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Was this a flaw in the stone?

Stone Conversations : Archive 12 : Message 00164

From: "Ad Sach Singh" <adsach@zzzzzzzzzzzzzz>
Date: Sun, 21 May 2006 17:20:35 -0400
Subject: Was this a flaw in the stone?

Recently I unintentionally split an 8x12x24 inch piece of marble in half while starting a line with a large point at a 30-40 degree angle. The crack appeared after 4 moderate taps - the first 2 taps 'moved', the 3rd tap 'froze' in the stone and the 4th tap was angled up a little to 'unstick' the chisel but instead started the fracture. I had already removed about 20 percent of the stone on 4 other faces so the force I was using does not seem to be excessive.
The marble is West Rutland(Vermont) Sunset Gray and would be "standard" grade - as in a step below royal and imperial grades.

The fracture was along a face where the color changed from gray to white. I have a photo at here http://www.blueturban.com/temp/marble_flaw.jpg
The point of impact is the 1/2 inch groove at the right.

I am not particularly upset that the stone has taken me in a new direction, but if I did something wrong I would like to learn from my mistake.

Was this a flaw in the stone? a flaw in my technique? or both?

Ad Sach

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