Denning, Stu Gardiner, Mike Moxon & Henry Dawson
The borrowed St Cuthberts 110v cable (100m) was installed from the entrance down through the cave to the current dig face where around 5m was coiled up for future progression. The cable was cable tied down the ladder as not to cause an obstruction and tucked away off the main route through the cave.
Once the cable was installed some more hard digging was carried on with little progress being made, Mark had his battery drill so a few plugs and feathers were used and some small sections were removed.
The hole remains small and the removal of any spoil from within requires a very awkward inverted manoeuvre.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
The borrowed St Cuthberts 110v cable (100m) was installed from the entrance down through the cave to the current dig face where around 5m was coiled up for future progression. The cable was cable tied down the ladder as not to cause an obstruction and tucked away off the main route through the cave.
Once the cable was installed some more hard digging was carried on with little progress being made, Mark had his battery drill so a few plugs and feathers were used and some small sections were removed.
The hole remains small and the removal of any spoil from within requires a very awkward inverted manoeuvre.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
Monday 6 June 2011
Tony Audsley's online Log book - Home Close
Below is Tony Audsley's online log book, an interesting read, covering recent activities over at Wigmore fam and the Home Close dig.
Tony Audsley's Digging Log
Tony Audsley's Digging Log
Whitepit - 05/06/11
Estelle Sandford, Mark Denning & Stu Gardiner
We were all woken to Mark making up some 16mm plugs and feathers at the Belfry at what seemed like the middle of the night, however it was around 9am, but we all had hangovers and a hacksaw grinding through steel is not the best of sounds.
The plan was again to attack the floor in an aid to enlarge the hole further to gain access to the loose mud and hopefully easy digging beyond. Although some of the floor was removed the drill batteries were just not lasting long enough with the 16mm holes needed for the plugs and feathers.
The crow bar was pushed as far down as possible into the loose mud and it was estimated at nearly 1m deep and with plenty more to go.
After a lengthy discussion it was decided that we are to install a 110v cable so that mains powered hammer drills can be used in an attempt to drill more holes, deeper and for longer so finally break the floor up.
Total time undergound: 2 hours
The next phase ..........................
We were all woken to Mark making up some 16mm plugs and feathers at the Belfry at what seemed like the middle of the night, however it was around 9am, but we all had hangovers and a hacksaw grinding through steel is not the best of sounds.
The plan was again to attack the floor in an aid to enlarge the hole further to gain access to the loose mud and hopefully easy digging beyond. Although some of the floor was removed the drill batteries were just not lasting long enough with the 16mm holes needed for the plugs and feathers.
The crow bar was pushed as far down as possible into the loose mud and it was estimated at nearly 1m deep and with plenty more to go.
After a lengthy discussion it was decided that we are to install a 110v cable so that mains powered hammer drills can be used in an attempt to drill more holes, deeper and for longer so finally break the floor up.
Total time undergound: 2 hours
The next phase ..........................
Whitepit - 01/06/11
Estelle Sandford, Stu Gardiner, Mark Denning, Mike Moxon & Henry Dawson
Time was spent removing the spoil from the dig area, around 10 skips / bags of mainly rock and some mud was taken up to Talus.
The remainder of the session was spent trying to enlarge the small hole that has appeared in the floor, however it is surrounded bu jammed boulders, this along with the the constricted nature of the dig face make for some very hard work. The mud in the hole is very loose and a crow bar revealed that there is lots of broken stal in amongst it.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
Time was spent removing the spoil from the dig area, around 10 skips / bags of mainly rock and some mud was taken up to Talus.
The remainder of the session was spent trying to enlarge the small hole that has appeared in the floor, however it is surrounded bu jammed boulders, this along with the the constricted nature of the dig face make for some very hard work. The mud in the hole is very loose and a crow bar revealed that there is lots of broken stal in amongst it.
Total time underground: 2.5 hours
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