2 Loads of Stone

I have been behind on posting pictures...

Here's a picture from Victor quarry when Meg and I went up to pick out stone blocks.

The 23 ton crane from JBB inc. came out to unload 2 trucks full of stone.

The first truck had 5 blocks with a combined weight of approximately 45,000 lbs.

Here's a plug for Rodney Matthews who I contracted to haul the loads.

The crane operator, Dereck Sheroan, is making a 2 part line for lifting the heavy blocks.

This is Ben Cullison who drove the other truck.  His wife has songs posted on YouTube. Search YouTube for Uarda Cullison "Can't stop the River".  Check it out.

In this picture, Ben is using a tool that Dereck made for us from rebar to slide rigging under big rocks or pallets.

This picture shows how we use short lengths of old fire hose as "softeners" to protect rigging from sharp edges.

Another trick is where I've added a short section of chain (in my right hand) to lengthen the "leg" of rigging for odd-shaped stones.  Without doing this, the load would lift uneven and could slip out of the slings.

Dereck brought out 5' lengths of channel iron to go under pallets.  When you try to lift a pallet without these pieces of steel, it will try to fold the pallet and rip off boards.  It can chip corners of cut blocks when they are pushed together as the pallets bend.

Here's another tip: never put your body parts under a suspended load (like this guy is doing...)

After unloading 3 of the 5 big blocks from Victor Quarry, we unloaded the 2nd truck with 49 smaller cut blocks from Michael & sons stone mill near Bloomfield, Indiana.  These will likely be bases for garden-sized to monumental-sized sculptures.

We then re-positioned the crane and first truck to unload the last 2 big blocks.

They weighed about 10,500 lbs. each.

These 2 blocks will become the 2 functional sculptures that will go to Schaumburg Sculpture Park in early September.