Friday, March 21, 2014

Five Tools Essential for Stone Homes Industry

From ancient times, man has been building stone constructions. Earlier man started building walls and homes with piles of loose stones. After wards, mortar and plaster were used.

Some common materials in use for constructing homes;
  • Bricks,
  • Limestone,
  • Sandstone,
  • Slate,
  • Granite,
  • Marble and some more
Beautiful constructions such as Taj Mahal, Egyptian Pyramids, Chartres Cathedral, Angkor Wat and many more were built using various stones; they stand as testimony for human creativity. Castles and Forts belonging to medieval ages still are fascinating pieces of imagination.

Nowadays, people are having stone structures as part or as an entire home. Stone homes in combination with modern interior play an important role in creating the most fashionable residences. The look and feel these structures produce is easily connected with nature.

The Stone homes Industry has been modernized with latest technological inventions in building field. However, the hand tools in common usage for stone masonry has not much changed. They have been the same with slight alterations and advancements. Some traditional masons even today uses these hand tools like hammer and chisel as their main working equipments. Commercial manufacturers utilize computerized assembly lines to produce cutting and shaping tools for stones. Pneumatic and air powered tools for stone masonry have been in use making the work easier.

1.  Hammer: This tool is the first ever ancient tool that was used by ancient man, which is being used by modern man. The simplest usage is to strike chisels for the purpose of cutting and shaping stones. Many varieties of hammers are in the field, according to the purpose.
  • a.  Stonemason’s hammer: This tool has square and flat end on one side and a sharp, pointed chisel like end on the  other side. With the sharp end, mason can draw and cut lines and with the other end he can give a sharp blow to split the stone. Chisel end is also useful to take off the pieces.
  • b.  Bush Hammer: This is specially used to texture stone. There are many varieties in bush hammers from simple hand machines to electrically powered ones.  The effect created by this tool on the stones will resemble naturally weathered rocks. This also helps in increasing effective bondage between two stones.
2.  Chisel: Chisels meant for stone masonry are costlier than others. Among many types, the best one to deal hard rock is chiselled with carbide bits. They save 50% labor when compared with others.

3.  Plug and Feather: These are three piece tool set used to split rocks and to split a large one many number of plug and feather sets are used. Every set comes with one plug that acts as a wedge, and two shims or feathers.

4.  Masonry Power Saw: Large quantities of rocks can be cut using power saws. There are two types of hem as hand held saws and table saws. Those with diamond blades have more power.

5.  Lewis: This is a lifting device used in stone masonry. This can be inserted in the holes that are prepared for this purpose. While lifting large rocks into cranes or winches, this Lewis prevents them from slipping. Chain linked, split-pin, two-pinned and three-legged are some of the varieties of Lewis.

Need more information? Click here author is expert is writing about Stone Homes to make your beautiful house.