FIVE COMMISSIONS · A STONEMASON'S YEAR

ASHLAR

Every block is cut from a rough sawn blank with a point, a claw and a bolster, and a block that beds badly sits on three high points until the frost finds it. Dress the face you can see, then turn the stone over and true the bed you cannot.

Arrows set the chisel Space strike 123 tool [] reach E turn the stone Enter lay it M sound Esc pause

Best wall: none raised yet

THE CHISEL IS DOWN

Paused

The stone will wait. It has waited two hundred years already.

Reduce motion — no flying chips, no camera shake

HOW THE WORK IS DONE

The joint you cannot see

The blank: A sawn block stands proud of its finished face by about 20 mm, and the ends stand proud of the module by more. The proud places are where a joint bears.
Point: One cell, one chip. It is the only tool that reaches a single high spot, and two points on the same cell will split the stone.
Claw: A run of cells, one deep bite each, and never quite full at the end of the run. It gets the stone down fast and the stone proud.
Bolster: Lifts a whole run down to its lowest point and not one thing below it. This is what makes a joint full, and it is slow.
The reach: How far the chisel reaches. A long run laid along an arc takes the arc off the face; a short run follows it.
The bed: Turn the stone over. A bed that is not full rocks on its high points, and everything above it leans.
The stone: Caen and Darley Dale dress beautifully and blister in a hard frost. Barnack and Lias weather well and cost you strokes. Slate is worse than both.
The days: Each day has an allowance of strokes. Run out of days and the rest of the wall goes in as it came off the saw.

THE SURVEYOR'S ACCOUNT