Tools for stonework

Rujib1

Could someone point me to where I could get a basic set of tools for stone masonry. I have a large amount of stone on my property from old stone outhouses which wer demolished many years ago. I want to build a wall around my garden using this stone. Basicaly it will be a double dry stone wall.

I guess what I need is a couple of hammers and chisels, to cut and trim the stone I have to make the stuff fit and ovelap nicely.

Any help appreciated.

R1

doubtfir3

Rujib1 wrote: »

Could someone point me to where I could get a basic set of tools for stone masonry. I have a large amount of stone on my property from old stone outhouses which wer demolished many years ago. I want to build a wall around my garden using this stone. Basicaly it will be a double dry stone wall.

I guess what I need is a couple of hammers and chisels, to cut and trim the stone I have to make the stuff fit and ovelap nicely.

Any help appreciated.

R1

I would suggest a decent lump hammer and a large and small bolster should do the job for you.

Only thing is to make sure you get the bolsters with the "collar" on them.. you will miss the top at some stage, and the collar is gonna keep you from a trip to A & E!

mickdw

Not as easy to build as you might think. Lump hammer and bolsters needed. possibly a little chipping hammer too

PeteHeat

Hi,

Not claiming to have any geat experience except watching the masons work and talking to them.

Grading the stone into various shapes and sizes saves a lot of the cutting.

I think you need to know the type of stone you are working with, not by name but how it actually cuts, some chip others cut along the grain etc.

The Gents I had the pleasure of watching would harden the tips of their chisels every morning by heating them whacking them on a small anvil in the back of the van and dropping them into a can of cold water.

The same "Old Timers" had a 9" angle grinder with different diamond tip blades to suit the type of stone they were cutting, I found that out by accident appears the disc for granite was not suited to black stone.

I think there is a man who runs courses in building dry stone walls, worth googling if you have an interest in building a lot of them.

Wishing you all the best of luck with your project, a bit jealous I haven't the time to work on it with you.

.

lucky-colm

PeteHeat wrote: »

Hi,

Not claiming to have any geat experience except watching the masons work and talking to them.

Grading the stone into various shapes and sizes saves a lot of the cutting.

I think you need to know the type of stone you are working with, not by name but how it actually cuts, some chip others cut along the grain etc.

The Gents I had the pleasure of watching would harden the tips of their chisels every morning by heating them whacking them on a small anvil in the back of the van and dropping them into a can of cold water.

The same "Old Timers" had a 9" angle grinder with different diamond tip blades to suit the type of stone they were cutting, I found that out by accident appears the disc for granite was not suited to black stone.

I think there is a man who runs courses in building dry stone walls, worth googling if you have an interest in building a lot of them.

Wishing you all the best of luck with your project, a bit jealous I haven't the time to work on it with you.

.

yeah iagree with pete here just on the point of sorting the stone into various different heaps depending on size is not a bad idea but you just have to be carefull that you still try to pick from the indivdual heaps at random otherwise you run the risk of having all the same size stones in the one area of the wall and a different size in another and so on. other masons would suggest to lay the stone as it comes to you in the heap and not to seperate into different sizes thus eliminating the risk of having all the same sizes together in the wall.
lay the stones on the flat and try not to but stones standing up in the wall as this does not look natural
you can buy tungsten tipped chisels they keep there edge longer and are harder wearing but i would imagine that they would be expensive and probably hard to come by as they would be a specialist item