Walls of Stone: How to Build Drystone Walls and Rock Fences

[@christopherlynch4347]

This is the definitive dry stone wall you tube video, i dont think it can be beaten. #1

[@dshudson]

This is the most complete dry stack instructional video on KZbin. Trust me, I've looked.

[@nickspanlopis9342]

This comment can not be overstated. Nothing else even come close.

[@nextdevelopments8833]

100% agree. The best one by far. That guy knows what he's talking about and HOW to explain it.

[@sen5i]

Have to agree.

[@armandogavilan1815]

Is one of the best but keep searching cause there are several ways "to do it right"

[@nickosgood3769]

Yup, this one is absolutely the most informative, ha big watched about 50 in the last week or so. I had many ah ha moments in this one

[@mrtrustilinie]

I Love the people that did all that work for us to enjoy. Thank you.

[@timecowx]

I had no idea I needed to know how to lay a dry stone wall, but here we are. Great video with well laid out information. (See what I did there) Thank you for posting!

[@MrDevilscoachman]

your opinion is completly correct, i was born and raised in south gloucestershire, i went to collage for four years to lern the stonemasonry trade. i've been working in switzerland as a stonemason for the last 8 years. in my opinion, one must check the A-frames after tying the string and every morning before starting work because they may have moved. your messurement markers or messuring instruments must be checked regulary.

[@cizma27]

We have these in Croatia. I inherited some land and all the gardens are separated with these dry walls. I always wanted to learn how to make them, but since no one cares anymore and all the old people are dead no one could teach me. Thank you for this

[@itrow9526]

Pretty good chance the rocks in the walls came out of the gardens themselves.

[@dshudson]

All the old people are dead lol. I know that wasn't supposed to be funny, but it was

[@FlawedFabrications]

I live in Rural england and there are tens of thousands of these absolutely everywhere. Every single field is surrounded by one.

[@murat229]

Toni Krvavica I care I’m going to build some in turkey

[@carmineredd1198]

maybe they keep pigs or sheep corralled ?

[@louisegogel7973]

I have always loved working with stones and building things with them. My ‘altar’ has many little stones from different parts of the world, a way to immediately connect with those parts of the world. This video was brilliant in its step by step clarity and thoroughness! Thank you to all who helped bing it forth to the world!! I have posted it on my fb page too now.

[@VINTERIUM..EXPLORIUM.1]

👍👍

[@ironlion805]

This video should be preserved forever. Let us not lose this wisdom.

[@googiegress]

Each video should be stacked carefully, with tiny tiktoks and vines hammered into every crevice. Every three feet you'll need a nice long documentary to tie everything together.

[@ironlion805]

@@googiegress lol…one person gets my sense of humor.

[@Swingby-getHigh]

Just decided to randomly try and make a small shelter like this in the canyon lands. This video helps a lot.

[@VINTERIUM..EXPLORIUM.1]

👍👍

[@HollywoodCreeper]

Did that ever come out looking great!! It is amazing that he got all these guys together to do this and they probably did it for free to learn how, which is really awesome for everybody. I congratulate all that came together to make this wall and learn it. This is a great video! It is very well done, and even the mistakes are fine, because we the viewers learned through these guy's mistakes, and I think it is really powerful to see someone causing problems in real time. It's like we already learned from that guy's mistakes. Really top notch video. The teacher is really superb. What a great atmosphere. The two guys at the end were funny.

[@mcsparinscots-irish2846]

After I got back from my Scotland/Ireland trip, I wanted to build one of these walls! Your video made it much easier (brain wise). My husband and I are almost ready to put our cover stones on today! It's been a labor of love and patience, but after a couple months of gathering rocks, prepping the ground, and building course by course we are almost there! Hubby helped gather the rocks, but I have been the wall builder. That is why it has taken so long. I could probably arm wrestle any of you and win! Thank you!

[@dannysulyma6273]

Congratulations on the construction of your wall, may those who follow you appreciate your labour of love as much as you.

[@zimmadreiundzwanzig3365]

hey; our visit to Ireland is what inspired us. ( me and the wife) so we got right on it. it took about two years.... check it out on... 'our irish wall project' on you tube. looks great now itz finished. z.

[@kellybullard5116]

So my wife and I just returned from Ireland and we too are starting our wall. Thanks for the great instruction and inspiration.

[@clayhooten7274]

Best wall video on KZbin, hands down. Good crew. Nicely done everyone! I now can do my project with confidence.

[@iamchrisroberts]

Awesome video. Glad to have it for reference. Excellent instruction throughout.

[@benvoliothefirst]

4:46 Terminology 5:14 Principles 7:03 Equipment and Safety 9:11 Preparation 11:13 Foundation 12:00 Foundation Course 16:12 A-Frames 18:00 Lower Courses 22:00 Wallhead 24:40 Throughs 26:56 Upper Courses 29:09 Cover Course 30:20 Coping 35:34 Summary

[@louisegogel7973]

🤎🖤🧡

[@marlahlavac3461]

I have loved these walls all my life and always wondered how they survived .... Now i have a greater understanding of how structurally sound and strong they truly are .. This is truly a labor of love ... I am so grateful this type of restoration is being done here in America. We Americans have lost great Handmade skills due to modernization .... Thank you ever so much for creating and posting this video ...

[@TomBrooklyn]

Productivity = Prosperity

[@Gallowglass7]

Same here, they're everywhere in Ireland, some of which are like thousands of years old. Beautiful craft.

[@lukedecol6044]

im a dry stone waller in the cotwolds mainly gloucestershire. theres a few things done wrong in this video in my opinion. when you lay your stones the back of the stones on the inside of the wall should be slightly higher than the front so water can run out not in. there should be no pins under the footing stones they should sit completely flat on the ground. there should be no pins on the outside of the wall and the through stone should run flush with the wall not overhang 2 to 4 inches

[@jonb12321]

It's pretty common for throughs to overhang here in Pennine Yorkshire. Often there will be a course of throughs with all sticking out a few inches.

[@atlanticyak2069]

Yes that's accurate, they didnt use pinning on foundarion though only packing. Face stones should be pitched out for run off yes. Keys, locks or though stones look better flush.

[@johnwayne3085]

Where I live in PA the old Pennsylvania Dutch didn't overhang their throughstones, but in other parts of America I have been they did. Is one more structurally sound or does this shed water? Maybe why they get away with exposed pins? I like the longer ties myself but I don't like exposed pins. Pretty good video for learning the basics.

[@LukeLongboneOfficial]

I’m in Tennessee and frankly we just don’t see this kind of craftsmanship around here anymore. Even $5M mansions will use veneer rock stuck to a cinderblock wall. Everything is cemented together. Nothing is natural stone. Nothing is dry stacked. And decades from now nobody will care what kind of people built it or who lived there.

[@louisegogel7973]

@@lukedecol6044 I was thinking the through stones hanging out a bit have a purpose, perhaps for wildlife, or with a really sturdy one in the right position, for a person to be able to climb more easily over the wall if needed. We can certainly build to help our fellow critters out more often, with such things and under and over passes for anything from frogs to the latest mammals to be able to get to the other side of roads and buys highways safely. Certainly those are win win to integrate into all construction, less loss of animal life and less vehicle damage and loss.

[@tomrecny6437]

Invaluable instruction, deeply appreciated. I have many old deteriorating stone walls on my property but none of such quality or enduring nature. I have always admired the craftsmanship in a well built stone wall.

[@fishersforaging4112]

I always take the time to stop and admire dry stacking, I've once seen a dry stack foundation in a friend's house, absolutely incredible.

[@richardbashor3383]

Exactly what I was looking for. This has literally taught me the foundation / building blocks to venture into my yard and attempt my own wall. Thank you!!

[@VINTERIUM..EXPLORIUM.1]

👍👍

[@ToddSloanIAAN]

All of us could grow to be a boss/teacher by the model of the man in this.

[@Audunforgard]

Absolutely

[@HollywoodCreeper]

He was really good.

[@JH-em8qq]

You r a good teacher...thank you very much

[@crapcandy]

I agree. 18:39 he gives the correct guidance and acknowledges what the student did right.

[@CorpLifePhylosophy]

Most amazing, simple, complete, educative video about this topic...and made with incredible knowledge! Thank you very very much!

[@ethanhoward389]

Beautiful work and wonderfully educational. I cant wait to try to build some of my own walls!

[@mannyrosario8357]

FANTASTIC!!!!!! I’ve been looking for a video like this for a LONG time!! Perfection!! I’m off to build now. THANK YOU!!!!

[@markrogers2593]

By far, one of the better dry stone Masonry video's i have watched.

[@clarissamiles]

Wow, this was one of the best and informative videos I've seen! i wish they all were like this- in such detail:)

[@mowilson5588]

Such a thing of wonder and natural beauty. I love the relationship between all the stones. Great job!

[@dcvariousvids8082]

Ay. A grand wall. Well built with care, knowledge and craftsmanship. I do like drystone walling; even better when you can stand back or pass by day after day, knowing you had a hand in its building. Which will remain a working part of the landscape and barring accidental damage, will not need repair in your lifetime.

[@conchosewing]

whenever i came across these walls i wandered how did they make those, who and for what purpose, and they still stand. thank you this good instructions

[@mikegan73]

A very good educational video on stone walling. I feel like I could have a crack at building one with a fair amount of success after watching this.👍

[@weedyganzalays]

Absolutely fantastic video and so educational! Hands down best dry stone Walling video out there

[@flagwaver1969]

Thanks for posting this. Now if only I could find work doing this for a good wage in Northern California.

[@monkeyboy4995]

Those guys were very humble to take such patronising instruction but he was very polite with it too

[@78tag]

This may be a 10 yr old video but the process is timeless. The satisfaction and pride that would go along with accomplishing something like the work done in this episode is immeasurable.The rocks - $0.00, the end result - $ priceless. Goodonya boys. The closest I can get to this style of wall building is using demo'ed concrete flat-work. In my area there is a jr college campus built on fairly steep slopping terrain. A local landscaper/artist that designed and built all of the minor retention walls and incidental dividers using varying thicknesses of demolished concrete. Even though most of it is in the form of retaining walls, the end result is very similar in principle to the rock walls in this video and looks amazing.

[@JeffSal999]

I LOVE IT! Thank you for posting this VERY valuable information! I have had interest my entire life in anything built with stone, especially walls. I hope one day to have property where I can do a project like this!

[@fordcomm]

Excellent video - the best I have seen so far on building a dry stone wall. Well done all!

[@bernardkurz4281]

Beautiful, you can see the honest work! Golden hands and art.

[@belumptuous]

Outstanding quality educational video, so well done, thank you!

[@brandonjackson1434]

This is cool ,I've always wanted to know this process,and never ever dreamed of asking KZbin,I live in central Indiana and there are many of these in need of repair

[@Melripley48]

Makes me wish I had watched this before we had a small drystone wall built on our suburban block around 10 years ago. The builder was an experienced stonemason with UK and Australian experience but perhaps the spalls he was supplied and other constraints resulted in some issues with the wall identified in the video as risks associated with certain practices. At least I now know why things have moved & how to correct them. Great video

[@eimanajonassen3326]

Thank you for sharing this. I want to build a similar wall on my land in the Cook Island's.

[@jaywest4102]

Thank you for making this video. It is perfect for those times I have a hard time falling asleep.

[@MikeAetherial]

lol

[@jasonblake3023]

This video rocks. Especially if your stoned. And eating Fruity Pebbles. While living in Boulder, CO.

[@garygraham4679]

I've seen these all over Pa. farm country as a kid and wonder how they survived so long- one is in St David's cemetery that has tombstones marked from the mid 1600's. One day I got so curious I tried to take some of the stones apart and couldn't budge ANY OF THEM! So here we are 60 years later and I now know why!

[@Natedorny]

I love his work with spinal tap. I didn’t know he was so versatile

[@patrickmeehan6221]

Nice work. I like that you talk through every step. -educational too.

[@niallwildwoode7373]

I've been rebuilding a sandstone section from the advice on this video. One thing not mentioned, is how to build without the batterframes getting in the way. This happens when you start grafting your rebuild into the existing walling, or building your wallhead against a stone gatepost. I've found it best to make the batterframe so as your working dimensions relate to the inside faces of the frame, that way the frame stands proud of the wall, rather than interfering with it. If you use a wider piece at the top and add more screws, you shouldn't need the joining length at the bottom.

[@westernartifact580]

I agree

[@neilwork5033]

Thats often done, longer posts with cross pieces at top & set to straddle the wall. Can be a bit wobbly at base, but chock with rocks. Or, quite popular method in soft ground ,use iron rebars banged in with maybe a couple of lengths of wood clamped to hold the top. Any method that gets you there, but its amusing to see different guys getting aggressively obsessed with their own method. And its pointless using frames in an agricultural setting if the wall snakes around, and you'll get no thanks for doing it slowly ! But with practice you can do these walls accurately enough to meet what's needed. Horses for courses.

[@plainsimple442]

No need for batter frames . He said to put line pins in the existing wall. If a long section is rebuilt, then additional batter frames will be required .

[@pablolynch1152]

Great job I agree. Please let the viewers know that steel toe boots can damage your toes, so it's not mandatory. There are very strong boots for construction workers without the steel toe.

[@williamdenottia8699]

what a great video. Just excellent for me preparing to build a wall...with an arch! Another video for that.

[@toonybrain]

Thanks very much for the play-by-play, hands on instructional. Excellent stuff.

[@embwhitton9792]

Watched the whole thing, what a beautiful effort.

[@jeroenvandeven9406]

Thank you so much for this beautifull video and great tutorial. The information I was hoping to find for a little while was presented to me in this calm and clear guided lesson.

[@bertygarden]

Bravo à l'équipe d'apprenants et bien sûr au maître des pierres. Le savoir-faire doit être préservé pour notre bien commun. En Europe, évidemment, les mêmes murs ont été bâtis et le paysage n'en est que plus beau! Hurray for American and European traditions and long life along the ages!

[@CHMichael]

Farmers would find rocka on their fields and throw them on the edges . When they had too many, they built a wall. Taller and taller, protecting the soil from blowing away and more. Used to love driving on ibiza along 5 ft tall walls.

[@christianwitness]

Excellent! Thank You.

[@davetree4726]

Very useful and clear presentation. Well done.

[@Mossyz.]

Richard Tufnell is actually ENGLISH . He has built and help build dry wall all over the uk But yes its nice to see the brits helping americans build america :) Nerly evrywere in england you see these types of walls ... ireland and scotland too Mainly to keep sheep and cows in fields

[@Nikolasto77]

Great tutorial! Absolutely beautiful stone walls.

[@MIKESTREED]

Great work, not taking away from what they did, but I’d like to see them do that with the granite in NH.

[@plainsimple442]

Hey Michael, my 40 year old granite wall in Maine is still standing. Cheers

[@crossgrainwoodproductsltd9230]

This is a thorough instructional video and good knowledge to have especially in New England where stone walls are everywhere. I had to chuckle though. Your instructor was not wearing safety goggles as you made very clear their importance.

[@mamaduck6845]

Thank you for taking time to make such a well explained video.

[@ishnifusmeadle]

Only got 8 years experience as mason. New england. Primarily various types of granite but we do use certain sedimentary stones n slate on certain jobs. Very very few jobs use mortar round these parts. Those look pretty good (though i havent finishes the video yet). With 8 years youd expect its something i enjoy, but sadly i hate just about every part, aside from the rolling away from the site part. Im still meticulous, to the point of almost being ocd about stonework, but i have zero pride in my work anymore. Just havent been able to find something id enjoy more yet. Im glad theres folks out there trying to restore these historical pieces, instead of tear them down as racist which seems to be the current trend. Keep up the good work.

[@jellybalboa]

absolutely brilliant video.thankyou so much for uploading.more videos like these please

[@drunkbutfunnyadvice]

great training video for making my own wall in Tasmania. thanks for uploading

[@DavidStirm]

That's a beautiful wall, great work all of you! 👌

[@henrymichaelwilson8107]

Hello there. I'm retired now. I dry walled for 40 years or more. There's far to much batter on that wall. Being that little sheep like Herdwick breed would run up and over that wall. That is easy stone to build with being flat stuff. It's also easier to build walls in long lengths. Gap walling is the hardest to do. You are governed to what stone you have. It might be built of round stones. Originally out of a river or tream.

[@plainsimple442]

HI henry, do you split the round stones?

[@henrymichaelwilson8107]

@@plainsimple442 no they are to hard for that. We just use them the same. There's a Nac to building with them.

[@anijohnson8082]

Wow!!! Beautiful...What a great teaching!!

[@penelope8980]

This is a wonderful instructional video. I hate to sound a sour note - but no one was wearing goggles when shaping stones.

[@Joebunkyss1]

+Penny Clark old masons had long hair and put mesh araund chisels.....but you need goggles....many masons have gotten eye damage from not squinting quick enough.

[@Joebunkyss1]

+Jane Perreira they never had harnesse or saftey hats in the day either....and many died.....dont be such a cowboy.....she raised a valid point and all constuction sights enforce saftey now....much more than in your day.....old masons put gause and wire mesh around chisels.....and ive seen saftey glasses in masonry tool catalogs from 1880.

[@malqahtani6628]

At least one of them (Jimmi) at 18:05 was waring one but not all. Good comment

[@cbing4036]

This was filmed before the world went mad with health and safety and political correctness. So basically they didn’t give two shits about their eyes which is how it should be.

[@EdwardT9]

I’ve done only a small amount of stone work, but I found that when working alone, you control the chips and how they fly with the sledge - they will always fly away from you when you strike away from your face. Never strike towards your body, the chips will fly into your face. But with so many others on site, the chance of a random stone chip flying in any direction was huge and I agree they should all have safety glasses on. And throwing the stones is when you really get the big dangerous chips flying around, often upwards and large chips can break off and fly fairly far.

[@JeffersonMartinSynfluent]

I envy that blocky flat sandstone.

[@denbrick2]

PHENOMENAL CONTENT MUCH RESPECT AND APPRECIATION

[@peteroehring695]

Good video. This art requires a lot of patience.

[@jasonflay8818]

So started watching this to see how to build a dry laid stone wall to mimick those around my area.... Then said waaaaait a tick, that looks like the Fitsburg furnace.... Yup, in Kentucky looking how to build a Kentucky stone wall, and stumble on a video about Kentucky some walls by accident. I'm in the right spot.

[@m4inline]

Now that was absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much.

[@inspectorsj]

Great instructional video. Good job.

[@pepitacugatmiro7684]

Este video es buenísimo muchas gracias por enseñarnos lo

[@neilkennykenny4113]

The best and most informing vid on utube thank you nice work👍

[@astorybookfinish5055]

Superb instructions! Superb video. Thank you 🙏🏻

[@gregwarner3753]

That device is so clever I would buy one even if I never used it.

[@atticbrowser9698]

Really helpful and very well presented. Thank you.

[@JohnSmith-eo5sp]

This film seems very retro in its style of presentation - - like it was made in the 70's or early 80's. The credits say 1996 but it seems older

[@MrAllan9]

Wow, I'm a mason now, great teaching video.

[@52daytripper]

great work you guys, thats a beautiful wall

[@mandydebaugh1170]

wow amazing video, just wanted to know if this can be done using round river stones, any videos on that type?

[@Kastaghier1]

Nice, neat and well construct. It's not exactly an "Opus Incertum" technique, but different and quite beauty. . Nice type of stones too, very falt and quite easy to work with. Thanks fro sharing, :) (BTW in my country we build drystone walls for centuries, and still do. :) ), cheers.

[@Danster547]

This is SO cool!

[@tylerdurden4289]

I live in Derbyshire UK, these kind of walls are all over the local landscape but the skill base has really dwindled over the last few decades. My partners father was telling me about a couple of local brothers who were as rough as they come, alcoholic gamblers who lived in an old caravan with no windows. Best dry stone wallers around! The always wanted paying up front, which was a mistake as they would spend it all in the pub and the bookies instead of building walls

[@vanhouten64]

Looks like a lot of hard work, especially for one person.

[@laliotis-1956]

Fantastic and very-very useful !

[@oneseedoneworld]

Fantastic instruction.

[@johnwayne3085]

Wow. I learned so much about this. Great tutorial!

[@TheDrFMG]

I have a tip for anybody thinking of taking a dry stone wall course, there is more intel in this video than the weekend course I took. My tip is, if you are anyway practical, you just need to practice. Maybe get a buddy who’s also interested. That’s all. Good luck.

[@PhilippeOrlando]

Absolutely beautiful art!

[@CharlesCarabott]

I'm building a stone wall useing more or less these techniques. My foundation stone is machine cut scrap stone while the top rocks are more rubble wall type stone

[@BuhlzI]

One of the best videos I've seen. Thank you. Question: How high should be courses be?

[@arbitma1]

Thanks for this exclent video. I am building dry walls from small stone, sizez 5-8/5-8 inches. Do you have some guidelines for that? I may add that i use sharped not rounded or flat stone macenaclly broken from large stone.

[@kyogomazinga3871]

Been schooled. Thank you

[@toekafrank6998]

Zen and the Art of the Dry Stonewall...best therapy in the world imo.😑

[@aniaklementowicz2800]

You should all be very proud, beautiful wall.

[@deborahmcgee3711]

Does ncptt have videos on drywall stone construction for a cottage?

[@TONYJUD57]

Yorkshireman's wall, Bed's or Bottom's, Facer's or Wallstones, Heart's or Gut's, Through's, and Copes or Topstones. 5 types of stone in a wall.

[@ReflectedMiles]

"A deep footing is unnecessary..." Well ... in some northern areas, this foundation method can result in the wall heaving, shifting, and possibly even leaning or otherwise losing its integrity eventually due to heavy frosts and the resulting ground freeze and thaw below the foundation level. In those areas, it's important to either be below that level or to use a packed gravel base that can provide enough transition and allowance of movement between the earth below and stone work above to avoid unsettling or ruining the job.

[@keitholdbean3173]

He is right a deep footing is unnecessary ... frost and weather will not move a wall you fool

[@ReflectedMiles]

Not true at all, actually. That is why in many northern places building codes require the footings even of heated structures to be 120 cm or more below grade. Frost heave is notorious for pushing walls, burial vaults, etc., out of their original position over time.

[@keitholdbean3173]

We are talking about Dry stone walls . Not talking about building walls or any other structures ...

[@Nikenik2001]

Yes, you can build like that and just hope for warm winters the next 200 years. Be sure to check the weather forecast before you start building. :)

[@robinlillian9471]

Considering that many of these walls/fences are still standing after centuries, or even millenia, I think they knew what they were doing better than you do. Many need repair, but modern constructions need maintenance, too.

[@Bull_sigh]

Just superb! Thank you.