Sledgehammer

It didn't take a crane or a bomb to get the coal burning furnace out of the cellar. But almost. A friend of mine told me to use a sledgehammer to try to break apart the cast iron inner section. Using the neighbors' 6# sledgehammer I started hitting the furnace as hard as I could. After about five minutes I realized that it just wasn't going to work. The sledgehammer wasn't heavy enough to get the job done. So off to Lowe's I went in search of the ultimate sledgehammer. I ended up buying a 10# contractors grade sledgehammer, the heaviest model they had. Back at the house I once again tried to break apart the furnace. This time it worked. After several hours of work and a lot of sweat I had the furnace broken down into pieces light enough to carry or roll out of the cellar. I now have close to a thousand pounds (guesstimate) of cast iron ready to be sold to the local scrap metal yard.

Here are some before, during, and after pictures: