I’ve been looking for a video detailing how to shape field stone for wall building for the last two years, I’m not kidding. All other more or less obscure crafts out there are documented in minute detail, but not one of the core steps of dry stone walling. Thank you for posting this! Now I might actually be able to use my Stone Buster properly.
I've been going down the rabbit hole on masonry for weeks now, and this is one of the best videos I've seen. You're the first person to talk about stone grain and how to work with it. And showing that the hammers have different directions on the chisels was really useful.
Have you found any videos that focus on finding the grain of a stone? I have a hard time determining the grain direction. I'm not sure what to look for.
Your video's are so useful! And honestly the only content out here for these techniques. I am a young novice (25 yo) and i have recently started masonry work mostly in hardscape settings. I have completed a few projects as the project lead ,however i have had several moments where i wish i had an outlet to learn new techniques and expand my very limited knowledge. The effort you put into these videos is appreciated more than you know.
Thanks for this very useful video Brian. It would be great to hear more about how you prepare stones for building - specifically when you decide that a stone is too large and needs to be broken down using the stone busters or feathers & wedges.
Thanks. Very helpful. To get sponsorships you could put a link in the description for some of the tools you demonstrate. I’ve been eBaying hammerheads and many of them don’t work well. Too malleable. I have two decent ones out of 5 recently purchased.
It really depends on the type of stone you are working with and how refined you are trying to be. These hammers are better for larger stone, or harder stone. If you are working with smaller pieces of softer sandstone or limestone you may like chisels better. In general though, chisels are slower and for smaller adjustments to the stone (lots of exceptions) and hammers will be faster and in some cases will be less precise.
