Tag: Stories in Stone Blog

StoneFest: The Stone Masters

As someone seriously interested in rocks for the past 25 years or so and building stone for the past dozen, I am embarrassingly bereft in my practical knowledge of pounding rock. Yes, I have whacked rock on many an outcrop (and, of course, played numerous rounds of rock hammer golf), but never had I hammered rock with the goal of creating a shape, such as a letter or block, or even watched someone else hammer rock, until StoneFest. As I stated in my previous post, it was a revelation.

Stone and hammer: some of life’s simpler pleasures.

The master stonemasons were a joy to watch. Each time their hammer or mallet struck the chisel, it was done with confidence. The confidence manifest itself in three ways. First, was in having the right tool. Second, was in locating the chisel at the right point to take off the precise piece they needed, and third, was to hit with the right amount of pressure. They were the masters of the rock. But they also knew that stone could be capricious and they did make errors.

Keith Phillips showing the various textures one could apply to stone with a hammer and chisel.

I especially enjoyed watching Keith Phillips, who is the master stone cutter at the Tenino Sandstone quarry, 20 miles or so south of Olympia, Washington; and Nathan Blackwell, 87 years old and still making his own tools and cutting stone. They helped one of the students cut an S-shaped curve called an ogee. Nathan was particularly impressive, getting into a hitting rhythm as he trimmed along the curve, took off surface rock, and began to cut out the shape. It was if the tools were extensions of his hands. Within minutes the block had metamorphosed from a rock to an arch.

Nathan Blackwell at work. An exemplary gentleman who always wears a tie when cutting stone.

Robinson Jeffers once compared stone cutters to poets. Each works precisely, deliberately, and considerably to fashion their particular work of art. He wrote in his poem To the Stone-Cutters:

“Yet stones have stood for a thousand years, and pained thoughts
found
The honey of peace in old poems.”

The final product: an ogee arch cut with a hammer and chisel, the marks of which give the arch its texture.

Keith Phillips said “Oh, some people say, it’s just stone but we are trained to be accurate, to build a building that will last 100 years.” Keith’s comments gets to the heart of the passion I felt at StoneFest. These were people dedicated to making high quality and often beautiful products that would endure. In our modern age of prefabrication and machine made items often put together half way around the world, it was a treat to watch these people work with tools that had basically remained unchanged for centuries. I know that I forget the amazing items that talented people can produce. It was both a revelation and a reaffirmation of the human spirit.

1880 Census Repaired

Earlier this year, on March 6 to be precise, I described a wonderful book that I had been given by my nephew. The book was part of the Census of 1880 and contained a lengthy section devoted to building stones of the United States. The book is still very cool but now it is even better.

What I hadn’t noted before was that the book was in terrible shape. The cover was more wolf-eared than dog-eared it had been so severely damaged, and the main part of the book was barely attached to the spine. Every time I opened it, I thought it was going to fall apart in my hands. In addition, the one large map in the book was ripped almost into two pieces.

So being the diligent book owner and book lover, I decided to get my new, old book fixed and gave it to book conservator, Carolina Veenstra. Four months later the book has returned. The book looks great. It has a new cover, the spine and the pages are attached to each other, and the map has new backing. I can read the book without fear of ending up with two books in my hands. I can linger over the color plates, many of which have a sheet of thin paper protecting the images. I can unfold the map.

In this day of Kindles, ebooks, and Google books, it is even more of a pleasure to own this handsome tome. It pleases me to no end, knowing that I have preserved a 129-year old book, a book that someone will still be able to read in another 129 years, no matter what new technology we develop. That is one of the simple pleasures of these items we call books. Plus this one has that amazing old book aroma, one of the world’s great smells.

As I turn the pages, I like to imagine the previous owners. Were they quarry owners? Were they seeking out rocks for a project? Were they other nutty geogeeks simply interested in the stories that stone tells? I am sure they were all of that and more. I am also sure that this book will provide me with many more years of enjoyment.