Hammerhead Stoneworks

Yesterday I took part in the Mt. Green Sustainability Conference at Warren Wilson College. I led a session on Sustainability in Stonework, in which I introduced the Green Target tool I recently created. I talked about the four elements and what they mean: Function, Energy, Lifespan and Culture. We reviewed the cabin case study and then did a case study together on another project. You can see the images I used on the right side of the board in this picture.

This is the graphic I used to explain the Green Target. It was a brief session, so my explanation was shorter than I would have liked, but the case study really seemed to bring it together for people. After the class a few people stopped to talk to me about the tool. During my talk I spoke about the subjective, values driven nature of the tool. Maybe someday it could be empirical, but I’m not sure that’s necessary or helpful. I want to promote dialogue and discovery. There are plenty of certification programs out there and more emerging everyday. I wanted to create a way for everyone else to talk about all this stuff.

This is the first edition of the Daily Sledge, my company newsletter. I published it as the companion to a presentation I did.
Download The Daily Sledge: June 2009 (500K)

I am proud to announce that this photograph of a wall I completed with the Unturned Stone was featured on the back cover of the most recent issue of Stonexus, the periodical publication of the Stone Foundation. In the magazine I alone am credited with the wall, though I completed it with Jesse Friedrichs, stone mason and Jody Maney, equipment operator and helper. It’s bomber!

On June 24th I’ll be taking part in the Mountain Green Conference on the campus of Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina. I will be there to discuss Sustainability in Stonework Construction.
As I have prepared for this I have been developing a visual tool I call the Green Target, shown above, that is useful for analyzing sustainability on four important attributes. It is meant to promote dialogue and provoke creative solutions for making stonework greener.
I have just added three new pages to the site that summarize what I’ll be covering.

• Green Targets explains the tool.
• The Cabin Case Study gives a detailed example of the tool in use.
• Good Ideas offers some helpful suggestions for sustainable stonework.

These ideas are still in development and your feedback is most helpful.

The cabin chimney is steadily growing, now seven feet high and rising. I am using a FireRock modular system, thinking it would save money and effort. I think I’m wrong on both counts, but in for a penny… I am building the liner as I go because of the limited scaffolding options. I don’t have any of my own yet, and real scaffolding wouldn’t fit in the space anyway.

This is the third chimney on this cabin since it was moved to this spot by oxen in the 1850’s. I am reusing much of the stone from the most recent version, perhaps earlier versions as well. Some pieces are blackened and smell like fire when I work them. Technically, this is a veneer but I am laying my stone in its bedded plane, easier because I gave myself a minimum of eight inches to work.

Stylistically, I am drawing from the original chimney and the other stonework I see around. I drive through Mars Hill College to get here and they have old buildings there in the local vernacular, which is rough and lumpy, a lot like the stone and the landscape here. As seen in other posts, the fireplace is tighter and more formal. With the chimney I am fighting my own impulse to overwork everything. As it grows, I like it more and more.

As grows the chimney-slow and steady, so goes the new website. I have recently added portfolio pages that feature samples of my work with Unturned. The Hammers page is complete and yesterday I added a page and slideshow about the Flagstone Classes I offer. I just checked the list on the wall and I only have another fifteen pages I’d like to add.

Yesterday I got the fireplace up to mantle height. Once I have some design discussions with the woodworker about the installation of the mantle, I’ll finish out the area above and focus exclusively on the chimney. As it is right now, I have a long walk to retrieve forgotten tools.
Limited lighting in the cabin, hence the lower quality of the image.

This a view of the wedge and shims that got stuck in the end of the lintel. I’m calling this the truth window, after the openings they leave in a straw bale wall to show what’s behind the stucco rendering.

This little stone sets into place nicely, but is easily removed to see what’s behind the truth window.

The biggest spider I’ve ever seen not in a pet store. He was about two inches across, which doesn’t sound that large, but he certainly caught my attention. This is a wolf spider, a roaming hunting spider. A good reminder why I should wear gloves in the stone pile. All indications suggest this will be another banner year for black widows.