THE MASON.

MASONS AT WORK.

Having already given a description of the way in which bricks are made, we come to the work of the Mason, whose duty it is to prepare the stone work used in building and for other purposes. In the mason’s trade great skill isrequired, as well as some hard manual labour, since he has to cut the stones for arches, windows, columns, cornices, and porches, into various shapes; and to fit the separate pieces with perfect accuracy, that the Builder or the Architect may be able at once to set them in their proper places. The business of the monumental mason, who erects pedestals for statues, tombs, and ornamental structures in parks and gardens, is generally distinct from that of the builder or architectural mason, although many of the same tools are used in both trades.

The stone used by the mason is of various kinds, and is brought from different parts of the world; but our own country contains stone of nearly every sort which can be well employed in ordinary building. Granite comes principally from Scotland, though a smaller quantity is brought from Ireland; red and white sandstone is plentiful in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Derbyshire, as well as in Scotland and Ireland; a sort of slate stone is found in Wales; and the most common building stone, which is called limestone, or free-stone, is brought from several counties in England, where it is constantly worked. The stone is generally found under the surface of the earth, and the places from which it is dug are called quarries; the business of quarrying being to extract from the ground, or from the sides of rocks, large masses of stone or marble.

When these lie directly under the ground, the earth at the top is removed, and the stone is afterwards separated into blocks and lifted out by machinery; but it is sometimes necessary to mine for the stone by making galleries underground, and leaving pillars to support the earth above them. In large quarries, the earth at top is first removed, and the first layer of stone, which is generally of a commonsort, is broken or blasted with gunpowder, and afterwards taken away. The lower layers of stone are then divided by wedges driven into them, until they split in the required direction; the blocks are afterwards made of a regular square, by a tool called akevel, pointed at one end and flat at the other, and are then lifted by cranes on to low waggons, upon which they are drawn away. It is the business of the mason to work these stones, which are to be used in building, into their required shape; but before the mason receives them thestone cutterhews and cuts the large blocks roughly into the form in which they are wanted; and when the block is to form top of a doorway, part of a cornice, or any other portion of a building where ornament is necessary, thecarverexecutes these ornaments, and cuts the stone into a pattern of fruit, flowers, or figures.

Peck or Point. Stone Axe.

When the stone is valuable it is sent from the quarry to the mason’s yard, or to the building where it is to be used in large blocks, and there cut into slabs or thin pieces called “scantlings,” of the required size, with a stonemason’s saw (see large cut). This saw differs from those used in other trades because it has no teeth. It is a long thin plate of steel slightly jagged on the bottom edge, and fixed in a frame; and being drawn backwards and forwards in a horizontal position, cuts the stone by its own weight. To make this the easier, a heap of sharp sand is placed on a sloping board over the stone, and water trickling upon it from a barrel washes it into the cut made by the saw. In large establishments the sawing of the stone is often effected by steam machinery. Some of the freestones are so soft as easily to be cut with a toothed saw, worked backwards and forwards by two persons. The tools used by the mason are the peck or point for chipping the surface of the stone, the stone axe for breaking the irregular portions from the block, the iron mallet and beetle, for breaking pieces from the edge of the slab or driving in wedges.

Wooden Beetle. Wedge. Iron Mallet.

Rubber. Mallet. Brush. Chisels.

The tools used for cutting stone are the mallet and chisels of various sizes. The mason’s mallet differs from that used by other workmen, being of a sort of half pearshape, and with a short handle only just long enough to allow it to be firmly grasped in the hand. The rubber is used for smoothing the surface of the stone, after it has been worked by the tools; sand and water are placed on the stone, and the rubber is pushed backwards and forwards for the purpose of grinding the face of the slab to a smooth surface; another block of stone is sometimes appliedto the same purpose. In London the tools used to work the faces of the stone are—thepoint, a very small chisel only about a quarter of an inch broad at the cutting edge; the inch tool, which is a broader chisel; thebooster, broader still; and thebroad tool, which is three inches and a half wide: beside these, there are tools of the same kind for working mouldings and carvings.

Square. Bevel Square. Straight Edge. Trowel. Point.

Besides these cutting tools, the mason uses abankeror bench, on which he places his stone for convenience of working, andstraight edges, squares, and bevels, for marking the shapes into which the blocks are to be cut, and seeing that his edges and surfaces are even by trying them as the work proceeds.

The bevel square is a square thestock, or lower part, of which is moveable, so that it may be set to any angle or level as required. Sometimes a pattern called atempletis used for cutting a block to any particular shape, and when the work is moulded, the templet is called amould. Moulds are commonly made of sheet zinc, carefully cut to the profile of the mouldings with shears and files.

It often happens that the mason has not only to prepare the stone, but to set it in its place in the building, and this is properly part of his work. He then uses the trowel, for applying the composition for cementing the stones together; lines and pins to show whether his edges are straight and square, the square and level for a similar purpose; and various rules for adjusting the stone faces of upright walls.

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