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Tools and Machinery of the Granite Industry, Part III

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Dec 2006 by Wood, Paul

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Grinding

The horizontal grinder was a contour grinder designed especially for curved surfaces such as serpentine, oval or beveled tops. It used a ten- to twelve-inch diameter cylinder-shaped Carborundum wheel with a horizontal arbor. The wheel moved over the top of the stone with the curved side of the wheel doing the grinding. The stone was placed on a hydraulically operated car on rails that moved the stone under the Carborundum wheel; the wheel arbor was stationary. The height of the car was determined by following an iron template to produce the desired contour. There were a number of standard template designs for serpentine, oval and beveled tops. If a customer wanted a non-standard contour, a stonecutter was needed to cut this by hand, guided by a draftsman's drawing.

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The molding grinder was used to cut scotias, rabbets, moldings, and the like. The Carborundum wheels varied in size, for example ½ inch wide by 24 inch diameter or 2 inch wide by 24 inch diameter. The shape of the cutting surface had a shape that matched the shape to be cut. For planing, a wide wheel was used-for example 6 inch wide by 24 inch diameter. The grinding wheel was mounted on a head whose height was adjusted by the operator. The granite block moved back and forth under the grinding head on a car driven by a linear gear. The length of travel was set by the operator according to the size of the stone. Hand-held Carborundum disc grinders were also used for hard to reach spots and for final touch up.

The vertical grinder was specially designed to grind the straight edges of mausoleum roofs or side stones up to twelve to fourteen feet square. The grinder had a vertically oriented, five-foot diameter iron wheel (with horizontal arbor) faced with Carborundum bricks. The stone was brought in on rollers and wedged into place. The face of the grinding wheel moved over the side of the stone and had a thirty-foot traverse.

Lettering and Shape Carving

Lettering could be cut by a stonecutter but was usually done by a granite worker who specialized in letter cutting, especially when raised letters were needed. There are four basic types of hand cut lettering; V-sunk (Figure 40) or round sunk; round or square raised; raised rustic (e.g., letters formed by vines or branches); and frosted or polished with outline (see figure in sidebar, page 134). For V-sunk lettering, the letters were cut into a hammered or polished flat surface producing the V-shaped grooves that formed the letters. The best V-sunk work has deep cuts and sharp well-defined edges and bottom. For raised lettering, all the stone on the surface around the letters was cut away leaving the raised letters projecting above the surface. Great care had to be taken to avoid chipping off a piece of the raised letters. The best raised work had a uniform half round profile for the round raised letters and clean sharp edges for the square raised letters.

Tools and Machinery of the Granite Industry, Part III

Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association, Inc., The, Dec 2006 by Wood, Paul

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