How to Cut Landscape Stone

Adding landscape stones to your garden or yard creates a decorative focal point in any yard. The addition of landscape stones can also be a difficult project if the person adding the stones does not know the proper way to cut these decorative stones. There are two ways to cut these stones to make sure they fit where needed. They can be cut with a concrete saw or broken with a stonemason's hammer. The saw is the more exact way to cut the stones, while the stonemason's hammer is the more cost-effective.

Concrete saw

Stonemason's hammer

Plywood

Eye protection

Two bags of play sand

Mark the stone where the cut needs to be made, all the way around the stone if possible.

Place the play-sand bags next to each other on the plywood. The long sides of the bags should be next to each other.

Place a stone on top of the sand bags. The stone should be dropped from about 6 inches to create a dent in the sand to hold the stone.

Cut the stone halfway through. Rotate stone and finish cut.

Mark the stone where the cut needs to be made, all the way around if possible.

Using the chisel end of the hammerhead, tap the cut mark all the way around the stone.

Place the stone on the ground and strike the stone with great force on the cut mark. Rotate one-quarter turn after each strike.

After several blows, the stone should split on the cut mark.

If the stone does not split, repeat Steps three and four until the stone breaks.

Use more blows with the hammer if you are not very accurate.

Always use eye protection with both of these techniques.

Always follow all safety rules for power tools and hand tools.

Keep feet out of the way when using the saw.