did some granite crushing yesterday and took a little video.
may be will find it useful or interesting ))
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Greetings Andris, you have designed a very useful device, now I have competition in stone crushing at DOW… 
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Yes, beware Tone.
How are the rebars holding up? The are mild steel, 4,8?
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thank you Tone for kind words, crusher indeed is very useful, unfortunately i have not much stuff to crush beside granite, not sure how long this contraption will last ))
Joep, i am not sure about rebars, most likely mild steel.
they are about 50% worn at the spot where most of the action is going on.
some of the stones are especially hard on rebars - usually dark grey stones with fine structure - they do not crack, but grind and grind between the jaws.
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Great job Andris, it is indeed interesting.
It looks like some thick plates you made the outside from, about 20-25mm perhaps and the jaws even thicker. I would have imagined that it would have needed a really big flywheel but yours seem to handle it just fine 
I definately see the value and use for one here too.
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Andris,
Because of your new crusher (well-built!) machine, I was thinking about ways to extend the life of the working bits. I looked up “Hardfacing” welding electrodes, because I remembered that is a common way. I found a PDF for a technical guide, here is a link to that:
HOBART-Hardfacing-Tech-Guide.pdf (hobartbrothers.com)
Seemed well-written to me. 
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Johan, it is all 20mm plates, jaws reinforced with ribs for rigidity.
the things i make are always defined by materials i have at hand ))
stock metal is expensive nowadays.
you are right about the flywheel - i did intend to put another flywheel on the other end of the shaft,
but the piece of round metal bar i had was too short.
i could make the crusher narrower, but then bricks would not fit in it length wise.
Mike, i did not know there are special electrodes for hardfacing although i do renovate worn parts by stick welding pretty often.
thanks, for info!
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Andris, perhaps reach out to someone to be able to barter or get your hands on some worn down sacrificial steel for a road grader or a tractor-loader bucket, old rock drills, broken excavator tracks, forestry machine tracks, ploughs etc. etc. Those are pretty heavy duty steel products to cut and weld into the jaw crusher. Those companies or people probably have hardfacing electrodes too if you only want a few.
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I think your great grandchildren will still use it if they are workers like you.
Rindert
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Instead of rebar, you can use a car coil spring. It is hardenable high carbon steel. You would need to straighten it in a forge, but you would have to heat it to quench it anyway. Usually car coil springs are easy to get.
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good suggestions, thank you guys.
i am tempted to try those hardfacing welding rods, also i am going to replace consumables on my plow, probably i will get some material there.
i think you may be right, Rindert, because the crusher passed falling tree test today )))
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Glad it wasnt in use! Looks like a widow-maker.
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