Hammerhead Stoneworks

Yesterday morning I made this sketch of a koi on a piece of paper on my floor. The idea had been underway in my journal for a couple of weeks, but it was time to go big. I love working with full sized templates like this. I feel like I’m channeling the old school mason-architect-engineers who built the cathedrals; they drew their plans on the floor, life-sized. The plans themselves were the templates and guides for the other craftsmen.

It’s been a mad dash since then. I cut the poster to bits. I’ve been to buy stone a couple of times and spent most of two days in the shop, wrapped in my respirator, goggles and ear plugs, lost in a dusty, furiously noisy world. I cut 23 pieces of stone, ruined a couple of brand new blades and really cracked my knuckle good on a unruly grinder. I assembled the whole piece in my driveway tonight, making lots of last minute adjustments. The rough draft is visible below.

I like the direction it’s going, though there are things I would do differently. All the things I don’t care for are the direct result of trying to make this thing in two days. I skipped an important step in the templating, which is transferring the paper piece to roofing felt. This is very time consuming, but gives a sturdier, more reliable guide that can tolerate the bath the stone gets whilst cutting. The hasty cutting, in addition to be rough on my hands, means the joinery isn’t as tight and consistent as I would have liked. I’ve taken to calling it fresh fish, Honestly, yesterday morning I didn’t think it would be possible to finish in time.

Below you will see the fish assembled, but not leveled. First thing tomorrow morning I’ll be taking it apart and loading it on my truck again, so I didn’t spend a lot of time getting the surfaces flush. That’ll happen when I install it at the Home Show, which starts Friday. Drop in and see what I’ve figured out to fill the little gap in the pectoral fin!

This is an idea I floated for center of the landing inside the house, where the zipper walkway terminates. It’s a 24″ by 24″ slab with a six by six square knocked out of the center. That’s a piece of dalle de verre, a super-thick, richly colored stained glass inset into the small square. We’re going to use pebbles instead of the glass, but I liked this mock-up a lot. With a glass like this though, it really needs a light radiating through it, as in this image. I’m afraid that lit from above, it would appear too dull.

I’ve been working my way through a rounded corner, where the zipper walkway meets the driveway, at the big steps. The following images represent three phases of the process. First, I laid out the shape in pebbles and took some pictures. This helps me get a visual sense of what’s going on. Second, I made templates out of roofing felt. The radius is elliptical, and so all of the templating was done freehand. The next phase has me fitting the stones one-by-one. Aa each stone goes in, I revisit the templates, to see if I need to make adjustments.

Today I worked on the landing inside the house. The lighting is poor, hence the blurry image quality, but you can still get a sense of what’s happening in the space. To the front of the image are the big, super-tight steps I laid a while back. To the right is the doorway and the zipper walkway, currently protected by some chipboard. The level hides the cut-out in the center stone, visible at the top of the blog. This section- inside the house- is mortared. I wish it was in gravel, like the walkway outside, but I didn’t want anyone to think I was losing my mind. Really though, it makes great sense. The stones are 2 1/4″ thick and are butted up so close to each other that there’s no risk of movement. And everything has a solid frame around it, preventing the gravel from squishing out.

I left the house Tuesday slightly unprepared. Allie had to stop by and deliver: a sweater, a sweatshirt, long johns, camera, cell phone charger and thirty-five smiles. He liked the gravel in the little boxes.

I’m working on a walkway that I’m calling the zipper design. The stones from each side interlock a little bit like the teeth on a zipper. There’s a lot of cutting involved, but that’s fun for me. There are lots of small squares running down the middle of the design. Those will be filled with pieces of the same material. I can easily imagine another take on this design where the gravel remains in the holes, or each one is filled with something else entirely: a tile, a mosaic, a letter engraved. I may introduce another type of stone in a couple of these openings. I’m saving the fun part for last.

This litany of prepositions makes sure I place my corner template properly. It only looks like a square. The little almost 6″ by 6″ squares I’m knocking out will go back into the spaces left in the design above.

I am cutting a mouse-hole in this thick slab of Tennessee Crab Orchard for a downspout to pass through. I’m excited because this is the first time I ever busted out the compass to bring to work.

I start by very carefully scribing a line with the grinder. This traces just inside the pencil line and will be my guide, to make sure I don’t cut away more than I need.

I run the big cut-off saw just to get my knockouts started. It’s too small an area to do much else with this saw.

On to the hammer and chisels, mixed with lots of kerfing with the grinder. The opening is going to be 4 1/2″ in diameter, which is the same dimensions as the blade on my grinder. You may be able to see places where I kerfed parallel to the top of the stone, as well as the more obvious up and down cuts. The blade binds quickly when I go parallel, but even shallow cuts help me remove material close to the inside of the opening.

TO BE CONTINUED…

There will be a whole chapter on rollers in my book “The Skinny Guy’s Guide to Moving Heavy $#*%” when I get around to writing it.

I’m setting two stone steps inside a residence under renovation by Carlton Architecture. Each step is seven feet across and six inches tall. I spent a long, long time honing the slabs down to the perfect size and shape. Most challenging was slimming them down from seven or eight inches thick to a precise six inches. Lots of kerfing with grinders and the big saw. Then lots of chipping. Then lots more kerfing. And so on.

The bottom tread, set today, is made of three pieces. Tomorrow I’ll set the top tread, two stones across. I’m working stone to wood tolerances, which is fun, particularly with the mass involved. The stones all weigh between 200 and 300 pounds. The stones are bedded in mortar but there’s no grout line.

I don’t think I’ve ever been so zen on a project before. I disappear in dust, locked away in my safety gear: goggles, respirator and hearing protection, happy in the isolation. I take great satisfaction in moving the big stones by myself, taking such care to not damage the faces. Each movement matters. The focus is intense and the pace is so measured.

Just me and the stones, as I like it.