This is what I am doing today

[artimrj]

Carving wings on a heart.

This is what I started with.

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Put stencil on it and carved this

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Here is a closer shot

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The wing area is 38 inches long. This is the right side. I have half the left side as of this posting. I used 300 pounds of steel shot already and changed 30 lenses in my hood. I have 6.5 hours in this so far.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

You carve the stone by blasting steel shot at it? Hence the rough effect, no boucharding tool used?

[BoostedFridge]

I never realized that those headstones were so labor and material intensive! The results look well worth it.

[artimrj]

Don't even know what that tool is. I shoot # 64 grit steel shot from a 3/32 sapphrite nozzle with 120 PSIs behind it. We call it shape carving.

[_o_OOOO_oo-Kanawha]

Don't even know what that tool is. I shoot # 64 grit steel shot from a 3/32 sapphrite nozzle with 120 PSIs behind it. We call it shape carving.

Ah, I see. Shallow cutting/carving, shaping and finishing at the same time. Noisy and dusty, but relatively quick and precise.
A boucharding tool is used in stone masonry I believe, church restorations and such. It is either a hand held chisel or a pneumatic tool that hammers with hardened steel needles at the stone to give it a rough but even surface.

Anyway, you are a master craftsman, Bob. You have shown some more samples of your work over the last couple of years, and it all looks very well done.

[KPryor]

Beautiful work!

[GSkid]

2 questions Bob....

Does this destroy the steel shot to the point it is no longer usable or is it good enough for at least another round of blasting?

Are the feather patterns completely made by the artists eye and hand... or is there some type of stencil-like aid to help give the cutter a guide on where to cut into the stone?

Beautiful work! Thanks for sharing!

[BillS]

Amazing workmanship, Bob!

[artimrj]

At Edwin: The multi bladed chisel is called a Busch Chisel. No one uses them in granite any more, except maybe some old timer who refuses to change. I have a set of chisel with carbide tips ranging from 1/16 inch to 1.5 inches. I use a nuematic tool like a mini jack hammer. I have a light one and a heavy one for destroying. I also have a set of them with 9, 12 and 16 points on them and another called a cup chisel the is a circle. Then I have my pitching chisel. 3/4, 1, 1.5, 3 and 6 inch. This is for breaking the edges clean. Thats how I fix chips also. Hammer and chisel. I also use them for making starbursts in the granite.

On a daily basis I use steel shot and shape carve everything, flowers, hands, birds, leaves, trees, animals, whatever. I can shape carve anything. It is not as roguh as it may look in the photo, and that also depends on the quality of the granite. With nice hard granite I can make it look like a busch chisel was run over it. On lousy granite, nothing will make smooth short of grinding it with a dremel type tool and grinding wheels/tips.


At GSKID: Yeah you have to have a stencil. This shot shows part of the stencil. I pull one feather out at a time and carve it. Before I started taking them out, I scored all the lines about 1/4 inch, these become my guidelines. And the steel shot is 100% reusable. Only way it disappears it what bounces out of the room or is carried with me or sticks to the rubber backing with is very sticky.

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Well I am back at it, doing some touch ups and finish the lettering, then I get to carve some roses. I love my job!

[bpetit]

Bob, you do some amazing work with stone.

[Ericmopar]

That's cool Bob.

[OldProf]

How nice it is to do work that you love!

(Now put up a movie so "those folks" can criticize the sound and physics of your tools!)

[artimrj]

I am done with my part. Here they are in the wash bay to get all the glue and dust off of them. They are heading out to our etcher who has a $1.5 Million Laser etcher.

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[wackyhuman]

Nice work!!