I'm a stone mason, and I'm half way convinced that a fair portion of the posts here are at MOST five people. AMA?
The title.
Feel free to ask me stuff. I'm in Scotland, born in Canada. I've been a mason for coming on 15 years. And my favourite dinosaur is....not really a dinosaur.....the Stenopterygius species. because they're tubby not quite dolphin looking (apparently) reptiles.
What are 3 current buildings you would like to work on and what 3 that no longer exist would you have loved to see in person?
Also because you are a Canadian in Scotland, here a story about an absolute madlad from Scotland who walked across Canada. Walked. With his dog.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/the-national-michael-yellowlees-cross-canada-walk-1.5322480
What kind of stone is this?
I'm not a geologist. And that rock is covered in dirt. Probably not sedimentary as there's no obvious striations. 🤷 Granite?
Do you think it's possible that stone masonry is, adjusted for inflation, more expensive today than it was a hundred years ago despite improvements in technology? I.e. Cheaper, shorter lived building materials/techniques generates reduced demand for stone masonry, causing fewer stone masons like yourself to exist and ply the trade, increasing scarcity and therefore cost.
Edit: also, huge admiration for your trade. I love stonework and wish it were more common.
I don't really think so, my business partner back home was getting $50/sq.ft when he started on his own in the early 80s. Now you're going to struggle and fight to get paid $20/sq.ft, at least in Vancouver. So the masons are being paid less now than 40 years ago not even adjusting for inflation. And our wages used to include beer basically everywhere in the world, through all time periods until around the 1900s.
What's your favorite hammer?
I have a 7kg mini-sledge. That's my favourite.
My favourite that I actually use regularly is an Estwing 2.5kg lump hammer, it's my daily driver, and also the tool I've had the second longest. Got it from one of my tradesmen (one of the guys who trained me) as a gift when he moved back to Germany from Canada.
I was half way hoping you'd say Estwing... I love their hammers. I have two of their cross peens that I used for (backyard, redneck) blacksmithing for years that still get use any time I need some girth/weight and one of their "masonry" hammers that I use for stone work (again, backyard/redneck shit).
Their 3/4 axe (I think they call it a camp axe) is also solid.
What's your favourite-size mason jar, and how many stones will it hold?
I'd say it'll hold 3-150 stones
What led you to being a stone mason
I answered this in a couple other comments. So I'll give you the TL;DR:
Worked in a warehouse, was bunk, walked out at lunch because fuck those hosers, called a friend to complain and turned out the masonry firm he worked for was hiring.
The numbers, mason, what do they mean?
Bro....if you don't show me the numbers...I can't help you out...
Oh, sorry.
Echelon 3 24 20 12 19 17 17 22 19 23 19 4 0 7 6 7 19 10 12 16 17 6 14 4 3 17 24 20 13 24 8 16 17 1 24 9 21 15 0 5 15 4 4 23 6 11 25 14 4 20 4 9 14 18 12 8 7 21 6 4 21 7 21 4 2 14 3 14 7 18 13 6 22 16 6 1 21 21 15 3 5 24 9 11 2 10 5 21 4 20 11 19 12 5 12 13 12 5 17 19 3 14 21 12 15 17 7 7 2 2 21 1 10 22 13 5
Oh so you're a stone mason? Name 3 stones!
No seriously, what's your favourite stone to mason?
Right. So most of what I worked with in Canada was granite and basalt. And the style of Random we mostly did back home is a very different kind of Random Rubble than what gets done here in Scotland. Third picture.
Pictures below 👇
Can't really say what's my favourite stone. I miss doing stuff like what's in the first and second picture in granite. There's a lot of sandstone and whinstone(this is kinda a catch-all, includes: basalt and dolerite [igneous] and chert [sedimentary]) used in the part of Scotland I'm in.
I guess my favourite stone to work with is the one that looks really fucking good when I'm done?
Below is not something I built, it's a maintenance job. Remove the fucked mortar and repointing with new.
What's your favourite stone building?
How much does brick and a half weigh?
Who would win in a fight Freemasons or Stonemasons?
What kind of brick? I happen to be at work, and there happens to be both a scale and an old Red Stock brick, they don't make those ones anymore, but the one I had on hand weighed in at bang on 4kg.
Edit: newer bricks tend to be a lot lighter. An engineering brick, which has holes in it, is likely less than a kg
Edit²: forgot about the smashup! Stonemasons for sure. Most of the Freemasons I've met have been a bit on the older side, and quite unfit. Also stonemasons have a wide selection of hammers, crowbars and trowels. And honestly I am not entirely sure which of the three would suck the least to be hit with. Hammers and bars are obviously blunt force trauma....but I've cut the ever loving fuck out of myself reaching into my bag and forgetting to be careful of the trowel. 12 stitches!
Need your professional opinion on something: what's the best way to undermine the 12ft curtain wall protecting my enemy's fortress?
My great-grandfather was a stone mason. My office happens to be inside a (non-military) wall he built.
How do masons feel about Freemasons?
Well. The Freemasons started in Scotland. It's generally accepted that the first Freemason temple was the Chapel at Stirling Castle. There's some masons I've met here that think the Freemasons have the registry of Mason's Marks. They may have in the past, but I believe that currently the Worshipful Company of Masons holds most of the UK's mason's marks. Could be debatable, the English gonna empire after all.
A mason's mark was used to show who cut the stone, and who fixed it. It was how masons were paid for what they'd done.
In modern times the Freemasons is....a boy's club. There's likely very few actual masons who are members. Where I am in Scotland, most of the lodges are within a short walk from a police station,or what used to be one.
From the few conversations I had back home about them the general consensus is that it's a bit of a joke that their "secret knowledge" is mostly just masonry best practice.
If you were suddenly fabulously wealthy, would you continue to work in stone, or quit and never look back?
If I was fabulously wealthy I would take time off to build my own house. Not often I get the chance to design and build something!
what do you think happens when we die?
Hmmm....I think it'd be nice if there was something after, not convinced there is. I'm perfectly happy with returning my substance back to the earth. I asked my wife to arrange a sky burial....turns out that's not exactly legal here in the UK....
i love sky burials! but yeah, short of dying IN tibet it’s hard to swing.
after a little searching i found out there aren’t any human body farms in the uk either, but y’all do have a fascinating history of open air pyres. apparently they’re tentatively legal!
Do you mean on c/AskMeAnything? or lemmy.ca in general? I'm new here.
On AskMeAnything.
Community c/AskMeAnything is hosted on Lemmy.ca and most of Fediverse (Lemmy and similar software) can connect to Lemmy.ca to interact with this post. Anyone who can see it should be welcome to interact. (With the community rules in mind)
I hope you enjoy your time here. You can always ask in !nostupidquestions@lemmy.world if you don't understand something.
Electrician thinking of moving to Scotland from US. Any advice?
Make sure your certs are valid here, as soon as you're able to take the CSCS safety course, and get your trades card. Cost of living isn't insane, but wages are pretty low. Do not expect to be able to purchase alcohol at a shop before 10am or after 10pm.
Here's a link to figure out how your qualifications stack up in the UK.
Hey friend!
My dad is a master mason and has been working for 30+ years.
I don't have any questions, but I advise you to have a backup plan. My pa is in his 50s and has obliterated all of the tissue padding between the joints in his hands from all of his work. He's freaking out because he doesn't have any apprentices that are willing to work so hard, so he's pretty much out of options and unfortunately too poor to just retire.
So, y'know, have a plan B.
Way ahead of you. I technically work for the government doing conservation on historic monuments. Tidy pension, salary wage, not pressed hard, and possibly moving into a management position soon. I miss the outside world, and the sedentary pace here fucks me off, but it's well easier on my body.
The thing with apprentices is absolutely real. We just had an apprentice who has essentially fired himself. He's got talent, if he wasn't so up his own ass with entitlement and had an actual work ethic, he could be the real McCoy. And that's around half the apprentices I've dealt with. I'd love to blame it on the youth and lack of gumption or whatever, but it's just people not wanting to work hard....
Seeing as Scotland and Canada share a lot of place names, what's your favourite place that you've been to both the Scottish and Canadian versions of? (Nova Scotia does not count)
So. Surprisingly? Canada is quite large! I have yet to be to a place in Canada that shares its name with a place in Scotland, and ALSO the place in Scotland. I'm from Vancouver, so West Coast (bestcoast) of Canada, and there's a few....
I've been to a bit less than half, and not a single one of the Scottish namesake.
Though, every time I go to the Highlands I'm struck by just how very much it looks like BC....just a wee bit more wee....
That's totally fair! I am Scottish myself and don't know a lot about Canada's geography beyond "big", "often cold", and "lots of forest", so I have no idea if those Scottish place names are concentrated in specific areas, not to mention what the chances of both versions being interesting to visit. Banff is probably the first example that comes to mind, but the Canadian one isn't in BC and the Scottish one is just a pretty little seaside town in Aberdeenshire so not exactly a destination in its own right unless you're already nearby
Though, every time I go to the Highlands I'm struck by just how very much it looks like BC....just a wee bit more wee....
You may already know this, but the Scottish highlands actually were formed when Canada and Britain collided! The wrong side of Canada, but still
Regardless, I hope you're enjoying being here
I imagine there's a basic set of skills every mason has to have to be called a competent mason. But more advanced skills aren't necessary. What skills did you develop that you really worked hard on? What some skill that really impresses you that you don't have in masonry?
Being able to guesstimate basic maths, measuring and then cutting exactly to that measurement, being able to semi-accurately gauge out a mix consistently. Most importantly, you need the willingness to do a hard shift, it can be brutal work sometimes. Everything else is icing.
A skill I worked really hard on was grinder dexterity. Being able to cut a straight line is actually a lot harder than one might think. And then polishing with a grinder, it's finicky, really easy to accidentally put a huge divot into a face.
Not really sure about a skill I'm jealous of. I'll have to come back to that.
I found out my fieldstone foundation mortar turned to dust. I removed everything from my basement and have been tuck pointing for the last several months. It is a hard slog and slow going. I am not a mason but am doing this by necessity (i.e., I'm a fixed pension senior). It is amazing what I have learned from my "practice" wall and YouTube videos. I imagine if a real mason had a look they'd shake their head but it looks good to me and I am over halfway through. Changing out the windows was a learning experience as well. I never did anything like this before but as I am getting closer to the finish line, pride from hard work that pays off is starting to appear.
What’s your recommendation on replacing a farmhouse style sink that’s set in a stone countertop (I think it’s quartz). We believe the countertop was placed on top of the sink, which makes removal difficult as there’s small lips on either side of the sink. I believe those lips could be removed but not sure the best way to go about it safely without damaging the rest of the countertop or lungs.
Have you seen Lodge 49, what do you think of it?
I have not. Should I?
Those pictures are amazing.
Do you run into trouble with permits and Inspections because that type of skilled work can't be very common. Or is it?
Not yet! In my day to day job things are heavily dictated by engineers and architects. And when what jobs I take on the side actually require permitting and inspection I pay an engineer to go over my design and confirm I'm within regulation and the customer is required to get the appropriate permits and schedule inspections.
Masonry is kinda dying. In Canada it's considered unskilled labour. So no certs, no training other than what you get on the job. The UK has a few different certificates depending on what country. England has a Vocational Qualification for Fixing(installation) and used to do multi-trade, Banker/Fixer(cutting/carving and installing), but have recently moved Banker to an arts bachelor. Scotland is still has a multi-trade qualification, but it's actually really really hard to get. You need to have a quota of stones you have carved, but they need to be installed on a building. There's also very few colleges left in Scotland that even offer a masonry course.
I guess what I'm getting at is that there's a lot of cowboy outfits, and not many masons that do an actually good job. Fewer people are willing to get into it, and there's more people just kinda winging it.
What are your thoughts on the issue of dust with cultured stone, is it similar for real stone as well?
So beyond my opinion on the existence of (un)cultured stone at all? It's probably a bit worse than the harder stones( granite, basalt, slates) and about on par with stuff like sandstone and limestone.
"Cultured" stone is an affront to nature, and no one who calls themselves a stone mason should be willing to install it....unless the price is exceptional...
What it started out as, and is still claimed (falsely, for the most part) to be, was ground up stone that was deemed "unusable" that is mixed with cement and cast into a small assortment of shapes. For the most part, in my experience, cultured stone today is literally just precast concrete that MIGHT have a dye added integrally, but is likely dusted on after being removed from the mold but before it fully cures. It's lifespan is very short. It's colour fades within a few years if not sooner. And most of the people who install it do subpar work.
How did you get started as a stone mason?
Bonus: what made you first consider it seriously as a profession?
As I said in a different comment:
Honestly just kinda fell into it. Was working in a warehouse and hated it. Just walked off one day, called a friend just to complain about it and the firm he was working for happened to be hiring. I was 18, I'm now a few months away from 40.
For the bonus: I left and did other stuff here and there, few years of demolition, but always ended up back at a masonry firm. I'm good at it. It's heavy work, but there's a lot of thinking involved. Sometimes you spend 3 times as long thinking about how a stone is going to go in around various obstructions without damaging anything than it takes to actually fit the stone. It's mentally stimulating and physically taxing. I guess to take the long way to answering your question, I always wanted to do masonry as soon as I started it. I only left for something else due to shitty bosses.
Are you really good at sand castles?
Absolutely horrendous at sand castles.
What's the biggest thing you ever made? Which work are you the most proud of?
And how are you received as a Canadian in Scotland? Do they treat you alright?
Do you have midges in Canada?
Biggest:
This is one wall on a 7 tower site. If I remember right it was close to 75000m²(800ksq.ft-ish). Myself and 4 other masons rocked it.
Proudest:
The customer had to be talked out of going with 1mm joints. They settled for 5-10mm. This is cladding, pin and bracket mechanical. If it had been full depth stone, 200+mm, we probably could have done it. The stone was more in the range of 75mm+/- and we needed the room to accommodate the brackets.
Dude, these are SO fucking cool!
Name one of your favorite lunches for stone masoning. Why is that one in the list of faves?
I don't really have one. I'm fond of sandwiches, because they're easy and quick to make in the morning. Today I had a salad with leftover smoked salmon from my Canada day BBQ and feta on top with a vinaigrette I made.
Favorite and least favorite stoner joke?
So, not a joke, but a real lived experience. And then after a Stoned Mason joke.
My best friend at the time, his gf, and myself had eaten....a substantial dose of mushrooms. We'd started at 10 am and were catching the last bus from the city to the town we lived in, was just about 1am.
So it's the 3 of us, we were all around 20, and a probably 40ish year old grung-punk skater on the bus. We were all sat at the back, having a chat and the following:
Guy:
Hey, you guys wanna smoke a joint?
One of us:
Sure, but uhhh, we live about a 4 hour walk from here. Where you hopping off?
Guy:
Naaaaaahhhhh maaaan! We'll just open all the windows in the back here and smoke where we're sitting!
Us:
Uhhhhhhhhh.... aren't you worried about getting kicked off the bus? There's like....mirrors and shit, the driver can absolutely see us....
Guy:
Don't worry man! Don't you know the saying "Smoke in Mirrors"? It's called Smoke in Mirrors because you CAN'T see smoke _IN_ mirrors!
My own thoughts:
Jesus... I've eaten enough mushrooms to down a large dog and even I can tell this man has smoked himself within a C-Hair of his last brain cell.....
Stoned Mason Joke
This took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out was actually a joke.
So my old work/business partner back home is...a character.
Was a mega rockerboy through the 70s and 80s, plays bass with the same band he's played with since '78.
He's got some bits he likes to do. Ozzy, Jagger, what I'm pretty sure is the English guy from the first Wayne's World.
We're working away. He picks up a stone to install and inspects it. Then he says, in an absolutely...and I mean horrific, English accent:
And there I was.....just.....hangin out with the stones!
I salute you for the informative responses here, and for bringing some variety to the community by talking about a topic that isn't carried by sensationalism.
Do you have a mason's mark?
Thanks! This has been really fun!
Life's interesting enough without having to revolve around drama, too many people watching too much daytime TV....smfh
I do have a mason's mark, I haven't registered it though.
have you played dwarf fortress
Fuck yeah I have! Am I any good at it? Not so much.....
What are the major hazards involved in stone masonry? How did you get involved in the field?
Silicosis is one of the biggest hazards. It happens when ultra-fine particles of silica dust get breathed in and cause scarring on the lungs. It's spooky shit.
Other than that there's the usual dangers of working with large heavy materials and power tools. There's a high risk of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome and arthritis from swinging a hammer at a chisel for hours on end.
Honestly just kinda fell into it. Was working in a warehouse and hated it. Just walked off one day, called a friend just to complain about it and the firm he was working for happened to be hiring. I was 18, I'm now a few months away from 40.
What are the cool and interesting tools in stone masonry?
I know a reasonable amount about metal and wood working tools, so I imagine CNC cutting and engraving have added some interesting new options, but I really have no other guesses
Diamond wire saws are neat, if Google hadn't completely fucked search for everyone I could probably find an article I pulled out back on Reddit. If I recall correctly, there's evidence of twine and fine sand being used in the bronze age to cut dimensional stone. Squared blocks.
I don't trust CNC to cut stone. They're fine for simple stuff, but there's always extra work on CNCd stone to get it to fit properly. And I definitely wouldn't trust it to cut something like a Corinthian capital.
Human ingenuity is by far the coolest tool in any trades person's bucket. As you encounter new problems, you Jerry rig a new tool. Need to cut the inside of a hole basically 90° from the face? Get a piece of steel, bend it and sharpen it. BAM! New cool tool specifically made to do a job!
I see you do outside stone work. Ever do housing interior stone? Like granite or stone counter tops for houses? Stone on outside of houses? Anything residential?
How often do you get laid because of your stone mason expertise?
Yep, I take as much interior work as I can get! Most of what I've done in my career is "residential". Though that's kind of a stretch as most of the homes I was working on were multi-milion/billion dollar properties. I now work in conservation, and do side jobs occasionally.
I'll have a look through all my old pictures tomorrow and see if I can rustle up a pic or two of interior work I've done.
'Stenopterygius' is an anagram of 'I get stone syrup' or 'Gutsy Stone pier'
I didn't know that, but now I'm telling everyone I came up with it!
How long did it take you to understand the country accent?
Surprisingly not that long. I still struggle with some things. Like I recently discovered that I have been using the term "The back of 4"(put any hour of the day in) incorrectly. I had thought, probably because my friends I'd made when I first moved over, that the back of whatever means just before the following hour. In actuality it means between the hour but before half past.
I can only assume that no one has corrected me because they either assumed I had the punctuality of a half dead tortoise, or they also were never on time.
Once in a while I will have to ask someone to slow down or enunciate. D'nue was a bit tricky for me. It's actually The Now. As in:
You going to be here soon?
Bit late, just on the bus d'nue.
Has anyone ever tried to get you to make a peridotite wall facing, or countertop?
😞 nope. It'd be cool as fuck though! I would love to use it as like an accent on a fireplace or on a wall. I think it would match really well with a dark granite or a lighter basalt.
How many people have confused stone mason and Freemason when you've told them what you do?
Surprisingly only one! That one person was quite drunk.
Though my grandfather on my dad's side was a Freemason, I was never really tempted to join. That said, it would probably do wonders for my side hustle, I'm not great at selling myself. I get most of my side work from word of mouth, and really can't be bothered to make a website or FB page.
Are you on the square?
They don't know what they're doing, so I'll wager that they're not on the square, nor the level.