Pitching. Cutting etc.

Quoted text begins. In your monument shop you spoke
of a clattering rig that ran several bumpers
simultaneously. Was the purpose of that rig to level
rough surfaces, or was it to create texture on a sawn
surface.
End of quote.

Bill,
I think the word bumpers may have different meanings in shops around the
country.
The shop I learned in was in South Carolina, and their base of knowledge
came from the granite and marble centers in Georgie. Elberton Ga. is the
granite center, and Tate is the marble center.
My experience was in a small but very professionally run shop that had some
old pro's near retirment age that were glad to share their knowledge. So to
me , bumpers was just a slang term refering to bushing down some surface
that couldn't be reached with a saw or carborundum wheel. The bush chisel
was just the first step towards getting a very fine flat chisel finish, or
going one step more and lightly dusting off the chisel lines with a
sandblaster. The end result was a very flat closed surface that had a
finished natural look.
All the work I did was with a hand held 1" air hammer. I've seen, and
briefly used of the large surfacing rigs. Thankfully the old surfacers are
obsolete. They are stunningly loud and dusty, and used a hammer that used
1"shank, four point chisel. The hammer was bolted to a rail so it could roll
along its length, and the rail attached to a post and could pivot around and
also have its hight adjusted up and down the post.
My understanding is that the first use of the big surfacers was to make a
level top surface on a quarry block. Then the cutters and carvers had
something to work off of. I'm sure the big shops of old had many different
versions of this tool, but now diamond saws and wheels have taken over.
I think the 4 point "bunper" is still one of the most versitile chisels in
my box. When new and sharp it will dig out granite quickly form almost any
inaccesable nook and corner. When you have resharpened so much that you only
have little nubs of carbide left and the corners are rounded it becomes a
very delicate carving tool that leaves a nice finish.

Good carving to all,
George Graham