Product Description

Readers will learn to collect and handle stone while creating walls, stairs, pools, and even waterfalls.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #72865 in Books
• Published on: 1997-01-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From the Back Cover
Discover the lasting satisfaction of working with stone and learn the tricks of the trade from a master craftsman.

No building material rivals stone for beauty, permanence, and enduring popularity. Builder Charles McRaven offers the benefits of his fifty years of stonework experience in Stonework, a book that will inform, entertain, and inspire anyone using or working with stone.

McRaven helps even first-time builders comprehend the intricacies of working with different stone types; choosing the most suitable stone; handling, cutting, and shaping stone; working with recycled stone; and using stone inside the home.

Stonework presents complete, fully illustrated instructions for:
* Using stone for gardens, paths, pools, and waterfalls
* Building walls, from simple to serpentine
* Making gateways, pillars, and doorways
* Using large stones as wall and landscape accents
* Installing stone steps for porches and entries
* Creating retaining walls
* Building bridges and walkways

About the Author
Charles McRaven is a stonemason and blacksmith who is nationally known for building and repairing dozens of stone structures, log homes and post-and-beam buildings since 1946. He has restored water-powered mills, covered bridges, hewn log houses, and stone and timber-frame projects within the United States. He has written several books on the subject of stone, including Storey's Building With Stone and Stonework, and has also written Building the Hewn Log House and Country Blacksmithing. Charles's articles have appeared in Country Journal, Fine Homebuilding, and many regional magazines. He lectures and conducts workshops through art, history and architecture departments of colleges and universities, as well as teaching private courses in log and stone construction and blacksmithing. He is a consultant to many organizations including Time-Life Books, National Geographic Society Books, Drury College, and Arkansas Folk Center, to name just a few. Charles lives in Free Union, Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Great for beginners and some experience stone workers
As a beginner I found the book easy to read, understandable, and a great asset for my beginning projects. The only thing I would like added to this book was some colored photos of Mr. McRaven's work. Also the descriptions of types of rocks would have helped if there where colored photos. For example, when I started to gather my stones together for my project I realized Mr McRaven's comments on being OK to mix types of stone is not universal. Mixing stone is an art and requires experience with an eye on color.

Also more photos, in color, of good work verses bad work would help beginners like me visualize what my goal should be. I feel I wasted time doing and undoing my stonework.

However, this is still a book for any stoneworker's library.

High on inspiration, a bit thin on tools
Wonderful black & white pictures of stone walls, stone arches, stone bridges and sundry projects. The author makes much of ancient Scot stone work. There are a lot of nice pen drawings used for 'step by step' construction programs. There are many, many suggestions regarding stone choice and stone placement. These comments are the best feature of the book. Finally, there are a few pages on handling large stones with hydraulic booms, pick-up trucks and front-loaders. These suggestions are not going to be found in many books.

There isn't much said about hand power-tool options, nor stone shaping. There are few 'construction tips'. For example, the details of mixing motar specific to your job are only broadly discussed and there are no aids for determining correct mortar wetness. There are no 'good' and 'bad' stone arrangements to illustrate stone arrangement tricks. If you are looking for a 'first project' guide, the Black & Decker 'Stonework & Masonry projects' book offers more assistance. If you've got a few walls completed and want to take the next step towards being a mason, this is your book.

Table of Contents:
Intro: Why stone?
Part 1: Working with stone
Chapter 1: Types of Stone
Chapter 2: Sources of Stone
Chapter 3: Handling Stone
Chapter 4: Selecting Stone for a Project
Chapter 5: Cutting and Shaping Stone
Part 2: Stonework Projects
Chapter 6: Basic and Inspired (curving) walls
Chapter 7: Retaining walls
Chapter 8: Entryways
Chapter 9: Stone steps
Chapter 10: Stone Projects for backyard and beyond (bbq, birdbath, sculpture, walkway, etc.)
Chapter 11: Stone Bridges
Chapter 12: Stone in Interior Spaces

A great guide book
A guide to the basics of stonework that concentrates on the most common projects: retaining walls, stone fences, foundations and steps, and then adds a bit more for the adventuresome: a fireplace, an arched bridge and a moon gate. A good book for the do-it-yourselfer or to learn what to look for in working with a professional stone mason.