# Real Craftmanship



## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

A question about the shelter on the cover of Dan Snow's book ( CJKarl thread ) made me want to share this video here. In the beginning of the video there are couple stone huts which are called Bories...similar to Clochans and Cleits. I saw this video awhile back and I just can't stop watching it. The skill of this Stone Mason is one to be admired for sure. Part 2 is on the top right of the page.

Enjoy!


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

Nice. Thanks for finding that.


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## Captainsls (Nov 8, 2007)

Thanks for the share. I watched the whole thing. That stone seemed really soft! It makes me not want to get out of bed tomorrow to deal with my granite 

Anyone know the name of the tool he was using at 6:00? I couldnt see it real well in the video...


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## lukachuki (Feb 11, 2005)

had the same thought....what soft stone.


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## MAULEMALL (May 16, 2010)

Those grave markers at the end were beautiful and very touching.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

It looks like fresh young limestone. Same as here, it is almost like wet-carving until it ages for a year or 5 in the open air.


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## ChimneyHill (Apr 10, 2011)

Thanks for the video. His "dry stack" house was amazing!

Part 2 was pretty cool too. Do you know what country they are in?


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

Without question it's a type of limestone..... but that block he is shaping looks like it's been out of the ground for a while and seems very soft even though it has oxidized. 

The cut corner he moves later in the video scored a line on the one below when he dragged the top corner into place...the stone has a chalky quality it seems. Perfect building stone for that climate...I don't think it would last very long in New England. A fellow stonemason and I discussed what type of limestone it might be and after researching what info I could find, it seems likely that it is Oolitic Limestone...or not.


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

ChimneyHill said:


> Thanks for the video. His "dry stack" house was amazing!
> 
> Part 2 was pretty cool too. Do you know what country they are in?


Vaucluse, France :thumbsup:


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

Captainsls said:


> Anyone know the name of the tool he was using at 6:00? I couldnt see it real well in the video...


Cap, I'm pretty sure it's called a cockscomb.


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

That is exactly what it is, Oolitic Limestone.


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

PT 2 which demonstrates 'Callade' paving using dry-set stone.

I proposed this technique to a customer last fall for a new walkway they want. They spend half the year in Europe and it fits the home so hopefully I can get to it this year.


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## NYCB (Sep 20, 2010)

Man, all we have up here is cobbles and crappy bluestone and shale.

That man knows his craft and you can tell he cares about his work, if only everyone was like that.


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## JBM (Mar 31, 2011)

Interesting for sure. What we are lacking in the states is a history or tradition of sorts. The japanese stone masons talked about it more or less also. Without a history we will be constantly looking for new man made materials, cheaper, quicker with no real appreciation of anything vintage or replicating of a past time.


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

stonecutter said:


> Without question it's a type of limestone..... but that block he is shaping looks like it's been out of the ground for a while and seems very soft even though it has oxidized.
> 
> The cut corner he moves later in the video scored a line on the one below when he dragged the top corner into place...the stone has a chalky quality it seems. Perfect building stone for that climate...I don't think it would last very long in New England. A fellow stonemason and I discussed what type of limestone it might be and after researching what info I could find, it seems likely that it is Oolitic Limestone...or not.


I' don't know, we have a sandstone layer here that is very similar. Fine grained and soft. It's a layer in the Nepean Sandstone formation which is a continuation of the Potsdam formation. Around here that one layer is used a lot for quoining, sills and ocasionally building. It lasts as ong as anything else unless it's near grade.

A lot of oolitic limestones are very hard. The limestone near my grandparents just north of the St Lawrence is a very hard durable oolitic limestone. I don't believe Indiana Limestone is oolitic and it can be as soft as that material. Unless you can see the material up close it's near impossible to say whether it's oolitic or not.


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

dom-mas said:


> I' don't know, we have a sandstone layer here that is very similar. Fine grained and soft. It's a layer in the Nepean Sandstone formation which is a continuation of the Potsdam formation. Around here that one layer is used a lot for quoining, sills and ocasionally building. It lasts as ong as anything else unless it's near grade.


I have found no exact words that describe the stone of that region as oolitic, just that is seems like a reasonable answer based on the color and grain description.

How about this....it's limestone.:thumbsup:


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

dom-mas said:


> A lot of oolitic limestones are very hard. The limestone near my grandparents just north of the St Lawrence is a very hard durable oolitic limestone. I don't believe Indiana Limestone is oolitic and it can be as soft as that material. Unless you can see the material up close it's near impossible to say whether it's oolitic or not.


I know you had said in the past that wikipedia isn't a source of masonry info for you. But since we're talking geology you might find these articles interesting.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolitic,_Indiana


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## dom-mas (Nov 26, 2011)

Ok I stand corrected Indiana limestone is oolitic. What I was trying to get at is that ooltic limestones can vary quite a bit, not all oolitic limestones act the same. I still contend that until you see the stone up close it's hard to tell if it's limestone or sandstone. The colour to me looks as much like sandstone as anything. Looked to me very similar to this







The stone on top is Wallace sandstone and the one on bottom is Ohio. I didn't look at the video extremely close so maybe I missed something but the dust flying off made me think sandstone


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## Tscarborough (Feb 25, 2006)

When he was beating on it with an axe it didn't look like sandstone.


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## stonecutter (May 13, 2010)

dom-mas said:


> Ok I stand corrected Indiana limestone is oolitic. What I was trying to get at is that ooltic limestones can vary quite a bit, not all oolitic limestones act the same. I still contend that until you see the stone up close it's hard to tell if it's limestone or sandstone. The colour to me looks as much like sandstone as anything. Looked to me very similar to this
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You crack me up Sean. :laughing:


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