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questions on tools and equipment

Stone Conversations : Archive 1 : Message 00605

From: Don Dougan <dondougan@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 14:00:12 -0400
Subject: questions on tools and equipment

SKY:

Quoted text begins."a) I would like to know how other people go about lifting
and maneuvering stone in the workshop. "
End of quote.


There are several solutions depending on how much space and money you
have. I have a very small studio -- a converted freestanding one-car
garage adjacent to my house in a residential neighborhood. I don't have
very much room inside, but I do have a driveway. Years ago I began with
a knock-down A-frame that I welded-up out of steel I-beam and 3" & 4"
pipe. It is wide enough I can back my pick-up truck under it.

I use a 2-ton chain hoist with 3/8" or 5/16" proof-coil chain or 2" wide
nylon slings to lift the stone. I also have an old platform truck with
8" and 10" caster wheels so I can roll large blocks around after
unloading. (see the artist photo page at my website for a picture of
this set-up: http://www.dondougan.homestead.com/indexdd.html ) This A-
frame is an eyesore to the neighborhood, so I need to knock it down and
store it when I am not using it. Though I have gotten it set-up or
knocked-down by myself, it is a lot easier (and much safer) to have one
or two other folks to help. That is a royal pain in the . . . well, you
get the picture.

Later I found an automotive knock-down engine hoist for about $200. It
will not lift as much weight as the chain hoist, but it will take up to
a ton. The main advantages ait rolls easily on flat concrete (like my
studio floor), it can be set-up inside the studio (unlike the big A-
frame), it can be easily loaded into the pick-up truck and taken to an
installation site, and it knocks down easily and stores in a 2" x 3"
area of floor space.

The main disadvantages ait needs to be set up on a level surface for
stability and safe operation, and that it rolls awkwardly on blacktop
(like my driveway), or does not roll at all on grass/dirt/gravel.
Similar engine hoists are commonly available for rent at your local tool
rental businesses. The rental versions are fitted with a tow-bar tongue
so they can be hitched behind your vehicle, and easily moved to your
site. They do not knock-down.

One point to remember: The off-the-shelf knock-down legs of the platform
are not very far apart (after all, it is an engine hoist designed to fit
between the wheels of small automobiles). Not long ago I needed to
install a 1/2 ton sculpture in an office building lobby on an existing
32" plinth (about 8" too wide to fit between the legs). In order to do
this I had to fabricate a second larger platform on which to bolt the
hoist frame instead of the knock-down leg platform.

I did all the welding, but the pre-cut pieces of steel I purchased from
the steel supply house cost me about $100, plus another $20 for steel
casters to weld on the bottom so it would roll. A plus is that it is
much more stable than the narrow version, but I cannot use it to roll
and load into the middle of the bed of small pick-up because the legs
are the same width as the wheels of my truck. Now I gotta have room to
store whichever one I am currently not using with the hoist!

For a simpler hoist frame in the field, I use a hoist frame made out of
three 14 foot long pieces of 4x4 lumber arranged into a tall tripod, and
fastened together with three 1/2" bolts. With a looped piece of chain I
drop a wire cable "Come-Along" (a small chain hoist would also work) so
I can lift the piece high enough to load it into the back of the truck.
A stone sculptor friend of mine made a similar (but less crude than my
tripod) A-frame out of 4x4's and with it uses a small 1/2-ton chain
hoist. He made it with hinges and a drop-in crosspiece with braces so it
knocks-down quickly and fits in the back of his pick-up.

There is also available from industrial/commercial equipment suppliers
(like C&H - see below), and monument industry suppliers (like BICKNELL -
see below) a 'hand-truck' with a geared lifting table that sets you back
about $1,000 or so.

Another option I have used is to fit a hand-cranked boat winch to the
end of a long ramp. Using pieces of dowel or broom handles as
replaceable rollers under the block I have moved 1/2-ton pieces into my
truck by myself. For getting it out I could have used the winch and ramp
fastened my work table, but that would have been a lot of trouble
compared to the A-frame I already had set up to unload.

When no other option is available, the use of a lever and various sizes
of other blocks of stone or pieces of lumber stacked to height gets the
stone up to the level for working on it comfortably. Not easily
portable, but a workable and cheap low-tech solution.

C & H DISTRIBUTORS, INC.
400 South 5th Street
P.O.Box 04499
Milwaukee, WI 53204
414 271-2250
800 558-9966
Shop/warehouse/office equipment. Shelves to air compressors, emergency
lights to dollies, furniture, signs, safety eqip. Catalog.

BICKNELL MANUFACTURING
360 COLLEGE AVENUE
ELBERTON GA 30635
706 283-1901
800 241-7105
Tools/supplies for the monument/granite industry: pneumatic hammers,
chisels, hand tools, abrasives, sandblasting, moving & handling
equipment, polishing supplies. Also in Rockland, Maine.

Quoted text begins." b) I have been told that I shouldn't sharpen my chisels using an
electric sharpening wheel. Is this correct?"
End of quote.


Depends on how careful you are. If you hold the (high-carbon tool steel)
tool on the standard aluminum oxide grinding wheel too long the friction
will cause the metal to heat up. If the metal starts changing color you
are ruining the temper, which is the correct hardness/toughness for the
tool. When you burn the temper out, the chisel loses the hardness and
will dull rapidly as you try to carve.

If you are careful to hold the chisel lightly against the grinding wheel
for brief intervals and allow it to cool (or quench in lukewarm water)
between each grind the chisel can be sharpened on an electric
grinder/sander fairly quickly. If the surface color changes on the tip
of the cutting edge you will need to re-temper the tool ( see Billy's
message of October 2nd, 2000 [stone] marble carving tools ) for info on
basic tempering.

When I am sharpening my tools I hold the tool in my bare hands so I can
feel how hot it is getting with the friction-generated heat. If the tool
becomes uncomfortably hot to hold, then I know the temper color change
is not too far behind (so quench!). Finer tooth or smaller tools burn
easier than more massive tools, so they need to be quenched even before
the tool feels too hot to hold.

Usually one light pass over the grindstone and I quench, then another
pass (on the other side of the cutting edge) and another quench,
flipping back-and-forth until the tool is sharp. For point work and
refining of the form with the tooth chisel /claw this degree of
sharpness is adequate. For carving detail finishing work where control
is very important, I will use finer abrasives to further hone the edge
to wood-carving tool keeness.

Note: If you are using carbide-tipped tools you DO NOT QUENCH THE TOOL
IN WATER during sharpening. The carbide tip can develop hairline
fractures from thermal shock and become next to worthless instantly.
Also do not attempt to sharpen carbide-tipped tools on the common
aluminum oxide grinding wheels -- the abrasive is not hard enough to
sharpen the tungsten-carbide. Silicon carbide wheels are usually a bit
more expensive, and they tend to wear out more quickly, but they will
sharpen the carbide-tip tools quickly without creating too much
friction-generated heat.

Blue Skies to you -- Don

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