Joseph Conrad Stone Cutter

A List of My Blog Articles to date

2012-01-25T01:12:00.000-08:00

A Local Industry Is Born
Form As A Result of Historic Process
Heroes of Local Knowledge
Howard, The One Hundred Thirty Pound Muscle Man
My First YouTube Video: Splitting & Cutting Stone
Some Bits of Advice Given Me by Stone People
Stone Sculpture - Why Bother?
Stonecutters Provide the Human Touch
Stonecutters Urban Ecology 101: Urban Therapy
The Lost Trade of Stone Cutting
The Making of My "David"
The State of the Arts
There's Marble in Them There Islands Pt. 1 & 2
Things Are Different in Mexico
Why Blog?

A Local Industry is Born

2012-01-20T15:09:00.000-08:00

In 1968, the year I arrived in Portland, local stone fabrication was almost nonexistent. The industry was made up of less then six union marble setters, who installed precut stone slabs on buildings and mausoleums. These pre-sized stone panels came from familiar fabrication locations, such as Vermont Marble Co., Georgia Granite Co., Bybee Stone Co., Cold Spring Granite Co., Fletcher Granite Co., etc. I had already worked and trained at the worlds largest stone fabrication company, Cold Spring Granite, for 7 years. I was surprised to be in a place were there was little knowledge of stone or stone fabrication. Information about these stone companies was gotten from Sweets Catalog, all design offices had them. These companies provided technical information on their products for designers as needed.

At this point I know many people would say there were a large number of rubble stone setters or stone masons and tile setters, quite different trades. Both worthy trades, but not cut stone people. The rubble stone workers trade required mainly strength and endurance. I have always felt that glass fabricators and installers were a lot closer to stone fabricators and installers than tile setters. Glass having low tensile strength, high compression strength and a need for accuracy in sizing. I always smile to myself when people tell me about that stone guy, who built the retaining wall in their back yard, could hit the stone with his hammer and it would break it right were he hit it, what a stone man he was. No shit. President John Adams took great delight in stacking stones in his retirement. Stone fences built by Chinese labor dot the California foothills. An honorable trade, but not to be confused with dimension stone fabricators or installers. It has been a long time since the dimension stone cutters had been replaced by stone fabrication facilities as mentioned above. Regional areas were left with stone stackers for the most part. See my blog “THE LOST TRADE OF STONE CUTTING”. If you are interested in various roles in the stone fabrication industry see my blog “WHY BLOG”.

Before the kitchen counter revolution there was little work for the local stone fabricator. That is a person I define who cuts and finishes dimension stone to a custom fit, from slabs or tiles. In Portland when I arrived there was one stone shop employing five people and less then six stone setters as stated above. Today I would guess there may be between three and five hundred people employed in the stone business in Portland one way or the other.

At Blazing Granite in 1968, Art Lear ran a primitive diamond saw, powered forward and back, and up and down only. Oddly the saws forward and back motion was a water-driven hydraulic system. There was a quite modern Tysaman saw there as well, never used, because Art said it wouldn’t cut. I fixed it many years later when I learned about concentric bearings. He slid the stone by hand on a steel saw bed to line up each cut to the solitary blade path. He got to a point where he could slide the stone to fractions of an inch to were he wanted them. The first saw I had was even more primitive when I started Conrad Stone twenty years later. Art always had a least ten bottles of good whiskey given to him at holiday season in his four-by-four office with phone. He went to the Elks Club every night before going home. A good hearted jolly Polack he was.

Slab refinishing was done by Howard Coleman, a granite quarryman from Medica Lake, Washington, on a part time basis. He also drove truck and other jobs there. See “HOWARD THE ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY POUND MUSCLE MAN”. Again, surfacing marble slabs was done with carborundum bricks, of different degrees from 40 grit to 400 grit, then buffed with a buffing pad made right there of cut-up rope segments, surrounded with a metal strap. Buffing was done with tin or aluminum oxide with a dose of oxalic acid. Granite polishing could not be done with the tools we had then. Later a full time surface polisher was added, a cigar-smoking fine fellow fleeing from Kansas City where he was paid on the basis of square feet of stone he polished every day. He made a fine oyster stew and became a friend. I wonder if Leroy is still alive.

I learned from a Seattle marble man, a Greek fellow I believe, he never even had a polish machine, finish work was not very good in the good old days as people accepted what they got, as Art said after each job, “LUCKY TO GET IT.”

Finishing was done by Cal Michelson. This was mainly polishing flat edges on marble, and filling travertine with colored cement. The edges, be it a bath vanity, fireplace hearth, legs or header, was accomplished by mounting the stone on edge and belt sanding it from 80 grit to 400 grit with sanding belts, then dipping a rolled-up burlap cloth in a mixture of oxalic acid and sulphur dampening the hard rag by dipping in water, and rubbing edge until it took a shine. Granite edges were finished with air powered carborundum wheels 24 grit, 220 grit and 400 grit, and buffed with hard pad and tin oxide, the same way I finished granite memorials in afternoons while I attended college, years later.

I measured and delivered the fabricated stone to the job site, all jobs installed by a union marble setter and his helper. Rarely were they happy with the sizing or the job. On average the union marble setter, a branch of the brick layers union, was paid about three times what a stone fabricator received. Consequently management was always concerned that he wasted no time. If they complained that something about the sizing or fabrication cost them to work longer, the pressure was turned up on me. Average cost of a 15-square-foot fire place was $450. $450 in 1968 would be equal to about $1800 now. Today that same fireplace would cost $1500.

So you see, the whole stone fabrication industry in Portland consisted of Art, Howard (part time]), Cal, myself, and a marble setter and his helper in 1968, and it never changed much other then different names till around 1990. I must add there was one other fellow, Gordon Nelson, who to the best of my knowledge worked by himself. They say he installed by day, fabricated by night. He would go to LA, buy an old truck, load it with marble in one of the 3 stone yards there, and drive back to Portland. Such a business. Our inventory came to Portland by ship with crated slabs, handled by expensive stevedores.

I was sent to Port of Portland about twice a year and had to hire 3 stevedores, one to drive fork lift, one to sling cables, and one to hold clipboard and keep time. I drove the old flatbed discussed in “HOWARD THE ONE HUNDRED THIRTY POUND MUSCLEMAN”, and tied the tall thin crates down with chains and made my way back to Beaverton worrying all the way should they fall. Mr. Macy and the shop wondered why it took so long, knowing the stevedores worked by the hour. The normal inventory we kept was 6 slabs of Italian Cremo, 6 Negro Marquina, 6 Norwegian Rose, 6 Carrara, 6 Travertine, maybe 6 Rose Aurora. I may have left a few out, but that’s pretty much the choices Portland Marble buyers had to choose from. I don’t remember one customer who didn’t have a designer helping her choose a stone. What a business it was. As my friend Bob Scull says, “WE DID EVERY JOB TWICE AND STILL MADE MONEY.” If anyone needed any custom stone work done in Portland it was done by us 4 or 5 guys working for not much more then minimum wage. As I have often said when you asked for a raise, the usual answer was, “Try Seattle, they might be hiring.” But for the most part Mr. Macy, though not a Medici, a good man to work for. I still think highly of him, now in his 90s, and still playing golf.

The reader might wonder how could such a business exist with so little demand. It couldn’t. Local stone fabrication was a very minor part of the business. Historically the business always did a good memorial business, lettering prefabricated tombstones, which I worked in later when I went to college. But the big business was installing prefabricated mausoleums throughout the northwest and as stated, installing prefabricated stone slabs on buildings; all this work done only by union marble setters who knew little about fabrication, they just installed. An apprenticeship I took up years later after college.

I think if you made a graph of LOCAL STONE FABRICATION it would pretty much bump along the bottom with a little improvement after 1975, but for the most part a tiny industry employing fewer than 10 people in Oregon up until 1990. My next blog will discuss how I survived as a stone fabricator from 1975 till 1990 when the local stone fabrication industry exploded because of kitchen counters.

THE 1968 STONE PRODUCT LINE STONE FLOORS

Stone floors and slate floors were installed in what we called dry pac. Dry pac was a 3-1 sand cement mixture, chopped by hand hoe, adding just enough water so that you could make a ball of it in your hand, but still a fluffy texture, which allowed the stone to be pounded into correct location. On wood floors tar paper and wire mesh were first put down, pure cement was broadcast and drywall shoved down, on average about one inch thickness. The stone was then fitted to correct location, lifted back out, back painted with water and pure cement, more pure cement was broadcast to make sticky surface the dry pac was then sprinkled with water to so cement would set hard and the stone was replaced to it in correct position.

This may sound quite simple to many, however remember dimension stone was expected to be installed with tight joints; the stone did not have rounded edges to conceal differences in height, the object was to have one flat plane on the surface no matter what was happening on the sub floor. The difference between setting tile with rounded edges and joints which allow you to just fallow the sub floor, and setting a flat stone floor should now be apparent to the reader. Not many marble setters mastered the skill to install a great floor. See my blog “Some Bits of Advice Given Me By Stone People”.

CEILING STONES OR SOFFITS

I have shown how walls and floors were installed but stone also was sometimes put on the celing. This was a bit more tricky. Wire was twisted with drill, to turn it into a rod. Two holes were drilled about three inches apart as shown on drawing. Copper wire was formed as shown with pliers. After placing wire in holes it was twisted to make tight. A hole was put in sheetrock and 20 minute casting plaster was used to secure stone to ceiling . Good idea to have holes near joists for strength.

IT AMAZED ME THAT IT WORKED.

WHAT A BUSINESS IT WAS.

NEW JOSEPH CONRAD SAMPLER

2012-01-11T14:22:00.000-08:00

The Making of My "David"

2011-12-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

I acquired this piece of marble from Mt. Calder on Prince of Wales island in S. E. Alaska, working together with Gary Williams. I have two others left after I sold 4 or 5 to Don Wilson, a Portland based sculptor. I knew it would be the finest white marble I would ever have to work with. I did not know about its integrity since all this stone was blasted 75 years ago. So I began by hand pitching the edges, inspecting for seams and letting water dry on the surface looking for future trouble. I inspected for variations in color or mottling spots. I still had no specific idea in mind.

Back right view

It was quite flawed and pointed on top and looked narrow on back right side to do much with. I could see a seam on this side as well – that bothered me. So I cut the top, losing as little stone as possible, and removed stone to check out seam.

Front and back

I decided on David mainly because it would probably be a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me even though the right-hand side of the stone looked skimpy. I then made three sketches front left and right to help me envision the general shape and proportions. I conceived of throwing the right leg out, steeping into combat and allowing development of leg muscles, and the right arm cocked with a sling since I had enough mass there . The natural sway of the back would work to my benefit. Notice the center line front and back. It's so easy to lose your proportions in figurative art, that’s what makes it so hard to do.

At this point I decided to make a drawing of what I thought the stone could be.

I knew material was lacking and wanted as much body as the stone would give, at a decent scale that pleased me. By tilting the head up, all proportions coming from the head, allowed me maximum body size, and of course David should be looking up at the giant.

Head materializing

I use proportions that use head size to determine all critical locations on the human form – a proven system that works. The widest point at David's strong shoulders was determined to be 13 inches. His face was to be a young strong man almost still a boy. Note direct sketch on side showing back shape. I wanted a twisted or curling shape suggesting body torque, ready to unravel. Right shoulder lowers, body cocked for action.

With there not being much stock on the right-hand side and a menacing seam staring at me I knew this was not going to be easy. Not many sculptors are wealthy enough to have lots of stone. Even Michelangelo's David's form was altered by lack of material. Stone sculpture is not like modeling where you just add more clay to add material. The stone sculpture is in a constant dialog with his material. Often fearful of failure, unless he is a fool.

By tilting the head I could get a six-and-one-half inch head and with cleaning up front and back of the stone I was able to lay out theoretical chin normal location giving me the breast plate at six-and-one-half inches and waist at thirteen inches . That would leave a good amount of stone for leg development. I wanted more but this would have to do in order for me to get a scale that pleased me.

Lacking confidence in my ability to carve a head made me want to do it first. If I failed at this end ever all else would be a wasted effort. I managed to get a boyish head but kept the hair long in back for strength to be removed later.

Being satisfied with the head, I undercut the neck and defined his shoulders. (Note lack of stone on the right hand side.) This dilemma made me put the lower half of right hand lower body back allowing left hand side of sculptor to charge forward providing body torque the David needed to have. It all worked out for the best as often happens with problems.

This photo shows finished sculptor body torque

I decided to work on the right hand arm first since the seam was there, I could see how to deal with it. Getting a good sized arm here may be a challenge. I knew there was plenty of stock on the opposite side and that I would have many choices on arm and hand shape. I located the arm by pushing it back, which allowed me to cut in the back enough to get sufficient stone to cut in generous buttocks. Now for the first time, I could see that the sculpture was going to work if I continued to keep proper proportions. The left hand side could push forward leaving room for bent right arm holding a sling, ready for action.

Finding arms, chest, and waist all by measurement.

Further defining back, arms, and legs.

Defining right hand arm, hand, and waist location.

Same with left arm.

It's beginning to look like art.

The basic form is completed.

It is much too heavy for me to handle, so I used our shop forklift on a Saturday, to lift with ropes, and put in a horizontal position on my work bench to carve details, hands chest, and stomach. This is a somewhat scary thing to handle. So I always do this sort of work with no one around to get hurt, trying to help. Didn’t think David would go into combat nude, so I decided to put a loin cloth attached with a line tie. This could all be textured to add interest to my David.

I wanted big hands somewhat larger than his penis, only suggested under the loin cover. I once had a art conjurer customer tell me a fireplace design I proposed to him seemed to contrived. Yes, art isn’t fluff falling from the sky, it's very contrived, thank you. I could now cut in his front legs from frontal position, pushing left hand leg forward as planned.

I carefully tipped him on his side not really knowing its balance points yet, and cut in left hand arm and sling resting on his leg.

For the first time I could stand my David up on my work bench, by leaving sufficient stone mass on bottom. This allowed me to work all around the stone at a comfortable height and align critical measurements up by measurement from work table. Both front and back could now be aligned for the first time with ease.

Refining details, opening arm cavities etc.

I put sculpture back down to further detail back muscles and form strong legs, then drill hole for pinning.

After weeks of sanding and detailing mostly up to 220 and sealing, since it was to stay outside, I bought the strongest line I could find and rigged it for lifting, a tricky job . It seemed to lift quite straight which sort of surprised me. I am often surprised at artists' paranoia at this point as if their sculpture was a gift to mankind. I always tell people it's only stone let it fall if necessary -- just stay out of the way.

I am glad I pinned him for he falls backward quite easy . I set him on a block of limestone I had, not a perfect perch but about the right height I think. This is something I am not very good at. I have entered my David in several public art-on-the-street proposals but it was never accepted. Figurative art is not much appreciated in this country. It has been sitting in my stone yard, remnant slab yard now for two years, has probably been seen by 500 or more Oregonians of all types. There has never been one comment since I placed it there. I think that says something, I don’t know what. I am quite sure if I put a wooden totem pole out there, crowds would gather and rave. But I am not going to.

Addendum:
I worked on this sculpture mostly during the cold season in Portland, Oregon, outside on an average of 3 hours a day for about 2 1/2 months. The weather didn't bother me because I was excited about doing the project!

Heroes of Local Knowledge

2011-12-01T13:29:00.001-08:00

By Joseph R. Conrad and Mary Anne Harmer Allen
Published in Oregon's Future, Fall 1998

We called him the Vegetable Man. His tomatoes, eggplant, and basil were sweet and beautiful -- the finest produce around. And without hesitation Frank shared these garden jewels with all his friends and neighbors, often offering advice as to the best way to prepare and cook them. He loved his vegetables and spent hours thinning, weeding and watering the lush growth. He often told us his success with vegetables was a result of his Italian heritage and the traditional skills of gardening passed down by his father in Southeast Portland that resulted in his superior produce. We knew it was that and much more. It was his passion for the earth, the simple gardening tools, the delicate seeds that made the difference. Frank cared about his garden -- treating each cucumber, radish and pea with respect and tenderness. He kept up on the latest trends in vegetable gardening, and somehow knew when and how to incorporate new methods with the traditional ways, blending the knowledge to create new innovations in gardening.

That Vegetable Man is retired now, and there is no one around who can come close to growing the quality of produce that Frank sold from his small fruit and vegetable market. Customers now purchase pale tomatoes wrapped in plastic year round from the nearest large supermarket. And, in thinking about Frank, one wonders not only about the traditional vegetable grower who for so many years successfully used local knowledge, but of other highly skilled professionals and craftsmen, also steeped in local knowledge, who have contributed so much. Has their local knowledge and expertise been passed on? Are these individuals valued today for the traditional foundation they bring to new knowledge and technology? Does anyone care? Does respecting local knowledge, passed on through generations while learning and adapting new techniques, represent true evolution and hope for a more authentic, healthier community? Should it not?

Each of us can identify warning signs in our own communities:
- Is the local logger still employed?
- What about the local fisherman?
- Is the local sawmill still running?
- How many cabinet shops and furniture builders are still around?
- Do the builders around town carry contracts, not tools, and attend meetings for permits, instead of working with their hands on the site?
- Does the tile setter know where or how tile is made, and do the roofers understand where shingles come from and the subtleties of each material with which they work?
- Do stone setters laying the steps of city buildings and putting up the walls of public structures know the origin of the stone they are using and how it got from the quarry to the worksite?

In considering these questions, it quickly becomes apparent that understanding and promoting the appropriate use of local knowledge -- that set of skills and information held by individuals in a given location or culture -- would be to learn from the heroes of local knowledge we meet each day in our communities.

These heroes of local knowledge are the keepers and tenders of an honorable garden of knowledge. In the past, this was a powerful and important role -- a role respected and appreciated. Today, however, we seem to value things, not how things are made. And so the keepers of this garden of knowledge swim upstream against a society that promotes consistency and mass production.

On the downside, local knowledge, because of its personal, slower, hands-on approach, is inconvenient to store, organize, and describe. It can be ambiguous and vague. On the upside, local technology brings with it years of emotions, feelings and sensitivities associated with a specific locality -- a special place identified by the people living there. It may not be as easily quantified, packaged and dispersed as more universal models, but it belongs to the community.

As a second generation stonecutter, I (Joseph Conrad) strongly feel that some elements of modern production, technology, and economies of scale have caused our industry to sacrifice local models. Technical knowledge, so easily accessible today from books, magazines, and the internet, can lead to a richness and expansion of knowledge; but it can also contribute to a dilution of local traditions and technologies. As a craftsman practicing a trade passed on for generations, I now learn through global technology to use standardized models. The resulting products, whether created or produced in my hometown in the Pacific Northwest, in Europe, or in New York soon take on a "common" look; everything looks the same.

As the local cabinet maker tells us, "Our customers demand the latest style or trend for our industry as seen in national or international magazines. They forget about the local creativity based on traditions and materials originating in our own backyard. It is important to remember that a sense of history provides the necessary connection to local material sources and traditional processes that can then be utilized to maximize the potential of new trends."

Perhaps, in the short term, standardized products are of value to business owners looking for savings reaped through consistency and mass production, however long-term we all may be paying a high price with this approach. As technology moves society toward the use of universal models there is a real loss of the creative diversity that reflects the local place and its traditions. If we don't use the expertise learned from our fathers and grandfathers, this knowledge will die with all of us. No one will be left to teach or pass on the skills that we learned from generations past. No one will be able to take the best of local knowledge and adapt it to new technologies."

Again and again, professionals and craftsmen using traditional methods communicate a sense of loss. Loss accompanied with a challenge, a hope that this trend can be reversed. Preserving local knowledge is becoming a common cry heard across many, many disciplines. It is a cry for survival -- for the continuation of the best of the past made better through the technology of the future.

When we do not honor, respect and acknowledge local knowledge, forsaking it completely for technological knowledge, we soon lose the human touch. The intimacy of daily personal relations is no longer needed.

The face-to-face interaction, that special bond between teacher and student, is replaced with instruction by impersonal methods such as the electronic transfer of knowledge.

Although the theory of a certain skill or technique can be communicated electronically or by a book or magazine, you certainly lose the small nuances of how to hold a saw or how to pick grapes at their peak flavor. This learning is best gained through observation, personal experience, and practice -- taught by someone with respect and passion for the trade.

As one thinks about how we make purchases as individuals or as businesses, one quickly understands the threat to survival for the local hero of knowledge. It happens as the corner pharmacy is put out of business by large drugstore chains, and as the local hardware stores, where the owner helped and encouraged us to slowly browse through the inventory on Saturday afternoons, is replaced by large self-serve hardware stores -- the fast and efficient way to sell home supplies and hardware. These are all signs that communities are slowly moving away from local knowledge. Rather than using it in conjunction with new technology, it is discounted all together.

It has become to easy for people to lose connection with their communities; they stop caring when people, products, and services become too distant. A local builder expresses it this way, "To accommodate more customers and enhance productivity, my services are not viewed uniquely, but 'limped' into common categories for ease and efficiency. Consequently, we use design principles that are considered universal with more legal codes and standards and construction regulations that will not accommodate exceptions. Finally, there are elaborate bureaucratic and operational procedures that reinforce mass production. Thus, an original idea or skill, with roots in local knowledge, is stretched, pulled, and forced to fit common standards. The result is the sacrifice of local knowledge and creativity. My structures are just not as unique as they used to be."

It is very difficult today to go against the tide. Practitioners of local knowledge know this, but we can make it easier for them. If the community -- if individuals -- will support them, they will utilize the advances of technology to further local knowledge. It is a win-win proposition. Practitioners of local knowledge will selectively capitalize on the advances of technology while staying connected to their tools and materials -- staying connected to the customer.

The cabinet maker, the fisherman, the stonecutter and so many other skilled professionals and craftsmen are the foundation of our communities. They bring creativity, sensitivity to the environment, and sound economic value to our cities and towns. They represent the synthesis of ideas, the tools or technology employed, and the material selected for use. The integration of all of these elements can only lead to more creativity.

Creativity does not operate as an independent vision; rather, it is within the holistic context of local and traditional tools and materials, accompanied by inspiration, that creativity, unique form, and innovation emerge.

This is the power, strength and ultimate hope of local knowledge. Nurturing this process and incorporating it into new technology is absolutely critical to our creativity, to our environment, to our economy. Local knowledge helps build healthy communities. If we do not use it, we lose it.

Joseph Conrad is a Northwest sculptor, second-generation stonecutter, and owner of an Oregon-based stone fabrication company currently practicing his art in Portland. Mary Anne Harmer Allen is a national consultant and director of the Healthy Communities Initiative in Portland.

Stonecutters Provide the Human Touch

2011-11-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

The design of a stone tabernacle for a Portland, Oregon, church was completed with a partnership of design and craftsmanshipby Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad Stonecutter
Portland, Oregon

(First published in Stone World magazine, April 1996)

The design of the tabernacle of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon, was influenced by Venetian churches.

My association with the restoration of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Portland, Oregon, began when Father Anthony asked if I could restore and reduce the size of an historic marble altar for the church's 100-year celebration. The altar, having come from St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake, had been moved several times, and its size did not fit the space well.

After studying the way the altar was built, I knew this could be done tastefully without damaging the original design. However, I was somewhat intimidated by his request that I propose a design for a tabernacle to stand behind the altar. I eventually proposed that a marble tabernacle could be built utilizing an existing insert in the altar. The new tabernacle would reflect the design elements of the altar.

As a second-generation stonecutter with 35 years in the stone industry, I admit to a prejudice favoring local stone fabrication in spite of economic and social realities favoring foreign manufacturing of stone products. However, I am convinced that many experienced craftsmen intuitively view three-dimensional forms from a practical perspective which I call "Inside-Out Design," which was utilized for this project.

Inside-Out Design is the perception of physical forms as a series of processes that generate form. The architectural designer looks at the physical, social and economic needs of the client and proceeds to define a physical form to fulfill those needs. The craftsman looks at the same needs of the clients, asks how much money he has to spend, surveys the tools and supplies he has to work with, and proceeds to define the form.

In Practice

As we dissembled the altar to bring it to our fabrication shop for refurbishing, Father Anthony gave me some 1940 photos of the original tabernacle. He reminded me that tabernacles and church statuary and furniture are typically purchased in Italy, but there was a change in Church policy directing the use of local craftsmen whenever possible.

While this was refreshing news, I assume this proclamation is more typically interpreted to buy materials in Italy as usual and have local labor move it in. However, Father Anthony was determined to employ local craftsmen and artisans for the entire process.

He contacted Michael Dante, a professor of sculpture at the University of Oregon, to design and build the ornate sculptured doors for the tabernacle. Two separate sets of doors were required to house and show the monstrance at different elevations for religious ceremonies. Consequently, sizes were roughly established in human scale. The metal container and interior lighting were to be enclosed by a marble structure.

Father Anthony then hired DiBenedetto/Thomson Architects of Portland to design the structure. The architectural design team studied Venetian churches and developed drawings for a stone tabernacle.
A meeting to review the plans was held, including members of the architectural design team, the sculptor, Father Anthony, the church historian, myself and others. Each of us provided input as to the feasibility of construction and design concepts. It was decided that while the tabernacle should be the center of focus for the church, it should not overwhelm the space only with size. We wanted it to function on a human scale while also relating to the altar in front of it. As a sculptor, Dante was also concerned with door function, texture and relief.

Father Anthony requested that the architectural firm develop a full-size mock-up and set it in the space to check for scale, introduce and get input from congregational members, the donor and fellow church clergy.

After assembling the Styrofoam mock-up, it was decided to downsize the structure. Certain modifications were made, working drawings were given to me, and Dante was instructed to start on the doors.

Father Anthony and I then went to a local stone supply yard, Oregon Tile & Marble, to select material for the project. We set aside three slabs of Carrara White and chose accent and column stones later as the colors of the church decor evolved.

The construction procedure

Any complex stone project must start the same way, with full size drawings that include: plan, front, left, right, rear and critical sections through. Full-size drawings ensure that all parts work together. For example, if the doors swing into the column base, modifications would be required to make it work. It is useful to make drawings on pattern board. If kept clean and dry, they can then act as templates to build from as the project takes shape.

The stone craftsman must turn a single dimension drawing (flat plane) into a three-dimensional form. Often, changes in design occur during the process. As few people are capable of truly perceiving three-dimensional objects from shop drawings, patterns help.

The tabernacle was viewed as separate understandable stone components.

The tabernacle was viewed a separate understandable stone components, and shop tickets were made describing each element. At this point, shop experience is critical to create three-dimensional forms with little seam appearance. Understanding of shop machinery and practices are critical, as well as having strong knowledge of the stone's characteristics.

For some of the features, the various elements were cut-to-size, the edges detailed and the pieces were then assembled and glued to form a whole component. The components were then dry set in our shop and viewed by Father Anthony and the designer. Following the procedure, minor adjustments to the lighting were made.

Once approved, the assembly of the tabernacle at the church took less than six hours.

Once approved, the assembly of the tabernacle at the church took less than six hours. The local fabrication in this case allowed the customer/builder to interact with the artisans involved in the project. Sophisticated customers often require the stamp of craftsmen, which provides some of the soul that can be lost in day-to-day life.

The State of the Arts

2011-09-27T14:38:00.000-07:00

He was a beautiful man

Hungarian cab driver in Vienna,

locally referred to as Wien.

Throwing his great 60 year old arms up

declared in a rich baritone voice

Wien, a city filled with art,

over two hundred museums,

Franz Joseph the Hapsburgs were collectors.

Western, Eastern, Asian, African, Persian, Polonaise, Egyptian, Turkish, Greek, Roman,

Ancient, Renaissance, Baroque, Modern

all the masters kept

here in Wien

A city of musical genius

Haydn, Brahms, Mozart, Schumann, Strauss

all kept

here in Wien.

Sculpture along the Danube

and at every turn, beauty,

here in Wren

Architecture, and Gardens equal to any in the world kept,

here in Wien.

BUT

someday I hope to go to your country

to see your great art,

in MEMPHIS

home of

JERRY LEE LEWIS AND ELVIS PRESLEY

THERE'S MARBLE IN THEM THERE ISLANDS (PART TWO)

2011-09-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

(this blog should be read as a second part of my first blog on Alaska there will be more.)

It's been 15 years since I last visited Alaska so I may not have a exact recollection of events, however I won't let that stop me from discussing my 5-year Alaska experience.

The small part of Alaska we went to is known as South East the archipelago traveled by cruse ships,or inland passage off western Canada. Generally this area from Juneau south to Ketchikan has a climate similar to Seattle with more rain as you move north. Winters are mild but wet and can be windy and dangerous for small planes in winter as well as uncomfortable boating. Consequently I always went in the summer.

There's marble in them there islands

Mt. Calder - pure white marble

Ten percent of Alaska is owned by native corporations since statehood formation. Most of the state is federal or state owned land. It is important to know when one is looking and exploring around, whose property you are on . This is home of the Tungus, our largest national forest, now protected by President Clinton, not so when I was there. Today it would likely be illegal to walk or drive the old log roads we traveled on these remote uninhabited islands as we did, looking at geology formations.

How we get around

Old log roads

Landing craft and fishing boat home

People who live on these islands have to be self sufficient,with boats to get to town for supplies,but no infrastructure at there home site, diesel generators for power needs. Fish camps are scattered around with customers pampered in and out on float planes, getting an outback experience with no personal discomfort. Local economists gauge the economic health by calculating the ratio of pounds of fish going out, to gallons of beer coming in,on the barge transport system.

Fishing for dinner

Landing craft as truck

Dangerous passage

There is classic award winning book over 600 hundred pages describing the geology of the United States mainland, titled ANNALS OF THE FORMER WORLD by JOHN McPHEE. In it the author states that if you don’t want to read the entire book, it's enough to understand that the stone on top of Mt. Everest was formed at the bottom of the ocean. I am not smart enough to describe the geology of SE Alaska but to say that its geology was formed a long way south and smashed in, or what geologists called docked, by tectonic drift. So there is a lot of variety to look at. I found a lot of good information in the Ketchikan library on local geology, those librarians are always so kind and helpful, I hope our digital age doesn’t somehow displace them. Two of the best sources being MARBLE RESOURCES OF SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA by ERNEST F. BUCHARD, given to me by Ron Geitgey, with a section on geography and geology by THEODORE CHAPIN, bulletin 682 posted in 1920. How these guys traveled around and walked these rain forest islands is beyond my imagination. The second great source for me is a book written by PATRICIA ROPPEL, titled FORTUNES FROM THE EARTH, published in 1991. There is a lot of other great stuff on this subject but these two I found most helpful.

Me at the black deposit

Marble blocks covered with moss

Stacked and ready for San Francisco

On my first trip to SE Alaska, Bob with his meat, me with my over stuffed navy sea bag, we landed on Gravina island just off Ketchikan (bridge to nowhere fame), and took a local ferry to PRINCE OF WALES island. Then van shuttle to CRAIG our headquarters, then down to meet JIM the Alaska fisherman and explorer who lived on Bob's 42 foot wooden trawler. After going to grocery store for provisions we headed out the next morning to a friend of Jim's place, to pick up a skiff with an outboard motor to use. His friend had a wonderful home. He and his wife and one son lived in all built by him on a log raft. Behind his home he had built a large building that was his log mill all on another log raft, well lit and airy, a business he used to supplement his fishing. I remember they had a dog that he said had never been to town (had never seen another dog). I liked that.

My friend the Yakima farmer

Marble blocks

Me swimming in quarry

Shortly after heading out for Marble Island we were all engaged in conversation and came up on a concealed rock, high and dry and tilting portside. This is how navigational errors sink boats. If the tide is going out, the craft tips and fills with water . Tide was going the right for us,so we had to wait an hour or so and were lifted off and floating again. Must have hit right in the center, these old wooden fishing boats have massive keels, probably not so lucky with modern fiberglass boats. No damage, everything seemed to work again.

The black quarry

25-foot-long marble blocks under water, water left from Juneau capitol job

Rail cart in rain forest

Our fishing boat had a top speed around 6 knots, and we got to Marble Island at night fall. The solitude and stillness of this remote place is beyond description. As you approach the island two 40-foot-high stacks of quarry blocks protrude from the rain forest out into the water, all waste material abandoned there 80 to 110 years ago by the Vermont marble company. These piles of marble quarry blocks were built by loading blocks with stiff leg derricks cut from handy trees and steam driven wenches to a rail cart on top, with an improvised track to the end of the pile and dumped. By our recollection these scrap piles tangled through the rain forest for 3 miles, 40 ft wide 40 ft high, by my calculations there are probably 60,000 marble blocks resting in the rain forest. Four quarry holes of white marble and one quarry hole or black marble all filled with fresh water in the middle of a pristine rain forest. This being one of many abandoned quarries I would have a chance to visit the next five years. (MORE ON ALASKA FUN LATER )

Things are different in Mexico

2011-08-03T15:04:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth's compound

Elizabeth's home

My home in Mexico

My friend Elizabeth told me told me of a method of well drilling she had done on her compound in Zirahuan , colonial Mexico, pronounced cita win, which is a fine example of of things that interest me in travel. She needed a well drilled to service homes she was building on her beautiful lake view property. When the man and two children arrived from the village and witched a good spot. She assumed work would begin and left to do errands, upon returning she went over to look and found that the well digger, was a digger. She assumed he was digging a hole to line the top five or so feet with bricks. The next day the children arrived with ropes and buckets ,and the father with the same shovel. Latter she was surprised to find the children lifting the dirt out as there father dug down. She asked her friend bob to get a ladder so the well digger could climb out that evening ,when he finished the days digging. Turned out, it was not needed ,he had cut foot holds in the side to climb out himself. He ended up going 40 feet with no luck, I believe oxygen runs short at about that point, pumping air down would be hard. They gave up on that spot, but she was not going to see that process again, and told the well digger to drill the next effort. He started the next day, with a hand turned drill with his children helping. And they eventually found water. Some years latter,she wrote me a note ,inviting me to visit with only her only promise being a hot shower and good cup of coffee if I came. How could I say no. I asked a friend how do I get to a place like Morellea Mexico. I had no idea where it was. I am glad I went. I have many fond memories of Mexico. Latter a friend of mine from Iran told me that wells were dug the same way in remote parts of his country, makes sense when you think about it but shocks one at first.

In Zirahuan a small village on a pristine lake 7200 ft sort of half way between Mexico city and Guadalajara, meat is cured and sold in a fashion similar to my friend bobs method I talked about in Theresa is marble in them there islands. Seems to work fine.

Same is sort of true in Urappen, a city of 300,000. Forty miles away.

But I draw the line on fish from the local fisherman’s wife, what I call suckers, that are laid out for sale all day uncleaned on a table , as they are presented on the road a couple of blocks down from the home I stayed at in Zirahuan. However I certainly admired the persistence and ingenuity of the fisherman who stayed out all frigid night at 7200 feet elevation, and netted these fish, in their dugout logs at this elevation. These log boats are fiberglassed tree trunks. I asked my daughter to bring my binnacles on a visit so I could watch these hard working men. The harbor masters attending to this protected lake offered me fish stew they cooked on the floor of their building in a crock pot. My daughter who knows about food, told me she thinks the fish offered on the table are used to make fish stock. We did have some fine fish served at a lakeside raft restaurant though a treat my grand baby declined.

Local laundromat and fish sales table (in background)

Hand-carved log boats

Fisherman's family helping harvest

I never thought that Mexico had and used so much timber in its historic construction. I think I had seen to many Roy Rogers, Gene Autrey, Tom Mix, and Cisco Kid movies in my youth. At this elevation hard wood and pine forests dominate the land scape. Traditionally homes were built by stacking heavy timbers in construction of fine sturdy warm homes. These old structures are sought after to build beautiful decks these days. I have read that stone buildings in Mexico City built on a lake were lined with aromatic woods.

Hardwood forest

Indigenous home

My friend Carlos left this part of Mexico as a truck driver for 30 years. He returned as a successful stone business man to attend graduate school in Morellea and take care of his avocado orchard and family. He told me that he noticed a reduction in the amount of streams and available water in those 30 years. Too many trees had been replaced with crops and the planting of the wrong kind of trees. As a student of ecology I appreciated his observations. As he showed me his avocado orchard and gave me insights to this type of agriculture. There are more then 100000 acres of avocado orchards in this region.

Huge forests of avocado trees, mostly all beautifully fenced and guarded, they are valuable. I have been lucky in travel.

Carlos

The village I lived in was surrounded by hardwood and long pine needle trees. These trees are woodlots set aside for locals to use to cook with. These forests are well cared for by the villagers, because they are needed by them daily, and in the future. I saw one chainsaw in 4 months, interestingly it was carried by a women whose husband road the mule she walked in front of... All the other wood cutters seemed to only use machetes to cut wood. One limb at a time. Most carry their firewood on their back carefully bundled like a large backpack, from my simple observations a human seems to able to carry about one-half what is carried on a mule. Some villagers have mules, a noisy animal, but most do not. I once saw a hand truck entirely made of wood including axle and wheels. Sadly I can't pull up pictures of it. It was a wonderful sight up in the wood lot. There were two grandpas with oxcarts . What a sight, grandpa leading two oxen, pulling a cart up to the wood lot, with grandbabies riding along as helpers. The best oxcart story happened on the road to Santa Clara the copper city. We were traveling through the forest on this road made of hand-laid tiles when we came across an oxcart with a man sitting on top of a 4-foot diameter log. She wouldn’t stop for me to photograph, later I realized she knew the log was illegally harvested. I wondered how he cut and loaded this huge log and what he was going to do with it.

Cutting trees in the forest

Man carrying load of wood

Ox cart

My firewood delivery - $35 for 3 donkey loads of wood

I have a lot of Mexican logging stories, but I will let the picture I took some years later in Santa Clara, were the man is shaping a 60-foot rafter cut from the local forest in remodeling a old church. Later he was directing the heisting of the of the timbers up inside the church through an opening in the wooden barrel road.

Shaping 60 foot long log with an axe

Moving wood beam inside church

Santa Clara copper city

THERE'S MARBLE IN THEM THERE ISLANDS (PART ONE)

2011-07-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO I RENTED A SMALL QUONSET HUT IN SOUTHEAST PORTLAND'S LOW-RENT DISTRICT AND ATTEMPTED MY FIRST EFFORT AT MY OWN STONE BUSINESS AS A 35 YEAR OLD. I WAS TOTALLY IMPOVERISHED WITH A WIFE AND TWO CHILDREN AND NO WORK. THIS WAS PRE-GRANITE COUNTER DAYS, THE STONE BUSINESS DIDN'T EXIST. OUTSIDE TOMBSTONES, OR AN OCCASIONAL FIREPLACE FACING. STONE TILES WERE FIRST BEGINNING TO APPEAR. THERE WAS SOME QUESTION WHETHER THESE STONE TILES WERE WORK FOR MARBLE MASONS OR TILE SETTERS. IN AN ATTACHED SHED NEXT TO MINE WORKED SCHMITTY, A 70-YEAR-OLD MAN WHO CAST CEMENT COLLARS AROUND FLAT TOMBSTONES FOR CEMETERIES. WE BECAME FRIENDS.

SCHMITTY TOLD ME THAT DURING THE DEPRESSION HE RAISED AND TRAPPED FOR FURS IN THE SOUTHEAST ALASKA ISLANDS. HE TOLD ME THAT THERE WAS A MACHINE SHOP ON AN ISLAND THAT HE COULD USE TO REPAIR HIS OUTBOARD MOTOR LEFT BY A MARBLE QUARRYING OPERATION. APPARENTLY A CARETAKER WAS STILL ASSIGNED TO THIS OPERATION BY THE VERMONT MARBLE COMPANY. THIS WAS WHEN I FIRST HEARD OF MARBLE IN SOUTHEAST ALASKA. I NEVER THOUGHT MUCH ABOUT IT UNTIL 15 YEARS LATER I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL FROM AN ALASKAN FISHERMAN. HE TOLD ME HE GOT MY NAME FROM A MARITIME ATTORNEY IN PORTLAND SUGGESTING ME AS A STONE EXPERT. THUS BEGAN A FIVE-YEAR MISADVENTURE WITH ALASKA MARBLE.

THE FISHERMAN TO THE BEST OF MY RECOLLECTION WAS FISHERY BIOLOGIST WHO RETREATED FROM A GOVERNMENT FISHERIES POST FOR SECLUSION IN S.E. ALASKA TO CREATE HIS OWN PRIVATE REALITY, WHICH HE SEEMED TO PREFER. THIS SORT OF BEHAVIOR SEEMS TO BE NOT UNCOMMON IN S.E. ALASKA, RUGGED INDIVIDUALISTS. HE HAD ALL THE SKILLS TO FUNCTION IN A WORLD OF WHAT SEEMED TO ME TO BE A SEVERE AND DANGEROUS PROFESSION. WE BECAME PHONE COMPANIONS WITH DAILY CONVERSATIONS. HE TOLD ME ABOUT MARBLE BLOCKS ON AN ISLAND, AND THAT HE HAD AN OFFER TO PROVIDE SLABS FROM THIS STONE FOR A COURTHOUSE REMODEL IN EASTERN WASHINGTON. IN THE NEXT SEVERAL MONTHS I TALKED HIM THROUGH THE STEPS TO REMOVE THESE BLOCKS FOR HIS COURTHOUSE DREAM.

ABOUT 4 MONTHS LATER HE SHOWED UP AT THE FRONT DOOR OF MY SMALL STONE FABRICATION SHOP IN PORTLAND AND TOLD ME HE HAD GONE TO A COMPETITOR STONE COMPANY AND THEY HAD NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH THE STONE BLOCKS HE HAD ON THE BACK OF THIS OLD BEAT-UP FLATBED TRUCK, AND AGAIN ASKED FOR HELP. WE WENT FOR BREAKFAST WHERE HE INFORMED ME HE HATED CITIES AND PARTICLURY RESTAURANTS WITH THEIR FAKE FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS. HE ALSO EXPRESSD A DISLIKE FOR PEOPLE IN GENERAL AND THAT HE HAD LOST 35 POUNDS BREAKING THE STONE AND GETTING IT ON HIS BOAT AND EVENTULLY DOWN TO PORTLAND ON THIS FLATBED . I LATER FOUND THAT HIS FOOD PREFERENCES WERE LUKEWARM SAUSAGES, INSTANT COFFEE AND CIGARETTES, WHICH SEEMED TO SUSTAIN THIS 6-FOOT-5 INCH HEALTHY MAN. IT COULD HAVE ENDED RIGHT THERE IF I SAID GO AWAY BUT I DIDN'T. THIS WAS BEFORE THE INTERNET, INFORMATION WAS HARD TO GET SO I DECIDED TO HELP HIM.

I WENT BACK TO MY SHOP AND CALLED A FRIEND OF MINE WHO OWNED AND OPERATED ONE OF ONLY TWO STONE SAW SHOPS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI, THAT COULD SAW HIS BLOCKS,TED ORCHARD. TED, A TRUE PROFESSIONAL, A HERO OF MINE AGREED TO HELP HIM. THE FISHERMAN WAS OFF AND RUNNING, GLAD TO GET AWAY FROM TOWN. I WAS TOLD HE SLEPT UNDER HIS TRUCK FOR THE WEEK IT TOOK TO SLAB HIS BLOCKS.

SIX MONTHS LATER THE FISHERMAN CALLED ME OUT OF THE BLUE AND TOLD ME HE DELIVERED THE SLABS TO THE COURTHOUSE, GOT PAID, AND WANTED TO TRY THIS MARBLE BUSINESS AGAIN. I WAS FLABBERGASTED AND ASKED WHY I SHOULD HELP HIM. HE ASKED IF I WOULD MEET HIS PARTNER, A YAKIMA FARMER AT THE ALASKA AIR TERMINAL IN SEATTLE, AND THEY WOULD SHOW ME ALASKA. HOW COULD I SAY NO-

THUS BEGAIN ONE OF THE GREATEST FRIENDSHIPS OF MY LIFE WITH A 70-YEAR-OLD FARMER WHO GOT HIS DEGREE IN CHEMISTRY BEFORE WW II.

I PACKED MY OLD NAVY SEABAG WITH WHAT I THOUGHT MIGHT BE APPROPRIATE GEAR FOR LIFE ON A FISHING BOAT AND FOUND BOB. HE WAS HARD TO MISS IN HIS COVERALLS, AND SMALL HAND BAG. PULLING TWO WHITE STYROFOAM COOLERS TAPED UP, FILLED, I LEARNED LATER,WITH BOB'S OWN HOME-CURED WITHOUT ANY REFRIDGERATION THAT IS, BEEF. QUITE CRUSTY. A PROCESS ALL NEW TO ME. THIS AGED BEEF WAS TO BE A SPECIAL TREAT FOR THE FISHERMAN EVEN THOUGH HE HAD NO WAY TO PROPERLY COOK IT. I FOUND OUT LATER. BOB THE EVER-HARVESTING FARMER WANTED THE COOLER TO BE FILLED WITH FISH HE INTENDED TO SELL WHEN WE GOT BACK FROM OUR TRIP TO ALASKA. BOB'S MIND WAS NOT ON MARBLE , ALTHOUGH HE WAS CURIOUS TO LEARN. BOB'S INTEREST, BESIDES SHRIMP AND SALMON, WAS LOOKING FOR A GOOD SPOT TO RAISE OYSTERS, THE SALINITY OF FRESH AND SALT WATER AND LOCATION WAS SOMEPLACE IN S.E. ALASKA. THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE WAS ALL NEW TO ME, THE MARBLE MAN.

BOB WAS A PRACTICAL MAN, HE WOULD JUST AS SOON PROVIDE SANDWICHES HOT COFFEE AND CASH TO NATIVE FISHERMEN FOR RESALE THEN TO HARVEST THEM HIMSELF ON FISH OPENINGS. MY FRIEND BOB LOVED TO SAY CASH IS STILL LEGAL TENDER. THE FISHERMAN'S FAVORATE EXPRESSION I LATER LEARNED WAS NOTHING FINAL TILL LISBON, THE U.S. NOT HAVING AN EXTRADITION TREATY WITH PORTUGAL. HE HAD BIG DREAMS ABOUT THE VALUE OF MARBLE. BOB AND I WERE OFF TO ALASKA – ME WITH MY OVERPACKED SEABAG, HIM WITH HIS YAKIMA MEAT, WHICH LATER TURNED OUT TO REMIND ME OF ANOTHER JOSEPH CONRAD'S MEAT SUPPLY, GETTING LARGER AND SMELLIER AS THEY TRAVELLED UPSTREAM ONE HUNDRED YEARS EARLIER.

HOWARD, THE ONE HUNDRED THIRTY POUND MUSCLE MAN

2011-06-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

My Delivery System

MOVING STONE, DUE TO ITS MASS, HAS ALWAYS BEEN A TOPIC OF CONVERSATION AND INTEREST TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. PYRAMID CONSTRUCTION, STONEHENGE, MAYAN RUINS, ETC. SEEMS TO BE A ENDLESS SOURCE OF TV DOCUMENTARIES. SCULPTURE GROUPS GIVE SEMINARS ON HANDLING LARGE HEAVY STONES. WORKING WITH GRAVITY, SIMPLE LEVERS, INCLINED PLANES, ETC. IS ESSENTIAL TO STONE-LOVING SCULPTORS. TODAY WE HAVE LIFTING DEVICES OF ALL SORTS TO MAKE THINGS EASY, BUT IT WASN'T SO LONG AGO THESE AIDS WERE NOT OFTEN USED.

WHEN I WAS ATTENDING PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY IN THE EARLY 1970S, I CUT LETTERS AND POLISHED MONUMENTS AFTER CLASSES AND OFTEN DELIVERED MONUMENTS WITH HOWARD COLMAN, A FIVE-FOOT-SIX 130-POUND MACHINE POLISHER. WE BOTH WORKED AT A TOMBSTONE MANUFACTURING SHOP IN PORTLAND, OREGON. HOWARD GOT HIS START IN THE STONE TRADE WORKING IN MEDICA LAKE WHITE GRANITE QUARRY IN EASTERN WASHINGTON, NEAR SPOKANE. HOWARD WOULD TAKE ME ALONG WHEN HE HAD MONUMENTS TO INSTALL IN LOCAL CEMETERIES AROUND PORTLAND AND SOMETIMES OUTSIDE OF THE PORTLAND AREA AS WELL.

HE NEEDED NO HELP WITH WITH FLAT MARKERS 2 FOOT BY 1 FOOT, OR 2 FOOT 4 INCH BY 1 FOOT 4 INCH. OR 4 FOOT BY 1 FOOT DOUBLE MARKERS. NOR DID HE NEED HELP WITH HICKEY OR SLANT MARKERS, THEY ONLY WEIGHED 150 TO 200 HUNDRED POUNDS.

IT'S A SPECIAL LANGUAGE THIS MONUMENT BUSINESS. I TAUGHT IT TO MY DAUGHTER AND WE STILL LAUGH AT THINGS LIKE ”CARNELIAN 3-0 X1-10X 0-8 CK MOLDS -ROCK SIDES WITH 4-0X 1-0 X 8 BASE.” ALL A STONE MAN NEEDS TO KNOW TO START WORKING MAKING A SPECIFIC COLOR, SIZE, AND DETAILED MONUMENT.

HOWARD CUT AND POLISHED RAISED LETTERING BY HAND AT NIGHT FOR EXTRA MONEY USING HAND-HELD EMERY BRICKS. MY MENTOR JULIUS WOULD ROUGH OUT THE LETTERING WITH THE SANDBLAST AND HOWARD WOULD TAKE IT FROM THERE, POLISHING SQUARE AND SHARP CORNERS WITH LOTS OF FINE DETAILS WITH A FLAT RECESSED BACKGROUND IN GRANITE.

I SPENT MANY PLEASANT FRIDAYS HELPING HIM DELIVER MONUMENTS IN A 1947 FOUR-SPEED GREEN FLATBED, EQUIPPED WITH SPLIT REAR END FOR THE OPEN ROAD TO LOCAL CEMETERIES.

MONUMENTS, THAT IS DIE AND BASE, WENT MAINLY TO JEWISH CEMETERIES, AND OCCASIONALLY TO A GYPSY SECTION IN ONE CEMETERY. FLAT RUN THE LAWN MOWER OVER THE TOP MARKERS IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR MOST OF US. ITS ALL ABOUT PRICE AND CEMETERY EFFICIENCY AND A LACK OF INTEREST IN THE DEAD. IN OUR MAINSTREAM SOCIETY, NO “DAY OF THE DEAD” CEREMONIES REMEMBERING OUR PARENTS OR GRANDPARENTS NORTH OF THE RIO GRAND.

HOWARD'S BASIC TOOLS WERE PLANKS, BROOM HANDLE ROLLERS , 4X4 CRIBBING, PLYWOOD FOR PATH CONSTRUCTION, A 4-WHEEL BALLOON TIRE HEAVY-DUTY HAND TRUCK, AND A PINCH BAR SELDOM USED, IT BEING A DANGEROUS TOOL. HE WOULD DELIVER AND INSTALL 500 TO 1000 POUND FRAGILE AND EXPENSIVE MONUMENTS WITH EASE. KNOWING THAT ANY CHIPS OR SCRATCHES WERE UNACCEPTABLE TO THE CUSTOMER. HE WOULD RAISE THEM UP ON THE BASE WITH THE HAND TRUCK AND PUT A SPECIAL GOOP HE ROLLED IN HIS HAND WHILE I ROCKED THE MONUMENT BACK. HE SLID THEM DOWN OFF THE TRUCK ON HIS TRUSTY PLANKS AND MOVED THEM THROUGH THE CEMETERY WITHOUT DAMAGING THE GRASS WITH HIS HAND TRUCK ON PLYWOOD ROADS HE LAYED DOWN.

WITH A GUY LIKE HOWARD, WHAT COMPANY WOULD BOTHER WITH A LIFTING DEVICE? WE BOTH WORKED CHEAP, LOW WAGES AND LONG HOURS. FRIDAYS WERE OFTEN 7 TO 7 BY THE TIME WE GOT BACK TO THE SHOP WITH A LUNCH AT ONE OF HOWARD'S FAVORITE BEER JOINTS.

EARLY ONE SPRING – I DON'T REMEMBER WHETHER IT WAS HOOD RIVER OR THE DALLES, OREGON – HOWARD ASKED ME TO GO WITH HIM IN THE OLD GREEN FLATBED LOADED WITH HIS TRUSTY PLANKS,4X4 CRIBBING, 4X4 BY 8 FOOT BEAMS, CHAINS AND BELTS,COME ALONG PULLER, PLYWOOD ROAD MATERIAL AND A SOLID STONE ALTAR ABOUT 8 FOOT LONG AND 4 FOOT WIDE AND 3 FEET HIGH, IT MUST HAVE WEIGHED ABOUT 8 TONS. IT WAS TO BE INSTALLED IN A CATHOLIC CHURCH. I DIDN'T KNOW HOW HE WAS GOING TO DO THIS SO I TOLD MY WIFE AND CHILDREN I WOULD BE BACK LATER IN THE WEEK.

HOWARD HAD ALREADY CASED THE JOB OUT, FOR WHEN WE GOT TO CHURCH PARKING LOT,TWO AUTO WRECKERS PULLED UP, ONE ONE EACH SIDE OF THE FLATBED.WE RIGGED THE LIFTING CABLES, THE WRECKERS COORDINATED THE LIFT AND HOWARD DROVE THE FLATBED OUT. I DON'T REMEMBER WHETHER HE HAD THEM LOWER ON TO A STEEL CART OR WHETHER IT CAME DOWN ON HIS 4X4 ROLLER SYSTEM, IT'S BEEN 40 YEARS. I DO REMEMBER THAT IT TOOK 2 DAYS TO MOVE THE ALTAR WITH THE COME ALONG UP INTO THE FRONT DOOR AND DOWN THE CENTER AISLE AND UP TO THE FRONT OF THE CHURCH. TURN IT AND AND SAFELY LAND THIS FRAGILE AND EXPENSIVE STONE. I ASSUME IT'S STILL THERE.

FOOD AND LODGING AT A MOTEL WAS PROVIDED BY THE COMPANY WE WORKED FOR. I REMEMBER WHEN WE DROVE BACK DOWN INTO THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY THE HEAVY RICH SMELL OF SPRING IN THE AIR AND FEELING OF ACCOMPLISHMENT WORKING WITH THIS GENTLE MAN. I LEARNED A LOT FROM HIM AND A FEW YEARS LATER WHEN I HAD MY OWN LITTLE BUSINESS I HAD A OPPORTUNITY TO MOVE AND TURN AN ALTAR WITH MY COMPANION SCHMITTY. I WILL SAVE THAT STORY FOR ANOTHER BLOG.

WHENEVER I GO BACK TO MY HOME TOWN IN MINNESOTA I ALWAYS VISIT THE CEMETERIES WHERE MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS AND PARENTS ARE BURIED, ALL WITH BEAUTIFUL UPRIGHT DIE AND BASE MONUMENTS, AND THINK ABOUT MY ROOTS.

My Final Installation System

STONECUTTERS URBAN ECOLOGY 101: URBAN THERAPY

2011-06-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

LIVING AND WALKING ABOUT A CITY IS ALWAYS AN EXCITING EXPERIENCE FOR ME AS A STONE HISTORY BUFF. SOMETHING NEW AROUND EVERY CORNER. IT'S LIKE A ROAD CUT FOR A GEOLOGIST OR A WALK IN THE FOREST FOR AN ECOLOGIST. UP TO NOW CHICAGO IS MY FAVORITE CITY, ALTHOUGH MY SON SAYS NEW YORK IS BETTER.

I HAVE A SIMPLE 4-STEP PROGRAM THAT MAY HELP YOU ENJOY YOUR URBAN WALKS AS WELL. IT’S AN URBAN ECOLOGY STARTER THAT WORKS FOR ME.

I BELIEVE THERE HAVE BEEN FOUR MAJOR CHANGES IN THE STONE INDUSTRY SINCE 1850, WHICH HAVE HELPED DEFINE THE URBAN LANDSCAPE -- WHICH I CALL FOOTPRINTS IN STONE. RECOGNIZING THEM HELPS ME PUT URBAN FORMS INTO A TIME FRAME, NOT PERFECT. THERE IS OVERLAP AND DIGRESSION, JUST AS THERE IS IN FASHION, BUT IT’S A USEFUL HISTORICAL REFERENCE SYSTEM, AND A SENSE OF HISTORY NEVER HURTS AND SHOULD HELP TO MAKE ONE MORE COMFORTABLE IN OUR URBAN ENVIRONMENT.

1 - LOCAL STONE ON STONE 1850-1910

IN THIS ERA, STONE WAS LOCALLY QUARRIED AND CUT BY HAND AS I SHOW IN MY “LOST TRADE OF STONECUTTING” BLOG. IT IS A TOTALLY ROMANTIC PERIOD, BEFORE COMPRESSED AIR OR USEFUL GANGSAWS. THIS TECHNOLOGY CERTAINLY PROVIDED A SENSE OF PLACE TO URBAN AREAS. CITIES DEFINED BY LOCAL GEOLOGY. IT'S THE ERA OF THE VAGABOND STONECUTTER GOING FROM JOB TO JOB, CITY TO CITY. MANY ARCHITECTS CAME OUT OF STONECUTTER BACKGROUNDS AT THIS TIME SINCE STONE WAS THE FUNDAMENTAL BUILDING MATERIAL. CITIES REFLECTING THE GROUND THEY ARE BUILT ON GIVING RISE TO URBAN IDENTITIES DEFINED BY STONEWORK.

2 - DEEP DRILLED HAMMER FACE 1900-1930

THIS TECHNOLOGY WAS DEVELOPED WITH THE INVENTION OF USEFUL COMPRESSED AIR. IT OFTEN USED LOCAL STONE AS WELL IF GOOD BUILDING STONE WAS AVAILABLE. HOWEVER IF THERE WAS NO LOCAL STONE SUITABLE FOR ARCHITECTURAL CONSTRUCTION, REGIONAL GRANITE WAS OFTEN USED. SOFTER STONES, LIMESTONE AND SANDSTONES, WOULD STILL OFTEN BE CUT BY HAND LOCALLY.

STONE WAS REMOVED FROM QUARRIES BY DRILLING AND BLASTING HORIZONTAL BEDS AND DRILLING VERTICAL BLOCKS TO MILLBOCK SIZES. SLABS WERE SPLIT OFF TO BE HAMMER FINISHED FLAT WITH MULTIPLE AIR HAMMERS CALLED DRIFTERS. THIS WAS THE ERA WHEN STONE CUTTING WAS IMFAMOUS FOR DUSTBORN AILMENTS.WE CALL SILICOSIS MOST OFTEN CAUSED BY POUNDING THE STONE WITH AIR HAMMERS TO SHAPE.

THIS WAS THE ERA WHEN MY FATHER AND HIS THREE BROTHERS FIRST STARTED IN THE STONE TRADE. FACES OF BUILDING BECAME SMOOTHE NOT POLISHED WITH BEAUTIFUL DETAILS. COLUMNS WERE CUT ON LATHES. FLUTE OFTEN CUT BY HAND WITH HAND-HELD HAMMERING TOOLS. INTRICATE DETAILS INCLUDING RELIEF SCULPTURE WERE PUT INTO BUILDING FACADES IN GRANITE AS WELL AS SANDSTONE AND LIMESTONE. STONECUTTERS WERE EMPLOYED AT JOB SITES AS WELL AS QUARRY FABRICATION SITES. SLOWLY CUTTING AND SHAPING OF STONE WENT FROM LOCAL TO REGIONAL FABRICATION FACILITES WITH SOPHISTICATED EQUIPMENT AND STONE RESOURCES. BEATUFUL PERMANENT BUILDING, STONE ON STONE WALLS WERE BUILT. MANY OF THESE BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN GUTTED OUT, AND REFITTED, AND STILL SERVE AS GREAT URBAN ARCHITECTURE FOR US TO ENJOY.

3 - POLISHED SMOOTH FACE 1925-1970

THE NEXT STONE BUILDING TYPE TOTALLY CHANGED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LOCAL STONE ECONOMY WITH BOTH PEOPLE AND LOCAL STONE IDENTITY. THE INDUSTRY SEPARATED LOCAL KNOWLEDGE ABOUT STONE RESOURCES AND SET THE STAGE FOR BUILDING FACADES FOR THE FIRST TIME. STONE NO LONGER WAS CUT OR QUARRIED LOCALLY. STONE IS NO LONGER A STRUCTURAL BUILDING COMPONENT BUT RATHER IT BECOMES A VENEER OVER A CONCRETE STRUCTURE.

THE MODERN GANG SAW MADE LOW COST FABRICATION OF 2-INCH AND THICKER SLABS, OR WHAT WE CALL DIMENSION STONE POSSIBLE. HUGE SURFACE GRINDERS BROUGHT STONE SLABS TO A HIGH FINISH, THEN THEY WERE SAWED TO SIZE AND SENT TO LOCAL BUILDING SITES TO COVER CONCRETE STRUCTURES AS DECORATIVE AND PROTECTIVE VENEERS. THIS NEW BUILDING PROCESS, THE MODERN HIGH-RISE ELEVATOR-EQUIPPED BUILDING, BECAME COVERED IN STONE, TERRACOTTA, OR BRICK, ALL AS VENEERS.

THESE PRODUCTION FACILITIES WERE NOT PLACED LOCALLY BUT RATHER CLOSE TO THE SOURCE OF QUALITY AND QUANTITY STONE QUARRIES. VARIETIES OF COLOR BEING IMPORTANT. THE STONE BLOCKS WERE SHIPPED BY RAIL TO THESE CENTRALLY LOCATED MODERN FABRICATION PLANTS. THERE STONE FABRICATION EXPERTISE FLOURISHED. FINISHED CUT TO SIZE BUILDING SKINS WERE THEN SENT TO LOCAL JOB SITES FOR A NEW TRADE CALLED STONE SETTERS TO INSTALL. THUS THE SEPARATION OF, LOCAL KNOWLEDGE, OF STONE, AND ITS ORIGIN AND HOW IT IS FABRICATED. THIS ALL HAPPENED IN MY FATHER'S AND MY LIFETIME.

4 - INTERNATIONAL THIN CUT STONE 1970-2011

THE FINAL STONE FOOTPRINT ONCE AGAIN CAME WITH A BREAKTHROUGH IN MASS GANGSAW CUTTING. THIS CAME ABOUT WITH THE ABILITY TO MASS CUT THIN SLABS BY PUTTING POST TENSION IN DIAMOND OR SHOT GANGSAW BLADES, FAST MASS PRODUCTION OF MULTIPLE SLABS BROUGHT COSTS OF STONE DOWN FOR BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND MADE STONE SLAB PRICES SUCH THAT THE GENERAL PUBLIC COULD AFFORD STONE COUNTERS FOR THE FIRST TIME. SUDDENLY THERE WAS A STONE REVOLUTION ALL OVER THE WORLD.

I BELIEVE THIS TECHNOLOGY STARTED IN GERMANY AND ITALY. EVEN TODAY IF YOU GO TO THE ITALIAN STONE FABRICATION CENTERS AT THE BASE OF THE APENNINES YOU WILL SEE THOUSANDS OF BLOCKS OF STONE DRILLED OUT FROM QUARRIES ALL OVER THE WORD TO BE SAWED WITH THESE GANGSAWS – ALTHOUGH AMERICAN, SOUTH AMERICAN AND ASIAN FACILITES ARE CATCHING UP BY USING THIS TECHNOLOGY.

BUT THE IMPORTANT POINT FOR THE URBAN WALKER IS THAT ONCE AGAIN, STONE IS USED AS INTEGRAL PART OF THE BUILDING STRUCTURE. STEEL SKELETONS WERE ERECTED WITH FLOORS FLOATING FREE OF CONCRETE SIDE WALLS. THEIR WEIGHT IS TRANSFERRED DOWN BY TRANSFERRING IT TO VERTICAL STEEL SUPPORTS. WHAT IS CALLED CURTAIN WALLS, A VERY DESCRIPTIVE TERM, OF GLASS AND STONE ARE MOUNTED ON HORIZONTAL FRAMES WITH THEIR MASS ALSO TRANSFERRED TO VERTICAL STEEL SUPPORTS. THUS THE GLASS AND STONE SKINS BECOME THE PROTECTIVE SKIN OF THE STRUCTURE. STONE IS ONCE AGAIN A USEFUL AND IMPORTANT STRUCTURAL COMPONENT OF THE BUILDING. THIS MAKES STONE CURTAIN WALLS A PRACTICAL AND ECONOMICAL BUILDING COMPONENT, NOT JUST A PRETTY FACE COVERING CONCRETE. ECONOMICAL MASS PRODUCTION OF STONE SLABS CERTAINLY CHANGED THE URBAN LANDSCAPE.

THIS IS THE CURRENT STATE OF HIGH RISE CONSTRUCTION. THANKFULLY DESIGN PROFESSIONALS SOFTEN THE BUILDING BY EMPLOYING HISTORICAL STONE ELEMENTS TO SOFTEN THIS HARSH BUILDING SYSTEM. I CALL THEM URBAN FURNITURE TO EASE OUR EYES. SCULPTURE IS USED THIS WAY AS WELL. IT WOULD BE A PRETTY BLEAK WORLD IF CURTAIN WALL CONSTRUCTION WAS NOT OFFSET THIS WAY. OF COURSE TRADITIONAL TRICKS OF TEXTURE AND COLOR SOFTEN THESE STRUCTURES AS WELL. FUTURE BLOGS.

I HOPE THIS BRIEF SURVEY OF STONE FOOTPRINTS MAKES YOUR URBAN EXPERIENCE MORE ENJOYABLE, FOR AS A FRIEND ONCE TOLD ME MANY YEARS AGO, I HAVE ALWAYS LOOKED AT THE SHOES BEHIND THE GLASS, WHILE YOU LOOKED AT THE WAY THEY THE SHOES WERE HOUSED. I THINK A LITTLE HISTORY ALONG WITH HOW THINGS ARE DONE CAN OFTEN BE THERAPEUTIC TO THE SOUL.

SOME BITS OF ADVICE GIVEN ME BY STONE PEOPLE

2011-05-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

BEING AROUND AS LONG AS I HAVE ONE HAS HEARD A LOT OF SAGE ADVICE FROM STONE WORKERS.

WHEN I WAS A 23-YEAR-OLD QUARRY WORKER, JOHN ALEXANDER, FOUNDER OF THE LARGEST GRANITE COMPANY IN THE WORLD, COLD SPRING GRANITE, TOLD ME A FEW THINGS I NEVER FORGOT BUT PROBABLY ABUSED OFTEN IN MY LIFE:
- NEVER HIRE AN ARTIST, ALWAYS HIRE A MECHANIC.
- NEVER SELL SOMETHING YOU DON’T HAVE.
- NEVER FIRE SOMEONE UNTIL YOU HAVE SOMEONE TO REPLACE HIM.

WE ALL BREAK THIS RULES OVER AND OVER, ESPECIALLY # 2

ONCE WHEN I HAD AN OPEN MULTIPLE WIRE SAW AVAILABLE I SAWED A BLOCK OF BLACK DIAMOND GRANITE SLABS THINKING I WAS GETTING AHEAD OF THINGS. MR. ALEXANDER HAD SEEN THESE SLABS ON A VISIT AND ASKED WHAT JOB THEY WERE FOR. I TOLD HIM. HE ASKED ME IF I WOULD LIKE MY PAYCHECK WHEN THEY SELL. I GOT THE MESSAGE QUICKLY. I AM SURE HE WAS THE SMARTEST STONE MAN I HAVE EVER BEEN AROUND.

ANOTHER GREAT STONE MAN I HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF WORKING WITH PETER RIGUTTO. MY SON CALLS HIS NEPHEW REPETE. IF PETE WAS STILL ALIVE HE WOULD BE WELL OVER 100 YEARS OLD. I WAS A PART-TIME MARBLE HELPER, FULL-TIME G.I. BILL, 30-SOME COLLEGE STUDENT INTERESTED IN PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND URBAN STUDIES. FOR FIVE YEARS I WORKED FOR PETE WHENEVER HE WANTED ME.

PETE TOLD ME HE WALKED OVER THE DOLOMITES WITH HIS DAD, THEY SLACKED THEIR OWN LIME, DOING MARBLE WORK IN HOLLAND AS A KID. LATER AS APPRENTICE MARBLE SETTER FOR HIS DAD IN PORTLAND U.S.A. HE KEPT THINGS GOING BY WORKING AS A MARBLE SETTER, BEING A PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER, AND PLAYING CELLO IN AN ORCHESTRA DURING THE DEPRESSION.

PETE MOSTLY GAVE HIS LESSONS IN EXPRESSIONS BUT WAS A GREAT AD-LIBBER:
- NEVER GOT ENOUGH TILL YOU GOT TOO MUCH
- LUCKY TO GET IT.
- PEARLS BEFORE SWINE.
- CAN’T MAKE A SILK PURSE OUT OF SOW’S EAR.

WORK MEN OF HIS ERA WERE GRUFF WITH HOME OWNERS. NOT A BAD POLICY ALL IN ALL. IT KEPT THEM FROM LOOKING OVER YOUR SHOULDER AND SECOND-GUESSING WHAT YOU’RE DOING. HE PREFERRED TO TELL YOU WHEN HE WAS FINISHED, AND NOT HAVE YOU LOOK FOR PROBLEMS.

I DON’T KNOW WHY BUT WOMEN LOVED PETE. BUT THEY SEEMED TO GET UNDER HIS SKIN. I ASKED HIM ONCE WAY HE ALWAYS KNEW MORE ABOUT MY COLLEGE SUBJECT MATTERS THAN ME, HE SAID HE HAD THE ADVANTAGE OF ITALIAN BEING HIS FIRST LANGUAGE. WORDS HAD MEANING AND HE NEVER GOT ALONG WITH HIS WIFE SO HE SPENT A LOT OF TIME AT HIS BEACH SHACK READING.

ONCE AFTER LAYING OUT A COMPLICATED SLATE FLOOR IN A BUILDING LOBBY DOWNTOWN ALL THE WOMEN GOT TO KNOW HIM AND HIS QUIPS AFTER TWO WEEKS WALKING IN AND OUT OF THE BUILDING . WE INSTALLED THE SLATE RAMP UP TO THE DOOR AT QUITE A STEEP ANGLE I THOUGHT, BUT ONE NEVER QUESTIONED PETE’S WORK. THE PRESIDENT OF THE BANK THOUGHT TO IT WAS TOO STEEP AND TO BE DANGEROUS. THE WOMEN CHUCKLED, SAYING YOU JUST DID THAT AS THEY WALKED IN. PETE RESPONDED WITHOUT LOOKING UP ,WOMEN AREN’T THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN CHANGE THEIR MIND.

PETE WAS LAYING A MARBLE FLOOR IN AN EASTERN OREGON HOME AND THE LADY HOMEOWNER CAME IN AND STARTED TAPPING THE FINISHED AREAS WITH A POLE THINKING SHE WAS CHECKING FOR A GOOD JOB. PETE DRYLY SAID WE JUST LAY THEM MA’AM, WE DON’T TUNE ‘EM.WHEN PETE’S BROTHER AND I GOT TOGETHER AS WE OFTEN DID BEFORE THEY DIED WE NEVER TALKED ABOUT PETE, IT WAS TOO HARD. FRED WAS NO SLOUCH HIMSELF. YOU CAN ALWAYS PICK THESE OLD GREAT ITALIAN MARBLE MEN WITH THEIR STRONG HANDS, NEVER SEEM TO BE MORE THEN A FOOT OFF THE GROUND READY TO GO TO WORK LAYING A FLOOR. FRED ALWAYS SAID WHAT YOU DON’T GET DONE BY NOON ISNT WORTH DOING. A CRAFTSMAN’S WORK ETHIC. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GOOD JOB AND A PERFECT JOB IS A WASTE OF TIME. I LEARNED A LOT FROM THESE TWO BROTHERS AND MISS BOTH OF THEM ALL THE TIME.

A NOTE ABOUT FRED. FRED HAD A LEITH IN HIS GARAGE AND WOULD ALWAYS HELP YOU TOOL A SPECIAL PART YOU WANTED. HE WAS A TRUE ITALIAN MECHANIC PAR EXCELLENCE. AND PETE SURELY WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ARTIST IN ANOTHER LIFE.

FRED THE MECHANIC WOULD SAY "NOT MUCH CALL FOR THAT" WHEN YOU PRESENTED HIM WITH YOUR LATEST INNOVATION, WHEREAS PETE WOULD HAVE SMILED AND SAID "KEEP GOING JOE!"

MR. ALEXANDER, THE SCOTTISH GRANITE MAN, ENDED UP OWNING THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF LAND, AND HAD OVER 3000 EMPLOYEES WORKING FOR HIM. THE TWO ITALIAN BROTHERS ENDED UP SHARING THEIR MOTHER’S SIDE LOT FOR A GARDEN. ALL THREE OF THESE STONE MEN WERE A GREAT INFLUENCE ON MY LIFE.

I WOULD LIKE TO FINISH BY STATING THAT THE TWO ITALIAN MARBLE MASONS ENJOYED AND SHARED THE FOOD THEY GREW, THE FISH THEY CAUGHT, AND THE WINE THEY MADE ALL THEIR LIVES. I AM SURE NEITHER ONE WOULD HAVE TRADED LIVES WITH ANYONE, NOR WOULD THE GREAT SCOTTISH ENTREPRENEUR TRADE HIS LIFE. ALL THREE OF THEM HAD GREAT LIVES IN THE STONE INDUSTRY.

Stone Sculpture - Why Bother?

2011-05-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

THERE IS GOOD INFORMATION ON THE NET ON STONE SCULPTURE. MOST OF IT CENTERS ON THE ARTIST. THERE IS ALSO A LOT OF GOOD STUFF ON METHODS OF CARVING. SO I DON’T INTEND TO DUPLICATE THAT WORK HERE. I WOULD LIKE TO DESCRIBE WHAT I BELIEVE MAKES STONE SCULPTURE A UNIQUE ART FORM, AND WHY I BOTHER TO CARVE STONE.

I DON’T KNOW ABOUT OTHER AREAS OF THE COUNTRY, BUT STONE SCULPTURE IS A MYSTERY TO MOST PEOPLE IN MY HOME, PORTLAND OREGON. THIS IS PROBABLY DUE TO THE FACT THAT THERE IS LITTLE HISTORY OF STONE CARVING IN TIMBER AND BASALT GEOGRAPHY. BY MY ESTIMATION, LOOKING AT THE OREGONIAN NEWSPAPER OVER THE YEARS I WOULD ESTIMATE STONE SCULPTURE PROBABLY SHOWS ONCE EVERY 800 HUNDRED GALLERY OPENING. IT WOULD MOST LIKELY BE ABSTRACT. CONSEQUENTLY ANY ONE WHO CHOOSES THIS ART FORM WOULD HAVE TO BE QUITE MOTIVATED.

WHAT WE CALL SCULPTURE AS AN ART FORM COMES IN 3 POPULAR FORMATS.

1   ASSEMBLAGE - BUILDING UP THREE-DIMENSIONAL FORMS WITH METAL OR VARIOUS MATERIALS ADDING OR SUBTRACTING MATERIALS TO SUITE. GOOGLE CINDY DECECCO MIG WELDING FOR SCULPTURE.

2    MODELING -   DEVELOPING THREE-DIMENSIONAL FORMS WITH CLAY. AGAIN ADDING AND SUBTRACTING AS NEEDED TO ACHIEVE FORM DESIRED. THEN BAKING THE CLAY OR SENDING IT TO A FOUNDRY TO USE TO MAKE FORMS TO CAST IN METAL.

3     SCULPTURE - FROM THE GREEK WORD TO REMOVE, MOST OFTEN USING WOOD OR STONE. NOT THAT WOOD OR STONE CANT BE USED FOR ASSEMBLAGES AS WELL. BUT HERE I USE THE WORD SCULPTURE FOR SUBTRACTION ONLY TO CREATE FORM.

BY NOW YOU SHOULD SEE THAT THESE ARE VERY DISTINCT AND DIFFERENT ART FORMS, ONLY LOOSELY RELATED TO EACH OTHER. HOWEVER WE MOST OFTEN REFER TO ALL THREE OF THEM AS SCULPTURE.     IT'S CONFUSING. STONE SCULPTURE TENDS TO BE THE LEAST UNDERSTOOD AND CONSEQENTLY THE LEAST POPULAR AND CERTAINLY THE MOST RARE OF THE THREE.

A FRIEND OF MINE, GARY McWILLIAMS, SAYS STONE SCULPTURE SELLS AT ABOUT THE SAME RATE AS POETRY. WELL SAID. I THINK THERE A LOT OF GOOD REASONS FOR THIS. I WILL LIST A FEW HERE.

BECAUSE OF STONE SCULPTURE'S SLOW SALES RATE NOT MANY YOUNG PEOPLE CAN AFFORD TO SQUANDER THERE TIME ON IT. I CERTAINLY DIDN’T, TO MANY FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES TO SPEND TIME ON ART THAT HAS LITTLE MARKET DEMAND. CONSEQUENTLY ITS ENTRY LEVEL PRACTITIONERS ARE FOR THE MOST PART NO LONGER LOOKING FOR WAYS TO MAKE MONEY. THEY HAVE OTHER MOTIVES. ANYONE WHO KNOWS MUCH ABOUT THE WORLD OF ART UNDERSTANDS THAT ARTISTS WHO ARE SUCCESFULL SPEND MUCH OF THERE TIME PROMOTING THEMSELVES. IT IS JUST PART OF THE BUSINESS. THE STARVING ARTIST WHO IS SUDDENLY DISCOVERED IS FOR THE MOST PART ANOTHER MYTH. I BELIEVE ONE OF THE REASONS YOU DON’T SEE MUCH STONE SCULPTURE AROUND IS IS PARTIALY DUE TO THE FACT IT IS MOSTLY DONE BY A OLDER GROUP WHO DON’T WORK VERY HARD AT SELF PROMOTION. THEY PROBABLY SCULPT STONE FOR PERSONAL CHALLENGE AND ENJOY WORKING WITH SOME THING THAT’S REAL, IN A WORLD THAT TENDS TO BE QUITE INTANGIBLE.

STONE SCULPTURE LIKE ANOTHER UNPOPULAR ART FORM, OPERA, REQUIRES MANY SKILLS. OPERA AS ONE IS TAUGHT IN MUSIC APPRECIATION STUDIES, REQUIRES LANGUAGE, MUSIC, VOICE, AND ACTING SKILLS. ITS COMPLEX. STONE SCULPTURE ALSO REQUIRES MANY SKILLS COGNATIVE SENCE OF PROPORTION BALANCE AND SCALE, THE ABILITY TO INTERPET THE POSSIBILTIES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STONE YOU ARE WORKING ON, AND ALL TECHNICAL TOOL SKILLS. THE LEARNING CURVE CAN BE SLOW, AN UNPOPULAR NOTION THESE DAYS.

I SAY STONE SCULPTURE, LIKE OPERA, MAY NOT BE POPULAR, BUT ONCE YOU ARE EXPOSED TO IT, IT CAN BE, AND OFTEN IS, AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE.

ANOTHER PROBLEM FACING THE STONE SCULPTOR IS THAT IT IS A DIFFICULT ART FORM, HEAVY AND DIRTY. ITS NOT LIKE THE PBS BIT SHOWING A GIRL WITH HER BOTTOM FACING YOU HOLDING A CHISEL ABOVE HER HEAD STRIKING A BEAUTIFUL BLOCK OF WHITE MARBLE. IT CANT BE DONE IN A COZY STUDIO OR HEATED SHED. IT’S AN OUTSIDE SPORT NOT MEANT FOR THE FAINT HEARTED. ALTHOUGH 50% OF THE SCULPTORS I KNOW ARE WOMEN, THEY TEND TO BE STOUT HEARTED AND DETERMINED GALS. GOOGLE TOM SMALL BASALT SCULPTURE CARVING THE MAKING OF THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS . STONE CARVERS AS A GROUP ARE A DETERMINED BUNCH AND DO IT MOSTLY FOR PERSONAL CHALLENGE.

THEN THERE IS THE PROBLEM OF MATERIAL OR STONE TO CARVE. SUITABLE STONE IS RARE IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, A BASALT FLOODED BASIN. LOCATING AND PURCHASING STONE CAN BE A DIFFICULT PROCESS AND A REAL FINANCIAL BARRIER. I PERSONALY HAVE SPENT MANY SUMMER VACTIONS HUNTING FOR STONE IN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA, IDAHO, MONTANA, AND CALIFORNIA. READ "MARBLE ON EDGE" ON GARY WILLIAMS' STONE ARTS OF ALASKA http://www.stoneartsofalaska.com/ WEB PAGE. I WILL OF COURSE HAVE FUTURE BLOGS ON THIS SUBJECT.

TOOLS MUST BE SENT FOR THERE IS NO LOCAL SCULPTURE SUPPLY STORE. COST CAN BE A BARRIER -- AIR COMPRESSORS, SAWS, HAND TOOLS, GRINDERS, ABRASIVES, ETC ETC ARE ALL SPECIALTY ITEMS . SEE YOUR LOCAL STONE SUPPLIER FOR TOOL RESOURCES.

ALEXANDRA MOROSCO http://www.moroscofinearts.com/

LOCATION - IT'S LOUD AND MESSY, NEIGHBORS WON'T APPROVE OF YOUR CHOOSEN PASSION. RENTING A SPACE CAN BE EXPENSIVE AND DIFFICULT TO FIND.

FINALLY THERE IS THE STORAGE ISSUE. I SUSPECT MOST SCULPTORS KEEP THEIR ART IN THEIR HOMES. I KNOW TWO FRIENDS WHO KEEP THEIRS IN THEIR BASEMENT. I FIND MINE TOO HEAVY TO CARRY UP AND DOWN STAIRS SO I KEEP MINE IN MY SHED AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE VIDEO ABOVE.

IT'S NO WONDER, CONSIDERING ALL THE BARRIERS, THAT STONE SCULPTURE IS SO RARE AND MISUNDERSTOOD. I THINK IT IS HARD FOR PEOPLE TO HAVE APPRECIATION FOR SOMETHING THEY HAVE RARELY SEEN, AND HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT IT IS, OR HOW IT'S DONE. IT IS MY BELIEF, THAT IF YOU GROW UP IN A CULTURE WHERE STONE ART IS RARE, YOU WILL NOT HAVE MUCH APPRECIATION FOR IT. SO IN THE FUTURE I HOPE TO SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS STRANGE PASSION OF MINE.

The Lost Trade of Stone Cutting

2011-04-27T15:14:00.000-07:00

An essay by Joseph Conrad describing stone construction before gang saws or compressed air, 1800 to 1900

Have you ever thought about how those old stone churches, so much a part of

Portland’s identity, were built? Walking with my father, the stonecutter, gave

me an interesting insight back in 1965.

People who work with stone can leave permanent marks on the urban landscape. I call these “Stone Footprints.”

Introduction

Thirty years ago when I was designing our company logo, I sketched a derrick lifting a mill block from a granite batholith and titled the company, "Joseph Conrad, Stonecutter," doubting that anyone would understand what the logo was or what the title "stonecutter" means. The quarry and the trade had both been long forgotten.

Back in 1917, Portland had a significant stone cutting industry, with 17 to 20 companies that supported hundreds of people. The times and technology changed over the years. By 1980, about the time I was designing my company logo, Portland had only one stone company, which probably supported 10 to 15 people. Styles and tastes changed, and today, Portland may have around 30 stone companies supporting perhaps 500 people. But during these changes much has been lost, for few of the people in the current stone industry have any sense of history or an interest in stones other than as a means to make a living-although all of them demonstrate a healthy sense of romance towards stone, since that is an integral part of the stone business. People who work with stone can leave permanent marks on the urban landscape. However, since for the most part, the urban landscape is defined by dimension stone- sandstone, limestone, marble, and granite-for this, we need to look at the sources of these materials to understand how these materials shape our city. The urban landscape I call "stone footprints" for the most part is defined by technologies at stone saw mills, which are far from local stone workers. But here I will focus on the small but important part of our past. The stonecutter, a long forgotten trade.

This is my personal understanding of the stonecutter. I have for most of my life lived on the West Coast so I can speak little of the great body of stone history mostly located on the East Coast. So my knowledge is somewhat local and does not include the work of marble cutters, again the result of geography. And of course it excludes the monumental efforts of European stone workers of the 13th through 15th centuries.

People who work with stone can leave permanent marks on the urban landscape. I call these “Stone Footprints.”

A stonecutter by definition is one who cuts a stone by hand to a specific size to fit in a specific location. Among other cut stone pieces making the whole, most often for a building.

I donated a book to the stone museum some years ago outlining the work of the stonecutter. It was about 45 pages, 5” x 7” pocket manual, filled with geometry, math equations of shapes describing solutions to architectural problems. I think these sorts of working manuals existed for many trades then. It was very complex reading, so I couldn't understand much. Imagine cutting a circular stair casing complete with step, facing, outside, and inside walls, with a circular base and the hand rail, banisters in granite or marble. Columns that fit, cutting the flutes in columns, arches, door frames, windows frames, sloped sill coping, floors and ceiling radial patterns or grades that wrap around a city block and align perfectly. A lot of three-dimensional math is required.

Stonecutter's Geometry: Ramp & Twist

The first job I had in this industry was laying out large complex shapes full size on the floor of a pattern room, then making zinc templates of each piece for stonecutters to apply to individual stone while shaping it in 1959. I don't know if early stone cutters had the luxury of such patternmaking , but developing complex shapes in three planes with stone was part of their job. I presume to know a little, but my father and my two older brothers could calculate what dad called ramp and twist. My younger brother who was an artist in stone and I could not. The modern era of the stonecutters in the United States was from 1800 to 1920, when they were replaced by the gang saw (for the most part) although they still exist in large architectural and Memorial fabrication facilities is in the Midwest, East and Southeast, with the help of sawn slabs. I read once there may be 300 stonecutters left in the United States.

Stonecutters learned to pitch stone with minimal effort.

I briefly apprenticed in a fabrication facility cutting dies, slants, hickeys and bases for monumental dealers. They mostly used 6 inch and eight inch sawn or polished slabs of granite. Stonecutters talk of the subtleties of each type of granite amongst themselves. They all pitch differently. These Memorial cutters are offended by point marks or ill- defined corner lines, a sign a failure in stone cutting. You won't survive as a memorial cutter if you can't drive a clean pitched face on a 10" slab of granite cutting from two sides with the handset and a specialized stonecutter's hammer. Stonecutters would stun a modern stone worker or government ergonomics inspector. No stonecutter could work with bent elbows. Swinging a 1 1/2 to 3 pound hammer 8 hours a day requires work to be at hip level.

Apprentice cutters were called lumpers whose job was to shovel up spalls for the stonecutters. I think there were many extra labor jobs back then. I met a stone polisher in Portland in 1968 who told me he knew my uncle Ted, a bricklayer and stonemason when he was a teenager working as a water boy for masons. Back then marble setters (installers) wore white shirts and ties in Portland in the 1920s and 30s. Even though I worked in the stone trade for 15 years and had four years of college, I needed to attend a year long Saturday brick layer school and serve a three-year apprenticeship before I was given a marble masons union card in 1975. Standards for craftsmen then were much more rigid, but today almost anyone can call himself a stone artisan.

My father told me that there were 2000 stone workers living in the Knowles, California granite quarry in 1920 when he worked there. They were building San Francisco's city, state and federal buildings, post offices, courthouses, City Hall and the Customs house. To me, these buildings are the most beautiful parts of San Francisco, all of which were built out of Sierra Nevada granite. We walked around several abandoned quarries looking at granite foundations of stone bunk houses in the lonely foothills of Madera County California. All gone now, flowers, live oak, and abandoned quarry holes full of water. They are on private property ranch land, with no easy access. These old quarries exist all over the country, a remnant of another time.

Back then the stonecutter traveled from job to job, city to city, following the work. They worked with local materials, giving rise to the urban identities we can still recognize. This was well before modern day mass production steel frame, stone skin buildings.

There is an architectural expression that cities reflect the ground they are built on.

Here are some examples of local stone that gave rise to urban identities back then:

• Portland Oregon, basalt and sandstone churches
• Vancouver BC-B.C. granite waterfront and public buildings
• San Francisco Sierra Nevada white granite public buildings
• New York City brownstones
• Austin Texas pink granite capital, historic public buildings
• Moriello Mexico, city of pink limestone
• Jerusalem yellow limestone
• Minneapolis Canadian shield granite and Kasota stone.

The list goes on: cityscapes defined by local stone, a connection to the past, stone providing a sense of place.

In fact, I often visit the Central Montana town of Lewistown. Croatian immigrant stonecutters, who settled there in the 1800s, built it out of local sandstone. When I first visited no one seemed to know the source of the stone. After making inquiries I found my daughter-in-law's great aunt Mary who was ready and willing to help me. Two years later she took me the town’s old quarry. We took some pictures. There is a strong sense of local pride in Lewistown where the old stonework has not been painted over or covered by trendy designs.

I have spent 5 working vacations attempting to reopen old marble quarries in Southeastern Alaska (once owned by the Vermont Marble Company). These quarries provided much of the stone used on buildings throughout the West. 60,000 blocks remain in the rain forest there on Marble Island. A pile of white marble 40 feet long, 40 feet high and 3 miles long still lies on the ground covered by thick layers of moss.

See Stearns County Minnesota for a great video on the history of stone

I have only found four places in the world where traditional stone cutters are still celebrated, by showing their tools in display cases. There may be others. The first is the state historical Center in Helena Montana and, second, a state building in Vienna Austria. Both honor stone craftsmen. The third is the Stearns county museum in Minnesota, where I grew up. This building is located next to a granite quarry that is now used as a nature park. It has a sunken man-made exhibition quarry in it showing the tools of the trade. It is a shame that Tenino Washington does not have an exhibition since its community pool is an old quarry. The Vermont marble company has a museum that recalls when their company once controlled almost all the marble work in the USA. However its more gratifying when noncommercial individuals provide the history lesson. It seems to suggest a more sincere interest.

As my father and I continued walking around abandoned quarry he told me stonecutters of his era were paid a dollar per hour and train fare to and from their home state. Great wages. By comparison, electricians received 60 cents per hour at the same time. No wonder the stone cutters strutted the streets of San Francisco with their wooden foldup tape measures in their back pockets on Sundays.

I don't know the exact delineation of jobs, but stonecutters worked at both the quarry and the actual jobsite at this time. In 1965 I was visiting with a 75- year-old memorial dealer from the bay area. He joked that so much stone dust came from a job shack that the insurance rates went up to the business across the street in San Francisco. In that era some lived, some died, my father told me he never expected to see 40 years. His three stonecutter brothers didn't live beyond 45.

I recently erected an 8’ by 6’ screen wall in my front yard. Looking out the window, I noticed it has a twist in it caused by its end posts not being in perfect alignment. My dad would have called this a wine, I suppose from the word winding. Can't have this in stone construction, it would eventually fall. Gravity disapproves.

Stonecutters and bricklayers are unique among tradesemen. They insist on their work being absolutely level and plumb.

Later, Dad and I came across a piece of granite –five feet wide, five feet long and 6 inches thick-lying among the wildflowers. All the edges were rough split top and bottom broken face. Interestingly, there was a perimeter of 3 to 4 inches of point marks all around it. I asked my father what this was. I can still see him 50 years later. “You don't know? That's a level seat! The stonecutter prepared this stone for the surface drifter to hammer point the top flat to his marks. Years later it dawned on me, this is the fundamental beginning of every building stone ever cut. The stonecutter from 1900 to present had the advantage of compressed air to help them shape the stone, but it's still all begins with a level seat the stonecutters first step.*

So far the so for the sake of experimentation let's think of the process stonecutters must have used before Ingersoll's book, The Uses of Compressed Air was published around 1895. I can only speculate the work of the stonecutter before compressed air. (I will chronicle what I call deep drilled hammer face compressed air technology another time.)

Bit is turned with each hammer blow. My son told me they still have in drilling contests in granite in Reno Nevada. Probably due to railroad building for explosives through the Sierra Nevada. I believe that Sullivan Channler used steam power in Alaska quarries at the turn of the century to chisel. I don't know if steam energy was used to drill. But I doubt it was used to drill stones locally. Hammer and chisel most likely. I watched my father drill this way in concrete at his Lake home where we had no electricity.

St. Patrick's

1st Presbyterian 1887

1st Congregational 1891

St. James Lutheran

1st Baptist 1894

Previous essays about stone by Joseph Conrad

"Stone Cutters Provide The Human Touch", Stone World Magazine 1996

"Heroes Of Local Knowledge", Portland's Future Magazine 1998

"Footprints In Stone", Field Trip To Downtown Portland For The Geological Society Of Oregon 2003

"Stone And Icabana" Lectures To Portland Icabana Society In The Portland Japanese Garden; 1999

"Exploring Historic Stone Quarry In Southeast Alaska", Lectures To Oregon Historic Architectural Society 2000

"The Influence Of Stone Production Techniques On Urban Morphology, A Historic Review Of American Stone Technologies And Its Influence On Cityscapes", Shown At The University Of Portland Library Art Exhibition 1995

Form As A Result of Historic Process

2011-04-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

THEY SAY FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
THIS PAPER SAYS SOMETIMES FORM IS A RESULT OF HISTORIC PROCESS

I PUBLISHED AN ARTICLE IN STONE WORLD MAGAZINE IN 1996, WHERE I INTRODUCED A CONCEPT I CALLED “INSIDE OUT DESIGN“. LOOKING AT IT 15 YEARS LATER, I STILL BELIEVE IT IS A GOOD ARTICLE EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NO REASON TO BELIEVE ANY ONE EVER READ IT. NEVER THE LESS 25 YEARS AND ONE HALF DOZEN ARTICLES LATER I STILL ATTEMPT TO PROVOKE MINDS, FOR BETTER OR WORSE.

I HAVE READ THAT CAPITOLS ON STONE COLUMNS IMITATE TREE LIMBS ON ORIGINAL WOOD COLUMNS. TO ME THIS MAKES SENSE, PARTICULARLY SINCE I HAVE SEEN SMALL TREE TRUNKS USED THIS WAY TO SUPPORT WOODEN BOARDS FOR USE AS PLATFORMS TO POUR CONCRETE ROOFS IN COLONIAL MEXICO.

HISTORIANS WOULD HAVE YOU BELIEVE THAT IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORINTHIAN, DORIC, OR IONIC CAPITOLS, YOUR EDUCATION IS INCOMPLETE. BUT TO ME I NEVER CARED, IT SEEMED POINTLESS, BUT I DO LIKE THE TREE BRANCH CONCEPT,WHICH PROBABLY CASTS A SHADOW ON MY EDUCATION.

I BELIEVE, BASED ON PERSONAL OBSERVATION GLEEMED FROM 50 YEARS IN THE STONE BUSINESS, THAT THE TECHNOLOGY WITHIN INDUSTRY PROVIDES DESIGNERS BASIC BUILDING BLOCKS TO WORK WITH. THE POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS OF THE MEDIUM YOU ARE WORKING IN CHANGE THROUGH TIME. THESE CHANGES PROVIDE DESIGN PROFESSIONALS AN EVER-CHANGING VARIETY OF POSSIBILITIES. THIS ALL SEEMS LOGICAL AND APPARENT TO MOST OF US.

HOWEVER, WHAT IS INTERESTING ARE THOSE LIMITATIONS OF PAST TECHNOLOGIES, THAT BECOME PERMANENT DESIGN STAPLES ALL AROUND US. LEARNING TO RECOGNIZE THESE TECHNOLIGICAL GLITCHES TO ME PROVIDES A MORE MEANINGFUL APPRECIATION OF THE DESIGN ENVIRONMENT. IT GOES BACK TO THE TREE LIMB THING, I THINK. FOR EXAMPLE, WALKING THROUGH AN HISTORIC NEIGHBOORHOOD WITH A CRAFTSMAN WHO HAS KNOWLEDGE OF WOOD CONSTRUCTION, OR WALKING THE STREETS OF A CITY WITH A STONEWORKER INTERESTED IN HISTORY, IS MUCH MORE FUN THAN TAKING A TOUR AND HAVING SOMEONE TELL YOU THE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE AND THE NAME OF THE ARCHITECT WHO DESIGNED IT. THIS OF COURSE IS NOT TRUE IF I AM TOURING A FOREIGN COUNTRY AND WANT TO SEE SOME LOCAL HISTORY.

I AM SURE THAT EVERY CONSTRUCTION MEDIUM COULD CHIME IN HERE -- IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO HEAR OTHER THOUGHTS. MY EXPERENCE IS WITH STONE WHICH HAS TRADITIONALLY BEEN THE PROVIDER OF URBAN FORMS OR DESIGNER BUILDING BLOCKS.

HERE ARE A FEW EXAMPLES TO OPEN THE DISCUSSION:

THE QUIRK MITER. A STAPLE OF URBAN STONE DESIGN
PROBLEM: STONE IS FRAGILE - MITERS DON’T WORK - THEY CHIP

Quirk Miter

SOLUTION: SPLIT AND PITCH OR SAW AND GRIND STRONG EDGE
A STAPLE OF URBAN STONE ARCHITECTURE

RUSTIFICATION

THE HISTORIC DIFFICULTY OF HOLDING SHARP CORNERS BEFORE MODERN EQUIPMENT IS PROBABLY THE REASON FOR RUSTIFICATION. THAT IS A TERM I USE TO DESCRIBE SOFTENING THE EDGES OF EACH STONE WITH A BEVEL OR ROUND. THIS SEEMS TO HAVE BECOME A STAPLE OF THE STONE IMITATION INDUSTRY, TERRACOTTA. BY EMPLOYING VARIOUS BEVELS, ROUNDS AND OFFSETS DESIGNERS HAE BEEN ABLE TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS IN BUILDING FORMS IN BOTH STONE AND TERRACOTTA. MY STONECUTTER FATHER USED TO SAY ‘IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE WASH’. THE CHIPS THAT IS. (“WASH” BEING A TERM STONECUTTERS USE FOR BEVEL.)

United States Customs House, downtown Portland

NOTHING WORSE THEN LOOKING AT AN OLD STONE BUILDING WITH CLOSE-FITTING JOINTS WITHOUT DETAILS OF SOME SORT SEPARATING THE STONES AND SEEING THE FRONT, OR WHAT STONECUTTERS CALL THE FACE OF THE STONE WEAVE IN AND OUT.

Lincoln Hall, Portland State University

35 YEARS AGO A DESIGN FIRM ASKED ME HOW TO GET A ELEGANT LOOK IN THEIR ENTRY LOBBY WITHOUT PAYING A HIGH PRICE. I ADVISED THEM TO BEVEL THE EDGES OF MARBLE TILES TO MAKE THEM APPEAR LIKE BLOCKS OF STONE. THEY DID AND IT SEEMED TO COME OUT GREAT. THIS TECHNIQUE SEEMED TO BE USED QUITE OFTEN . THE BEAUTIFUL USE OF STONE TILES IN MALL ARICHTURE STILL FASCINATES ME, EVEN THOUGH I DON’T FREQUENT MALLS MUCH. STONE USE IN MALL DESIGN MAKES A STRONG STATEMENT, GOOD OR BAD.

HEADS
BECAUSE GANG SAWING STONE SLABS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A DIFFICULT AND IMPRECISE JOB, GRANITE VENEER SLABS HAVE OFTEN EMPLOYED A STRUCTURE CALLED THE HEAD IN ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS, THAT IS CORNERS, ARE DEALT WITH BY SPECIFYING A GIVEN FIXED DIMENSION AT BUTT JOINTS.

Head

PROBLEM OF UNEVEN THICKNESS SOLVED AT MINIMAL COST:

EVEN TODAY MY SON OFTEN USES A CNC STONE ROUTER TO PLANE ALL EXPOSED EDGES ON KITCHEN COUNTER PROJECTS TO PROVIDE A UNIFORM EDGE. IT IS ONE OF MANY THINGS THAT SEPARATE AN AVERAGE JOB FRON AN OUTSTANDING COUNTER JOB. OLD TRICKS IN MODERN STONE FABRICATION.

CNC Stone Router

I HAVE A SUSPICION THAT MANY MOLDINGS THAT HAVE BECOME DESIGN STAPLES WERE ORIGINALLY FROM WOOD OR STONE PROBLEMS THAT ARE NOW PART OF OUR DAILY LIVES. CAN YOU THINK OF ANY?

WHY BLOG?

2011-03-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

SOCRATES WAS A STONECUTTER. I SUSPECT HIS WIFE WANTED MORE STONECUTTING AND LESS DIALOGUE. BUT I AM SURE HE WOULD PROBABLY BLOG IF HE WAS STILL HERE.

I DON’T KNOW WHY I DO STONE SCULPTURE, OR WHY I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT MY PASSION FOR STONE, AND ITS HISTORY, AS WELL AS ITS IMPACT ON THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT. AS A FRIEND OF MINE TOLD ME “WRITING AND ART WORK FOR SLAVE WAGES AND THE MASTER RARELY DELIVERS FANS.” NEVERTHELESS JUST AS I WROTE IN MY ARTIST’S STATEMENT MANY YEARS AGO I SOLICIT AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION, FOR MY STONE SCULPTURE AND BLOGGING, FOR THEY ONLY NEED TO EVOKE EMOTION TO BE MEANINGFUL.

MY NEXT BLOG IS ABOUT THE LOST TRADE OF STONE CUTTING, WHICH I WROTE DESCRIBING STONE CONSTRUCTION BEFORE GANG SAWS OR COMPRESSED AIR, 1800 TO 1900. I WILL POST THE COMPLETE ESSAY FOR THE SERIOUS READER.

TO BEGIN, I HAVE NOTICED THAT THERE IS NOT A GOOD DEFINITION OF A STONECUTTER ON GOOGLE. THIS IS ONE TAKEN FROM A TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY STONECUTTER TECHNICAL MANUAL.”ONE WHO CUTS A STONE BY HAND TO A SPECIFIC SIZE TO FIT IN A SPECIFIC LOCATION AMONG OTHER CUT STONE PIECES MAKING THE WHOLE, MOST OFTEN FOR A BUILDING.” KIND OF DRY BUT I THINK IT EXPLAINS WHY MANY STONE FABRICATION AND INSTALLATION BUSINESS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI ARE TITLED ______ CUT STONE COMPANY. IT’S AN HISTORICAL PRECEDENT. IN FACT IN MY 50 YEARS OF WORKING WITHIN THE STONE INDUSTRY I HAVE FOUND THAT FEW PEOPLE UNDERSTAND HOW STONE FLOWS INTO OUR LIVES, MUCH LESS ITS HISTORY.

THIS MAY HELP:

QUARRYMEN: QUARRY STONE BLOCKS | LUMBERJACKS: HARVEST LOGS

STONE IS SAWED IN: SAWMILLS | LOGS ARE SAWED IN:SAW MILLS

STONE BROKERS BUY: STONE SLABS | LUMBER YARDS BUY: FINISHED LUMBER

AT THIS POINT CUSTOMERS SELECT MATERIALS FROM STONE SUPPLY YARDS TO BE FABRICATED AND INSTALLED ON THEIR PROJECTS.

STONE FABRICATOR CUTS TO SIZE & DETAILS | CABINET BUILDER BUILDS CABINETS

STONE IS INSTALLED BY MARBLE MASON

EACH OF THESE GENERAL AREAS TEND TO BE SPECIALIZED. THAT IS, YOU WOULD NOT EXPECT A LUMBERJACK TO BUILD YOUR CABINETS EVEN THOUGH HE KNOWS A LOT ABOUT WOOD, JUST AS A QUARRYMAN ISNT INTERESTED IN FABRICATING YOUR KITCHEN COUNTER TOPS, IT CAN BECOME A LITTLE LESS CLEAR ABOUT WHO IS CAPABLE OF WHAT WHEN YOU FURTHER DEFINE THE GENERAL AREAS.FOR EXAMPLE IN THE GENERAL AREA OF SAW MILLS YOU MAY FIND STONE ENGINEERS, STONE SAYERS, STONE POLISHERS, STONE CUTTERS, STONE CARVERS, STONE LETTERING EXPERTS, STONE SCULPTORS, ETC. -- ALL SEPARATE AND UNIQUE TRADES. THE SAME IS TRUE FOR STONE FABRICATORS.

ALL THESE TRADES AND THE PEOPLE WITHIN THEM HAVE INTERESTING STORIES THAT I WILL BE BLOGGING ABOUT.

JOSEPH CONRAD MARCH 2011

My first YouTube video: Splitting & Cutting Stone

2011-03-23T14:51:00.000-07:00