Hammerhead Stoneworks

These two benches were cut from the same slab of Tennessee sandstone. The first was built as a free-standing structure in a Chapel Hill neighborhood to celebrate the life of one of their most beloved members, Grandpa Tony. The bench is mortared and features an adjacent boulder with a small plaque. I call this type a castle block bench, named after the material used for the base stones. The second bench is in Asheville, adjacent to a sidewalk. The sitting stone, seatback and arm rests were all cut from same stone as Grandpa Tony’s bench. It is a drystone structure and built directly into the retaining wall.
Next spring I will be leading a hands-on class at the Arboretum on making a stone bench. We’ll be building a castle block bench together that day. The official class date hasn’t been announced, but let me know if you’d like to be updated when the class registry opens.

Building on a radius like this always make me think of castle turrets and David Macaulay books.

Benches abound in my work right now, which is good timing. I’m documenting the process in great detail preparing for my first bench-making class next spring at the Arboretum.

I recently made a jaunt to Chapel Hill to install this bench as a memorial to Grandpa Tony. He lived in the Ironwoods neighborhood for seventeen years and walked everyday. He would linger on this corner and visit with the neighbors. I can tell he was beloved and is greatly missed by how many people stopped to check out the bench as it went in. The bench is a slab of Tennessee sandstone that weighs 600 pounds. It slid out of the truck and into place beautifully. I admit to a growing fascination with moving large objects with nothing but old school tools (providing a ‘77 pickup counts as an old school tool.)

Bottom photo by my able assistant for the day, Matthew Feldt. His blog details the process nicely.