Traditional stonemason discusses his craft

Stonemason James Gardner talks through his craft during an event at the Hyde Park Barracks Museum in 2011.

[@MrZootalores]

i like how James says "you can't do short cuts,you have to do it the right way"...amen brother! i'm an electrician & i totally agree.it's always remarkable to see a thoughtful person with such knowledge & skill; i really enjoyed his demonstration

[@utulangi6078]

Safety glasses are for carpenters.

[@L_Train]

He's in period dress

[@phoghat]

In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king

[@Chris.Davies]

The traditional sign-off of letters was, "Yours sincerely". "Sincerely" is derived from two ancient Latin words "sine" and "cera" which mean "without" and "wax". Because mistakes in carving statues were commonly hidden using wax. Without Wax means your letter isn't hiding anything - and you are sincere - also from "sincerus" meaning "clean, pure and sound". That's my understanding from 45 years ago. I could be wrong.

[@phoghat]

wrong, wrong, wrong. sincere +‎ -ly, from Latin sincērus (“pure, clean, sound”). .

[@edwardplackett7403]

@@phoghat So masons are not as perfect as they think.

[@edwardplackett7403]

Masons are also known as nipple tweekers

[@scottleft3672]

More...i love learning those little details.

[@padraigharrison6919]

Wat

[@travis4308]

I’m a stone mason and this guy is like a specialist lol. I square and face stone I do not shape it with a chisel I use a quickie saw.

[@danielsterling4918]

This that traditional trade work brother. As a young tradesman myself (glazier&carpenter) I can respect the crap outta mason work. My brother did it for years like you're talking about and taught me bits of it. Always been into the traditional trades, it really is an art form the way the old guys did it long before us.

[@warbossgrotsmasha23]

cheater...hahaha...joking, its far easier with specialized power tools nowadays but back in the day it took years of practice to get the skill perfected

[@edwardplackett7403]

Are you a nipple tweeker?

[@arcare001]

You ever wonder why other people's stone is so much easier to work that your own? lol Stone around here is hard as rock!

[@lukas_aigner9868]

That’s so true

[@petergambier]

I know what you mean Androooski. I was working on one outcrop of rock, carving away, making a crocodile head with some nice, carvable stuff when I hit several super soft bits and abandoned the idea. The outcrop is on a friends farm and was too big for me to carry home.

[@bruhmania7359]

their tools are better, they know how to hit it just right, and they're probably using something soft like sandstone lol.

[@arcare001]

@@bruhmania7359 I've noticed videos of people chiseling wood that always works nicer than what I try to work with, too.

[@agagagagagyo]

Bear grylls got a real job

[@HKCmoris]

Yeah yeah yeah

[@robertr2731]

NICE !!!! 😂😂😂😂

[@user-cn6ug4df6z]

Still drinks piss tho.

[@haroldmclean3755]

The Stone never Lies 👍

[@jamescameron7633]

Beautiful work bro

[@Chris.Davies]

If you gave James a bunch of arsenical copper/bronze chisels it would only take him a few minutes to completely adjust to the different metal and the way it cuts into stone. But if you listen to LAHT people, you can't do this stuff without High-Tech Steel. All technology does is create better tools. Good, better, & best for the job.

[@williampeckham9838]

I got tennis elbow just watching this. Mad respect

[@likeaboss860]

Square. Plumb. True.

[@chiimumango3979]

Which side are you on Minecraft or Black Ops 1

[@vladimirvladimirovich8081]

Я с интересом посмотрел ваш фильм ! Спасибо ! Но я сделаю одно замечание . Дам совет,так как я родился в стране Советов . В этом фильме и во многих других подобных с рассказами о методах обработки самых разных камней, некоторых зрителей интересуют названия пород камня. Кроме того названия используемых вами инструментов. В этом фильме показывая инструмент вы прячете его рабочую часть в ладонь. Или показываете инструмент издали и машете им, благодаря чему рассмотреть ваш инструмент и его рабочую часть абсолютно невозможно. Считаю необходимым на каждом виде инструмента задержать камеру неподвижно хотя бы на 5 секунд чтобы можно было сделать фото экрана. Показать инструмент с нескольких сторон . И в конце фильма дать ссылку о производителях и продавцах вашего инструмента ! Буду рад если вы примете к сведению мои просьбы и учтёте при создании новых фильмов. Из Сибири с уважением, Владимир . Мой город Nizhnevartovsk .

[@glenharvey9405]

Out of curiosity you may have said but what kind of rock are you working with???

[@stompinknowledge3968]

Sandstone (maybe there's a fancier name for it). Plenty heritage buildings around Sydney with wonderfully worked sandstone.

[@phoghat]

how would one make small radius curves or bore perfectly circular holes in granite manually?

[@Pottan23]

Ancient vibrational technology of course

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

Really just by sanding it out of the rock. Once you chiseled out the rough shape, you could go over it with a claw tool(the fork like thing), that is ground to a fairly blunt angle so that your edge isn't gone by the first blow. Edit: and to bore a hole you add dry sand in between your drill(powered with muscle that is) and the stone and start turning for a whole day, really no bettter way

[@LSD123.]

Yeah

[@servus_incognitus]

It'd be cool if his name was James Mason.

[@carltonbreezy]

Or Stone Cold Steve Austin.

[@Forgeotism]

Love how he's just like yeah it's from the blacksmith ye not answering the question of if it's hardened steel

[@jeffreyhogan9135]

Theres real life lessons to be learned from the process l am. A mason I still learn every day an i use a simulator process for marketing a hole in costom birdbaths but it’s on a 45 keeps it from flaking out side of design

[@adammurray8361]

Did he just say PRETTY GOOD and end the video cracking the shit out of that corner!? XD

[@cragscleft1658]

That's the pencil mark of the intended shape lol

[@k.r.6800]

Where do you work ? Do you provide services in Morocco?

[@moleqle]

This guy sounded like the rain man of stonemasons. Yeah. 😂👍

[@NdAcquistions]

i what the shirt looks comfortable

[@pierrenoneyabizzo9751]

looks like something the romans would have worn

[@greysky1252]

got his modern chav clothes underneath.

[@ishowyouapple]

Where can I get a shirt like this,

[@sleeperburuk5340]

i bet ud steal it from his yard

[@justinfranks8222]

Its all fun and game when you work with soft stone. Try that with Basalt...

[@TS-jm7jm]

thats just mean

[@justinfranks8222]

@@TS-jm7jm I'm sorry my brother. I'm just frustrated because I have to work with tons and tons of basalt recently and it is driving me nuts and on top of it I am an amateur. I know you are a master stone craftsman. So any videos you can make about how to work with hard brittle stone would be greatly appreciated.

[@TS-jm7jm]

@@justinfranks8222 oh no my friend, im not a stone craftsman, but happen to know how hard and problematic basalt is on account of my personal interest in geology, no offense or reprimand intended, regarding working with basalt all i know im afraid is related to weathering, and given you're workinh with it i assume you dont have access to water jets, because as far as i know muddy water is one of the best abrasive materials in the world.

[@SacredGeometryDecoded]

@@justinfranks8222 Iraivan Temple in Hawaii has a channel , traditional stonemasons from India doing amazing work here's one of their videos showing the same basic techniques on granite kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z3fGp4qNo6asr80 India is one of the few places where traditional but beautiful stonemasonry in granite is still being practiced but it is a dying art. Granite and basalt are tougher but they also have weaknesses that can be exploited which sandstone and limestone do not have. Granite and basalt are quite obedient and will split exactly where told where softer stones are less predictable.

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

Even just working limestone is different, because of it being brittle. You have to use a different approach to sandstone, in case of the Basalt you have to use pointed chisels for way longer and getting closer to the line, than with sandstone. Learn to regulate the intensity of your strike more as you get closer to the line. Then use the claw tool for as long as possible, striking the stone in a very flat angle, so the blow doesn't accidentally get directed downward onto the edge of the stone but into the material that is above your line. But really you don't learn as much working sandstne, because only marble behaves somewhat similar, all the other stones do not and marble feels still different to sandstone in many ways.

[@bitzer8115]

God damn this makes me appreciate my 9 inch grinder.

[@petergambier]

When I was making my stone sills from scratch I use a grinder to take out the bulk of the stone and then a French plane to get rid of all the circular grinder marks, it saves a lot of work thats for sure Bitzer. It's a lot of work and careful skill to cut a flat area using just a chisel and young apprentices should be forced to use chisels before they go for the easier way out I think.

[@LiamGrubby]

Good old days as an apprentice having to use your hammer and chisel. Love my flushy now

[@jfdb59]

@@petergambier I'm a 22 year mason and I agree fully. I was fortunate enough to learn, and continue to learn, the manual techniques but I see a lot of younger guys that would be lost without power tools. Yes productivity demands power tools now in many areas. But there will always be a place for the right hand tool in the right hands at the right time. And this should be the base curriculum for many skilled trades.

[@petergambier]

@@jfdb59, as Texas has so recently discovered what'll you do when all the power fails. Hand skills like traditional building will always need artisans. They even said that the turbines were frozen shut and renewables supplied 40% of the states power needs. It didn't say much for the green machine unfortunately.

[@covid19pneumonia53]

Size doesn't matter

[@scottleft3672]

Oh to work with such big lumps of Pyremont yellow stone.

[@glenharvey9405]

Why the wooden hammer is a vibrational thing???

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

It slightly bounces, which drives the chisel a bit further each blow than with a hammer. Metal has more of a sharp but short impact, which is better normally for every other kind of stone, except for Sandstone...

[@lumberfoot2004]

Yeh

[@victorzurdo6516]

love your safety googles

[@robertr2731]

Total emerson. 😊

[@cardano5842]

In the olden days how would they make the sandstone have flat rectangle faces?

[@rockymtnmason3925]

Stone has been cut with a saw method for centuries. Similar to a bow saw they would use tree limbs and cordage to make the saw and use sand as an abrasive since most sand is made of small quartz crystals it is harder than most stones on the planet allowing it to cut when force is applied.

[@SalimiDan]

You can do it by hand with chisels. I have done it countless times, it is the first thing you learn. With soft stone like limestone or sand stone, it takes like 2 hours to make a perfect surface like in the video.

[@thehaj5249]

The ancients actually had watermill powered saws, the real question is how did they make sarcophagi

[@tpxchallenger]

@@thehaj5249 The ancients had almost unlimited manpower. The Romans used water wheels but water wheels can only operate where you have a difference in water levels. That would never work in the Nile valley, for instance. If there was such a water powered stone saw at the cataracts no evidence has been found.

[@thehaj5249]

@@tpxchallenger unlimited manpower doesn't explain how sarcophagi were made, And yes the Romans had water mills, but Egyptians were masters in waterworks and most Roman stuff was taken and adapted from other cultures.. the Egyptians dug entire canals and irrigation systems.. I'm sure they were capable of getting water running on different levels

[@milestrollokopolous8842]

No eye protection?..

[@jellojiggle1]

That was my first thought. I wonder what they did in ancient times.

[@milestrollokopolous8842]

@@jellojiggle1 You know, I've never thought about it but you raise a very good point. The apron was common for protecting clothing from debris, but eye protection is something that's never discussed. Huh.

[@jellojiggle1]

@@milestrollokopolous8842 Perhaps they used water/running water or possibly submerged or its all about technique and material. *shrugs*

[@peterjanjanin9883]

You must be from Athens....

[@greysky1252]

If 3rd world workers wear no PPE today, do you think they did back than?

[@misfitsfiend42]

Yeuh

[@buddhaboy6017]

"yea"

[@mikejustice1196]

Should I wear safety glasses or do they sell eyeballs on Amazon in Australia?

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

If we were talking Granite, where the chips are harder than metal maybe, but sandstone really doesn't require impacts so hard, that the material is accelerated enough. It is like a moderate wind blowing sand in your eye at worst, just with way fewer particles.

[@S-Nova0]

Yeeh

[@peterthebull8578]

*Impact chisels and demo hammers entered the chat.

[@zakaroonetwork777]

Fell a little short

[@liama23]

yee..

[@TheVeganeater]

I think we are over thinking the megalithic stone masons building technology. You see how fast he created a flat angled surface with hand tooling.

[@calebmills7086]

yeah i think so too

[@tpxchallenger]

Amen to that. The ancient guys were in every way master masons.

[@calebmills7086]

@@tpxchallenger amen to that, the masons are so good, amen to that

[@Alloneword-cp2xw]

Certain people are discrediting our ancestors, not even over thinking it, just down right disrespecting their achievements.

[@quentins8165]

Depends on what material you're working with. Sure, Sandstone, Limestone, Alabaster, Marble. You could work that with Copper and Bronze or Flint. Granite is a whole different ball game especially with Quartz inclusions, some of the tolerances you'd need to hit with Ancient Polygonal stone work is beyond that of steel chisels let alone copper.

[@lordpowell3788]

Surely one could build a matchine to face the stones. Off hand I'm thinking a mild of the desired shape but vibrated intensely and the stone is essentially sanded into the desired shape. Idk but doing each block by hand for an entire structure is a lot of effort. Even if u use power tools. There must be a way to take a shaped square rock put it in matchine comes out faced. I think the vibrating mold could be refined until it worked.

[@peterjanjanin9883]

But how many bricks can you lay?

[@jamesdevlin6373]

It was very cleverly hidden, and stone was never mentioned, but it was stone he was working at, not bricks, he's a STONE mason.

[@ebtmn95]

james devlin a stone or brick mason can actually install it.. I think this guy crafts the stone for masons, no disrespect to his job tho

[@jamesdevlin6373]

@@ebtmn95 a stone Mason doesn't nesesarily know how to lay bricks and the average bricklayer would have no idea how to carve stone. I have trained in stone masonry and can't lay bricks. It's a very different skill to the skill shown in the video. He's more like a 'banker' stone mason.

[@RichardAStonemasonNOTfreemason]

Not quite accurate @@ebtmn95. We have banker masons, fixer masons, dry stone walling masons, monumental masons... The banker mason, that's the guy in the video, is the fundemental craftsman, and the most highly skilled. Fixer masons are the equivalent of bricklayers, only with higher standards. Also, a brickie can't make bricks. They are just 'laying tools'. SPLATT PLONK SPLATT PLONK

[@RichardAStonemasonNOTfreemason]

How many bricks can you make peter janjanin?

[@chris25979]

Is that stone really?

[@danielsterling4918]

Yeah its some good quality sandstone. He said in the video too, don't remember what the timestamp is though.. It's a soft stone without any large crystal formations or air pockets

[@s.e.wagger3888]

Where's ya' safety glasses?????

[@robertr2731]

Total emerson. 😊

[@verdigrissirgidrev4152]

it's weird how a heavy british accent makes 'stone' sound a lot more like 'stein' (german word for stone)

[@verdigrissirgidrev4152]

@bull shiyot what is it then?

[@thehaj5249]

Thats not a british accent

[@danieltranter4164]

That is an Australian accent, probably western Sydney accent, I reckon lower blue mountains, penrith area

[@jamesfox2857]

The heavier Tipped Chisel is Called = ` A COLD Chisel ! the Finer tipped Chisels are Called ` Clean Up chisels . This Isn`t a Mason !!! 111:06 in and have already found Fault with His explanation Of tools to Use ! We would call this guy an Apprentice

[@scottleft3672]

train some real convicts.

[@elgro3204]

Just buy a f ing quickcut

[@MartinMorales-eg3nf]

Real villager if i cure u would u low ur clay trades?

[@jaykaiser1754]

He calls it a stone but it's poured concrete just like the pedestals.

[@Alloneword-cp2xw]

lol and this is why you're not a stone mason. You're not switched on.

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

@@Alloneword-cp2xwIn essence that is what all sedimentary rocks are, especially sandstone, just because the pouring took millions of years... I never got, why sandstone was ever really used, it is hideous and eats your tools and lungs like crazy, it also isn't necessarily cheap^^

[@cheshstyles]

All I'm saying is the old timers would have used a fuckin saw if they had one 😂

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

They did though, just for cutting bigger blocks over longer periods of time and sandstone even with handsaws

[@fluxpistol3608]

Measure twice cut once. Not cut then measure twice 🤦

[@aokiaoki4238]

This stone wall in the back is awful

[@jacknelson6010]

Aoki Aoki your incorrect that wall is solid.

[@mdb3102]

Wall probably been around longer than your great grand daddy, son

[@aokiaoki4238]

@@mdb3102 Definitely not, back then they knew how to build stone properly

[@aokiaoki4238]

@@jacknelson6010 You re wrong, that wall is full of mistakes, it will fall in the first earthquake

[@BG-gx3cf]

@@aokiaoki4238 how can you see the mistakes in the wall what makes it structurally sound?

[@dustinbrandel59]

Sorry bro but no. U can be a great stone artist all u want, full of skill, using chisels made of the best metal, and u will never, EVER get the kind of precision engineering that machines can do. Which IS the kind of precision seen in like, the statue of rameses for example. This is why the mystery exists, this is why people question how they were made. Because of MACHINE QUALITY precise engineering thats been found in ancient sites. When supposedly they didnt have that capability. In the video, dudes just knocking off one corner of the block. Cool. That doesnt prove anything, nor is it appropriate to say, because some guy can crudely carve out a shape, that thats how the ancients did the truly amazing ones. Thats unscientific.

[@spencerwinston4334]

Fascinating observation on machine precision in ancient Egypt. Any books you suggest for further research? Regards.

[@dustinbrandel59]

@@spencerwinston4334 Actually no, i dont have a book to suggest, im sorry, im sure there out there i just aint read them. Check out the work of Christopher Dunn. Hes got alot of stuff on ancient precision.

[@spencerwinston4334]

@@dustinbrandel59 Pacifico beer 🍺 cheers for the research suggestion.

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

Do you not understand, that if you made a building for a god king and your society lives on a slower perception of time, that you can take all the time in the world to chisel and then sand the stone to perfect dimensions? Stop disrespecting the craft of the ancients by saying "crudely", every good mason can make you a perfectly precise stone with old tools and enough time, what is shown in this video is merely the first steps, like do you not get the concept of progressively smaller and more precise steps? What comes next, Bernini didn't chisel his scultures, but used an angle grinder? Do you even understand, how much harder it is to carve out such delicate and fine shapes, compared to getting a stone down to perfect measurements? We are talking about something that is time intensive, not something that requires high technology.

[@ManInTheArena-nl4ti]

​@@sapiensfromterra5103 Exactly.

[@KaosKontrol92]

All his chisels are mushroomed. Not good, should remove it.

[@jellojiggle1]

I couldnt take much more of that accent. Couldnt hear the questions and struggled to hear the answers.

[@andrewwilson9048]

Good glad you can't understand us this is secret knowledge

[@sleeperburuk5340]

@@andrewwilson9048 i bet u shave ur pubes with that chisel thats a secret yea na

[@Match2100]

You should try listening