standing block stability

["John Halter" <halter@zzzzzzzzzz>]

Hello Norman,

I still like the idea of working the stone on its side.  At least while
roughing out.  Maybe making a small model of the sculpture would help you
keep perspective on the stone.

How about this for an "out of the box" idea.  Years ago, when I worked with
a seismic engineer to prevent warehouse racks from falling over during an
earthquake, he designed a system bracing the racks at the top instead of the
conventional method of anchoring them into the floor.  He felt the floor
anchors were very prone to failure from any torque put on them.  So what if
you embed an eyebolt centered on the top of your stone and then built a
large inexpensive A-frame (like a homemade gantry crane) around it?  Then
ran a short chain from the eyebolt to the A-frame to hold the top of the
stone from shifting.  If the A-frame was large enough, it should give you a
steady support and an unencumbered work area.  I'm not an engineer, so I
sure some others in the group could speak to the practicality of this idea.

John Halter
halter@----------