How old masons kept their tools sharp ...

["GeorgeJulieJessie Graham" <gjjgraham@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

dear Steven,

I worked at a monument shop that was a third generation business. There I
came across a monument builders manual written in 1901( I think). One of the
chapters covered tools. The use of pnumatic stone tools as we know them
today was just being developed.

I gathered that letterer would have a large number of very sharp, thin flat
chisels on hand for a granite job. as soon as they got dull they were tossed
into a bucket for sharpening by hand on a sharpening stone.
The idea was to be very careful not to ruin the temper of the steel.When the
chisels were worn down to much to allow a thin drawn out blade, they were
given to a blacksmith of whoever was the expert in the forge , to be
reshaped, sharpened and then retempered. In the old days, an expert
blacksmith was a very  important person in the stone business.

Steel tools were forged differently depending of what they were used for.
Hand cut lettering jobs required very different properties than tools used
for pitching and breaking of stone. The chisels I have used for handcut
letters in marble and granite (using an air hammer) must be sharp enough to
trim my fingernails. The more delicate the work, the sharper the tool.
Tools used for pitching  and knocking large flakes of the side of a slab
must also be sharp and true . The temper used for lettering chisels would be
to brittle for the heavy pounding a handset would recieve.

I have read many  methods on how to retemper steel tools. It seem that there
were a lot of different ways to go about it.  The botton line is that
keeping tools sharp would only work if the temper of steel was correct

I personally have delt with the frustration of trying to work of granite with
bad points.  I sent about 30 old points to be resharpened at a granite tool
supplier, that offered the serviceof sharpening and tempering. They looked
great when I got them back, but1 or 2 blows of my 3 pound hammer was enough
to flatten the point down! That really brought home the truth to the old
saying,,,you can't cut stone with a dull chisel!

Hope this helps.
George Graham