quarrying Indiana Limestone

It's been so cold and snowy, that I haven't had much to share on this blog. I was asked about quarry blocks by a fellow sculptor, so I decided to post an illustration of the quarry process for getting blocks of Indiana Limestone. These pictures were taken by Meg White at Reed Quarry in Bloomington, Indiana.

This is the quarry. You can see that they cut out the stone in 10 foot ledges. The white box is a diamond belt saw that moves down the track. They have cut along the right hand edge and are now making other cuts, about every 50 to 60 feet. These are the end cuts for the 250 ton ledges that they quarry out.

They use the cranes to move the heavy sections of track.

This is a better view of the saw - you can see the 10 foot blade. It will now make a series of parallel cuts about 4 feet apart and 10 feet deep.

At the bottom of the ledge, workers have drilled series of holes, hammered in wedges and have broken loose the large stone ledge. Here, they are gathering up the wedges before they turn the ledge over.

A loader makes a bed of loose rubble, to cushion the ledge when it is turned over.

This quarry worker has secured 2 pieces of specialized rigging into the 'channel' cut.

They have secured 2 other sets to the quarry floor below the ledge.

They rig the crane cable thru the series of removable pulleys.

Now, when the crane pulls up, it will pull the ledge sideways because of the pulleys. They are using the "mechanical advantage" of the extra pulleys - making a 4 part line, which gives lots of extra power.

Going...

...going...

BOOM!!! A 250 ton ledge lays over onto its side. Now they can drill and split it up into sizes that they can handle.

These workers will fasten the "L" shaped metal pieces, called "dogs", to lift the blocks. They had already drilled "L" shaped holes in each end of the block.

This works like a set of tongs. As the crane lifts, it pulls the dogs inward, where they grip the block in their pre-drilled holes.

...and up it goes, to get cut into slabs, blocks or carved into sculpture.

Cold, Snow & Ice

I've been working on a 6' tall, 3,000 lb. limestone sculpture called Nexus (when the temperatures are above freezing).

Not a lot of progress pictures to show, because it's been cold and snowing.

Our house...with one cat in the yard...

This is my 'design studio', where I spend cold winter days. I also spend a lot of time on the computer...(but don't we all).

The rest of the post will show photographs that Meg took. She got some great images during a freezing fog last weekend.

A Turkey take-off snow print.

Ice crystals.

More ice crystals.

Ice crystals that look like trees.

Ice crystals that look like butterflies.

Ice leaves.

...and the hint of a new season, soon to come.

Lost in the Fog

This week involved 2 big road trips.

There was an all-day fog on Monday when I went to the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art. It was also foggy on Friday's trip. (photo Meg White)

Friday, I went to Victor Oolitic Limestone Company near Bloomington, Indiana. This is how they cut quarry blocks into slabs. It's called a Belt Saw, and it moves down a geared track to get into position for a new cut.

This is a vacuum lift for moving individual slabs.

The 2 blocks on the left are for St. Theresa Cemetery, which is the main reason for the trip. I rounded out the load with the 2 eight inch slabs, that weigh about 4,000 lb. apiece. I only use my old truck (shown) for handling stuff around the studio. I rented a flat bed truck from Penske for hauling the load.

It's rained constantly for the rest of the week. Meg snapped this photo of water backing up from the flooded Ohio River, in the swamp below our house.

Meg snapped these photos during the freezing fog on Monday. ( ...send dead flowers every morning...)

(...send dead flowers by the mail...)

(....send dead flowers to my wedding...)

A New Decade

The temperature hasn't been above the freezing mark, ever since the decade began.

Thursday, we got about 2 inches of snow. (photo Meg White)

I was glad that I had indoor work to do. Meg needed an armature for her Terre Haute commission. Steve McMillen helped us out with the welding and fabrication.

We used steel pipe to make the armature, which was cut to length with a chop saw.

The armature had lots of complex angles. We constantly checked our progress against the scale clay maquette. Besides taking all the photos on this post, Meg transposed all the measurements from the scale model to the full scale armature and directed our progress. See her blog for more details.

The sculpture consists of a family group of 4 figures rendered 2/3 life-size. The first armature to be made was for the woman.

After making the armature for the man, we began to fasten everything to a steel base plate. We added metal props under the 'seats' of the Man and Woman, for strength and stability.

Once we had the armatures for the Man and Woman in proper relationship, we fabricated and added the Boy.

Then, we added the Girl.

After adjusting all 4 figures to their final position, we cut and welded braces to strengthen the assemblage. Meg will add at least 200 lbs. of clay to create the sculpture. The armature must support that and the weight of the mold.

Steve finished up the welding, and the armature is now ready for Meg to add foam.

...and now, for something completely different.... bird tracks in snow. (photo Meg White)

more rocks, yes please!

On December 17th, Jerome Morgan of Vessels Trucking brought me about 44,000 lbs. of Indiana Limestone that I'd bought from Victor Oolitic Limestone Company of Bloomington, Indiana.

Introducing 'Rock One'...

...and 'Rock Two'.

Several dustings of snow, freezing temperatures and Christmas 'stuff' kept me from getting the stones unloaded. But, I finally got around to drilling them into 5 separate pieces of about 8,000 lbs. apiece.

To split a large stone block into smaller pieces, you drill a series of holes about 8 inches apart. Then you put in these metal 'feathers and wedges'.

Then, you hammer the wedges to increase the pressure on the feathers. These stones were about 3 feet thick. Nothing was happening, so Meg goaded me by saying that I hammered like a little girl. "I am NOT a little girl!"

CRAAA...

...RAAACK!

Derrick of J.B.B. inc. of Hardinsburg, Kentucky showed up this morning to unload the stones. It was below freezing, with a brisk wind, but a great way to end the year, with all the potential that these blocks hold for the next year.

So many rocks, so little time.