Hunting the elusive granite boulders

[Will Shotton <shottonmasonry@zzzzzzzzz>]

In regards to the boulder bashing talk, I've been (un)fortunate enough to be taken on a boulder hunting expedition by my old Scottish mason employer. If a client was willing to pay a premium we'd go out to an aggregate quarry reject pile and start hunting for boulders. Once we had picked proper sizes, colours, grain etc. we'd pull out the average sized stone axe or sledge, glasses, gloves, boots and thick pants and start whacking.
Its exhausting work and some of them just won't go but  usually with a 1/2 dozen well placed knocks you could get a nice split face granite stone. From there we'd dress the good ones for corners. It really made appreciate how much work goes into dressed granite houses and why you don't see too many when there are other types of stone available.

Unlike pitching, sometimes you had to whack pretty hard for the bigger ones. With regards to the pitching conversation it is definitely true that a heavier hammer, if used properly, is better for lots of pitching. I've spent many 9hours days that turn into weeks working at a banker facing stone or pitching off mass and the only way I found to alleviate repetitive stress injuries was to use a heavy hammer and let the weight do the work. Its more controlling the pitching angle of your tool than getting good head speed with your hammer. Save that for golf, I say!

Great conversations--learning tons with regards to sculpture finishing as opposed to architectural carving.

Will

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