Tools and Machinery of the Granite Industry, Part III

Once the stone was roughed out close to the finished surface, the pneumatic carving hammer with a nine-point tooth chisel, double-blade chisel, three-blade chisel, bush chisel, criss-cross chisel, or cup chisel was used to bring the stone almost down to the final surface. The carver would go over the statue from head to toe many times with a fine pneumatic chisel-each time adding more detail to face, hands, feet and clothing. Usually, the final detailing and smoothing was done by hand with finishing chisels and gouges, fine drills, files, rasps, and sandpaper.

Washing and Boxing

The washing and boxing stand was typically constructed of 4- by 4-inch wooden beams. The stone was set on the stand and washed with muriatic acid to clean off steel shot fragments if it still had sawn surfaces exposed. Otherwise, the stone was washed with a weaker cleaning solution. The sandblast stencil was removed, having been left on to this point to protect the polished face from scratching, and the stencil cement was cleaned off. The acid was stored in a five to ten gallon stoppered glass jug that was kept in a tilting acid stand. The acid was decanted into gallon acid jugs by tilting the large jug. The gallon jug had a six- to eight-inch hose in its mouth so the jug wouldn't break against the stone. First the stone was wet down. Then acid was poured on from the gallon jugs and scrubbed in with an ordinary scrub brush. The washers used rubber gloves and some also wore rubber aprons. For a stained area where abrasive shot had lain for a period, extra acid would be used and additional scrubbing done. Finally, after it had set a short while, the acid was rinsed off with water.

The washing and boxing stand had a small boxing crane to lift the stone onto a crate bottom. The crate bottom had a slot so that the lifting rope could be easily pulled out. The top of the crate was put on, the corners put on and the whole secured with steel straps tightened with boxing tongs. Recently, the increased cost of lumber has lead to a simplification of crate designs requiring less wood (Figure 57). The crated stone was then placed on a transfer car and taken to the finished granite storage area. This was the shipping area from which crated stones were sent to the customer. Crated standard-size monuments were also kept in the storage area to fill rush orders. These were produced during the winter when business was slack.

Transport and Setting

Granite for long-distance shipment was often consolidated into a single railroad flatcar load of both slabs and finished work for multiple customers-often 120,000 pounds on one flatcar. The stones were braced and wedged between hardwood car stakes so they wouldn't shift during transport. An expert car loader could so perfectly balance a load that he could stand on top of a fully loaded car and make it sway on its springs (Figure 58). The services of a well car might be needed to transport extra large stones. The well car had an open center or well in which a mausoleum roof stone or a large column capital could be carried just a few inches above the rail bed so they would fit under bridges and through tunnels (Figure 59). By the 1950s, trucks were doing most of the granite hauling (Figure 60). In some cases, the truck would take the stone to the local depot for rail shipment.