Pile Driver At Thorny Point

The  pile driver and crew showed up at Thorny Point today and started on the pilings for the new pier.  The series of pictures below show the pile driver at work.

 Here the pile driver has just finished setting the first three pilings.  These were the most critical since they would guide the rest of the settings.  In this picture is the drilling jib (block of wood), a square to help get the pier square to the shoreline and a drilling jig guide (brown cardboard between the backdrop and the drilling jig).  The drilling jig guide didn't work out so I just make careful measurements from the backdrop to reference lines on the drilling jig.  (The drilling jig was manufactured by the Munnikhuysen Manufacturing Company and performed admirably.)

 Here you can see the first three pilings set.

 In this picture you can see the pile driver (cordless drill) and the drilling jig.  The tape on the drill bit is my depth guide.  I had purchased some drill stops that you clamp on the bits but they keep working loose and so didn't provide much benefit.  The tape work better.

Here the first three rows of pilings have been set.  The left two rows go under the rails.  The left most and right most row are eight feet apart as is the spacing between each set of three pilings.  This is the standard spacing for this pier.  Another row of pilings need to go next to the backdrop but they are too close for the pile driver to set so they will be set after the stringers are in place.

The pile driver crew made such good progress that they were able to set all of the pilings for the new pier and have taken the pile driver and left Thorny Point.  To see all of the new pilings set for the new pier go to www.easton-and-potomac.com.