One thing about buying crushed rock, you will immediately notice that pricing for rock with the fines left in is a lot cheaper per ton than rock that has been graded with the fines taken out. The higher cost is because they have to run the material over another set of screens to take the fines out.
But that does NOT mean that the rock with fines will actually be cheaper for your project. It depends.
If you need it to pack, like for a road finish, then the fines are needed so it will pack in all the voids with the fines.
But if you are just wanting the rock to go for a long ways or do not need the fines for your project, don't think you are getting the fines for almost free. Far from it.
Order one same tons size of load of each and have them piled side by side. The cleaned crushed rock (fines removed) will be considerably physically bigger than the ones with fines left in. That is because the fines are very heavy and fill in all the air pockets between the larger rocks.
So if the larger size rock is what you need without fines, order it without fines because even if it cost more per ton it will also go a lot further in whatever project you are doing because it weighs considerably less per cubic measure!
