Period Stone Cropping/Dressing Tips

[Woody3]

Hello,

Does anyone on here have any experience working with reclaimed stone?

We have 60T of gritstone/sandstone, from a demolished barn, at our disposal.

The reclaimed stone is faced on at least one side and are of random lengths and coursed heights, however the depths are all different, so we need to cut the stones to get a uniform depth to allow the construction of a typical cavity wall. We are probably going to go with a depth of 125mm from the face.

What we'd like to know is how to carry out the cropping/backing/dressing of the stone.

So far the general idea is to use a 9" angle grinder, cut say an inch into the stone all the way around (125mm from the face), then use a chisel to split them. Are we going along the right tracks?

We've "hopefully" got a stonemason (a friend of a friend) coming over after his hol's to give us a quick tutorial, but that's not for a few weeks, so we'd like to get a general idea in what's involved and what tools are required. We've google'd and youtube'd, but to no avail.

We'd also like to do this ourselves to save on costs, to learn a craft and self-satisfaction.

All cuts made won't be visible once it's been built.

Any advice or tips would gratefully be received.

Thanks,

W.

 

[plasticpigeon]

A book on stone masonry would be a good investment. I don't know much about masonry, but to split big pieces of stone, I think one way is to drill holes through and then screw or drive in some sort of wedge. I'll have a look and see if I have any books that might have some ifo.

 

[LadyArowana]

Sorry, I can offer no useful help on the original question, do get some good safety glasses though, and possibly something over the ears too. Will be interested to hear how it works out, maybe some pictures?

 

[17c_lancs]

You require what is known as a Hydraulic Stone Splitter or Stone Guillotine, easily hired or bought second-hand.

They make short work of sizing stone and are essential for the job you've described.

 

[Penners]

To the best of my (very limited) knowledge, the stonemason of yore would try to avoid cutting stones to the correct height for a course. Instead he would carefully sort all the stones, so that he had the correct number of any given height to create one full course (keeping some specially large pieces for quoins). He would then lay out the courses in lines on the ground - the thickest nearest to the line of construction and thinnest the farthest away - before starting to build the walls.

The courses would then be laid, with the thickest at the base grading up to the thinnest at the top.

Of course your stones will never all be of an identical thickness, but the above technique reduces the variations to a degree that is manageable by varying the thickness of the mortar bed.

I've explained that all very badly, but I hope that the principle is intelligible.

 

[Woody3]

Thanks for all the replies.

I'll have a look for a book or three. Any recommendations would be fantastic.

Don't worry, hard hats, ear defenders, rigger boots, goggles and masks are on standby.

I'll keep an eye out for a stone cropper/stone splitter/stone guillotine (why do they have so many names? - means more ebay searches ). Hire looks to be up to £800 a week,gulp, although it is possible to buy a used one for £1200 on eBay. Do they cut exactly where you want them to cut? I just can't imagine them cutting very straight as the stone splits from the load enforced? I'm going to have to think about this one, due to the big initial outlay.

Sorry for the mis-understanding, but I'm talking about the depth of the stone, or what it is "on bed". Basically the depth into the wall. I hopefully won't be altering the height of the stone, as like you say, I'll be palleting them up in "stone height" order, to get a random coursed finish.

Thanks again

 

[tobydog]

........I'm going to have to think about this one, due to the big initial outlay.

quote]

As I'm sure Penners (well, most of us actually) will tell you, this is exactly what Kit kats were invented for

 

[agbagb]

I can help with the splitter http://www.fairport.uk.com/hyd_slab_block_splitter.html This is probably the most common large but still portable one available to buy or hire in the UK. This type do need relative flat and parallel surfaces to give a good split. If so, the quality of the cut will be more than good enough to face the cavity. With more irregular blocks, faces can be tidied up with a stihl saw (petrol cut-off saw), angle grinder with diamond blades or a breaker drill , pneumatic chisel gun or even by hand chiseling. Scutching chisels are good for this.

A cut-off saw could be used for the main cut. It'll be a dusty job especially with a lot to do it would be worth rigging a hose pipe so you can wet cut (no problem doing this even if the blade says it's dry cut) If you use enough water to clear the cut of sludge the blade will last a lot longer. On the subject of diamond blades, with a lot of one material to cut it's worth spending on a good one. For gritstone /sandstone you will need one made for abrasive materials, general duty blades will wear quickly and suffer from under cutting of segments.

The next step up would be a masonry saw. These are bench saws. The largest of these commonly available to hire have 500mm diameter blades and off the top of my head 200mm depth of cut. I'll have to mention the Belle Ambasador Saw because it was the first machine I designed and it's still in production 25 years later. If you need really sharp corners, flat faces and acurate angles a masonry saw is the way to go, you'll find youself looking for excuses to make some arches.

 

[Woody3]

Have I missed a trick with this Kit-Kat malarky? Surely you nice people don't use bribes...?

These are the stones anyway:





Are they flat enough for a guillotine? I think a guillotine would be my preferred option.

Failing that my second option would be a masonry (bench) saw. I'll look out for your Belle Ambasador then. Must be a good machine if it's been around longer than I have!

 

[agbagb]

Yes if they are as flat as that one looks a block splitter will work. Any rougher ones i would use a 9" angle grinder. The masonry saw will be a bit OTT for the job.

 

[Woody3]

Thanks agbagb.

I will keep an eye out for one of the 20T stone splitters and a 9" grinder.

I'll try and keep this thread up to date with progress.

Thanks again,

W.

 

[Woody3]

p.s. I love your website!

 

[88v8]

So you're using this stone for an extension? Which might be expected to last a few hundred years? For best durability, lay the stone in its natural bed.

Ivor

 

[Woody3]

Hi Ivor,

Thanks for the reply.

Is there a way, by building it on its natural bed, that we can meet building regs?

 

[MatthewC]

Is there a way, by building it on its natural bed, that we can meet building regs?

Not sure I understand the question - the "natural bed" means laying the stone flat with the layers as they form naturally (i.e. horizontal to the ground) - which I would have thought you would be doing anyway.

Your blocks look lovely compared to the stuff I had - I wish I'd found some of that quality last year.

"Your blocks look lovely" - I had to be very careful when typing that!

 

[Woody3]

Ah apologies.

I thought Ivor meant keep the stone at their natural sizes, as per what the now demolished barn was (i.e differing widths of the stone going "into" the solid wall). Basically we'll have the same face that once faced the 150 year old stone barn, laid on their same axis, as per you described. The stones will be of the same length and height, but will have a uniform width of 5".

And thanks for complementing my blocks.