Saturday, February 19, 2011

Granite Splitting With Dan

Dan Ucci, owner of Ledge Hill Creations, has been good enough to keep me busy this winter, along with seven or eight other masons, and we're all pretty grateful. Work tends to be pretty scarce during these long, cold Maine winters and anybody who is fortunate enough to work through them, is happy to do so. Well, 'happy' may be a stretch--it can often be darn cold and miserable--but work is work, and we'll take it.
This is actually the second winter in a row I have worked for Dan. He has an enormous project going on just south of Boothbay that is now in its third year. It has an impressive array of walls, columns, chimneys, pools, cabanas, outdoor fireplaces, and patios; and I will post some photos of it soon. The sheer quantity of stone on that site and the work that has been done to it truly boggles the mind.
The granite we have been splitting for the past few weeks is actually for a see-through fireplace on another site just a few miles down the road. My granite splitting has been limited and I have never done veneer with stones of this size, so this is a great learning experience for me. I will attempt in the next week or two to document as much of this as I can. Basically, Dan and I are fabricating the entire double-sided fireplace at his studio, then hauling it all down to Boothbay and installing it. The installation will be an interesting process in itself and not without challenges, so making sure that all each stone is ready to be laid before it goes in the house is imperative.

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