STONES: Scottish Wallers

[DAP]

With harv not doin all the wroughtn and now doin some geology ... the following came to mind.

I live in 'Old' america - the Hudson Valley region. This area, like the rest of New England has been farmed for 250 years now.

Since steel tube fencing was hard to get back then, most labored on making rock walls for boundries and containment and bravado.

I've got rock walls, old ones, some toppled, all over the place. There is a strange outdoor art museum in my neighborhood call Storm King Art center. The steel TBNers would love this place as it is full of free standing Industrial art (to put a name to it). It's on the net, with pics, so do a google search.

Anyway, one of the exhibits they have there, yes an exhibit, is a commissioned 1/2 mile serpetine standard rock wall that emerges and snakes from the forest into a large pond and out again.

The artist who designed this piece (in the 70's I believe) hired all of his 'wallers' from Scotland believing them to be the best craftsman of this sort.

Zen: each rock is 'observed', 'handled' and 'consulted' before it finds its role in the wall. Their work is outstanding (pun) and if I have the time, there are courses based on the methods of the Scots one can take to learn how to speak rock.

Sorry harv, but cuttin a rock for a spot in a wall would roll their eyes. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I'll bet gettin to know some rocks Scotish-like would go a long way towards makin 'em something they aint.

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EastTexFrank]

There have been a couple of posts lately that have made me feel nostalgic and this is another. It may be time for a trip back to the old country to visit friends and relatives.

In Scotland it was known as a "dry stane dyke" ... just piled up stones and no cement. Building them is another of those skills that has almost disappeared. I've never seen one actually being built from scratch but as a kid I've seen them being repaired, usually from someone driving their car through it on the way home from the pub on a Saturday night. That was before drinking and driving laws became sssoooo strict. I must admit though, the only talking to the stones I can remember them doing was along the lines of, "OK you little booger, where are you going to fit?". Maybe I was just too young to appreciate the communing with the stones that was beyond my childish comprehension.

 

[Egon]

Building the stone walls also helped get rid of the rocks in the fields.

Egon

 

[DAP]

Frank, seems like I'm responsible for at least 2 of those posts!

Oops. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[OkeeDon]

Not too many Scots around here. When I was building outdoor kitchens, the only people I would subcontract for a stone veneer were Italian. Joe d'Augustino did this one, and the rock waterfall in the background. I didn't think it blended well with the paver stone patio, but that's what the customer wanted. If you look real close, it has a flat stone countertop, too. This is veneered on top of a cabinet frame with a HardiPanel backer.

 

[OkeeDon]

He did this one, too, which, while a simple design, seems to blend well. We built the cabinets, hood box (to hide the ducting) and did the tile work.

 

[Egon]

There are times I'd like to build a stone cottage as in the attachment.

Egon

 

[voodoo]

Frank,
Hope you are aware that the best stone dyke walls are built in Ireland. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Some of the best examples are in and around the Mourne mountains. I've seen some of these with perfectly round boulders 3ft across, neatly set and running for miles.
I've attached some pics, but it doesn't really do the real thing justice.

 

[voodoo]

Pic No 2

 

[voodoo]

Pic No 3
Would you like to be building wall up this slope. Note that the rocks are growing out of the ground around here.
In some areas, the wall builders would build themselves stone shelters on site and live there until the job was done.
Oh and there were no Orange, blue, green or otherwise machines to help in the days these were built. Manual labour only.