MAKING A STONE BIRDBATH BOWL. MAKING A SOILD STONE BIRDBATH. NORTHUMBERLAND BIRDBATH 

Hi, I will try my best to help you out. Let’s start by having a look at the stone you have chosen to carve. Do you have any pictures of the stone and photos of the tools?

I don’t have a new stone yet. I’m going for granite this time. The one I was carving had a lot of quartz in it judging by the crystal structure that was in some of the rock. I’m using a 7” diamond blade circular saw, a 4 1/2” diamond blade angle grinder, a 1” masonry chisel, and a 2” masonry chisel. Just wondering if granite is the best rock to carve without cracking. Thanks for the help.

I’m sorry, not anymore.

Hi buddy, no school or apprenticeship like you I started with dry stone walling and felt I had a draw to working with stone & with being dyslexic this work was more natural to me. But to answer your question there are courses out there you can sign up to but if you are anything like me I just started carving stone in my 6 x 4 shed with anything I could find around me, and gradually improving my tools and technique one job at a time.

Hi Allan, I am sorry I don’t sell them anymore only do stonework as a hobby now and RU-vid

Hi, the stone really is beautiful, it’s from Northumberland. There are different grades and I buy it from a stone supplier in Yorkshire. The wheels I am using on this are Segmented Grinding Cup I find them good because over time they shape up nicely for making birdbath bowls. I definitely wasn’t that fast on the first one I made, it was a full days project 🤣🤣

Thanks, jcking6785! With a project like this, it's all about practice.

Hi, àúhñ* Thank you, the basic details on the machines I use are a 9” Bosch grinder to move the bulk, and a 4” Bosch grinder with a diamond cupping wheel for the shaping. Followed by a controllable speed polisher with a 50-grit diamond polishing pad. I hope this helps

@@TheStoneRanger still confused, but thank you so much Sir. Have a good day. Stay blessed

Thanks, buddy 👍

Thank you buddy 👍

I can understand where you are coming from 👍 it’s always a hard balance, if you are to watch my other videos I do a lot of carving with only hammer and chisel where many masons use sand blasting tools. Like another stone mason said in a social media post not so long ago there is a balance when making items for customers at a good rate for you both. It would be lovely to spend all day on one piece, doing a little here and there, stopping & looking, walking away and doing more. But living in the modern world competing against Amazon and online garden centres ect. It’s hard and we have bills to pay that are ever growing. I do also offer this bowl only made with hammers and chisels but the price is a lot higher. I am wanting to make a video while carving this bowl with only hammer and chisel and post it side by side. But it will have to wait until I get time.

@@TheStoneRanger Didn't mean any offense. I'm sure if Michelangelo were alive today, he would be using power tools.

No offence taken at all 😊 I am sure he would, I did read in a book some years back Michelangelo would have the labours do a lot of the hard work moving the material then he would finish it up and get the credit. Thank you for taking the time to watch my video 👍

​@@TheStoneRanger All the prolific sculptors did this, to some degree. Stone carving, wood carving, etc it makes few odds. Gibbons used to have a studio stuffed with labourers and artisans doing almost all of the work, apparently, including fine stuff "under his supervision" in his busy years.

Hi Lawrence, sorry about that. Maybe in the future, I will turn some stone on the lathe.

@@TheStoneRanger I hope you realize I was being a smartass. You do great work. I actually visited you facebook page to discover you closed your business. I scrolled down to find the initial announcement. I hope all is going well with your new adventure.