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No other building material rivals stone for its durability, versatility, and enduring popularity. Whether it's used in a rustic drystone wall that seems to rise naturally from the earth, or as sleek facing for an elegant estate, stone symbolizes permanence and good taste.
Of course, any would-be stonemason has to first consider stone's primary characteristic: its weight. Stone is, first and foremost, heavy; and without some expertise, one can spend many laborious and hazardous hours assembling a stone structure only to watch it collapse under its own weight.
Now with Stonework: Techniques and Projects from Storey Communications, anyone can safely create indoor and outdoor stone structures to last hundreds, even thousands of years.
Author and master stonemason Charles McRaven offers the beginning stoneworker a complete, step-by-step course in basic stone construction. The book also includes illustrated instructions for 24 projects such as walls, steps, paths, bridges, hearth, and more.
With friendly, easy-to-read prose and clear black-and-white photographs of stonemasons at work, Stonework begins with an overview of the remarkable palette of stone available. McRaven evaluates each type of stone for its appearance, hardness, durability, and availability to help readers avoid the problems of easily broken material or non-native stone that looks out of place in its environment.
Readers will also learn how to locate both commercial and natural sources of stone.
Of course, if one chooses the option of natural fields and streams, there is the tricky business of transporting the stone from source to work site. Stonework offers photographs, illustrations, and instructions for using lifting and loading equipment and proper safety attire, as well as how to lift stone correctly.
McRaven also includes advice for cutting and shaping stone, and mixing stone types and colors.
With this basic knowledge in place, budding stoneworkers can get their hands dirty with a variety of interior and exterior projects from retaining walls to stone floors.
Each project contains materials and tools lists, step-by-step instructions, and clear illustrations accompanying every step.
Stone work contains instructions for building these beautiful and enduring projects: Drystone and Mortared Freestanding Walls; Curved Walls; Arched Windows and Openings; Stone Piers; Retaining Walls; Entry Pillars; Stone Seats; Waterfalls; Garden Pools; Paths and Stepping Stones; Stone Barbecues; Birdbaths; Stone Bridges; Veneer Walls; Hearths; Stone Floors.
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