ยท Stone has been used for carving since ancient times for many reasons. Most types of stone are easier to find than metal ores, which have to be mined and smelted. Stone can be dug from the surface and carved with hand tools. Stone is more durable than wood, and carvings in stone last much longer than wooden artifacts. Stone comes in many varieties and artists have abundant choices in color, quality and relative hardness.
Chola Stone
Basic stone carving tools fall into five categories:
- Percussion tools for hitting - such as mallets, axes, adzes, bouchards and toothed hammers.
- Tools for rough shaping of stone, to form a block the size needed for the carving. These include feathers and wedges and pitching tools.
- Chisels for cutting - such as lettering chisels, points, pitching tools, and claw chisels. Chisels, in turn, may be handheld and hammered or pneumatic powered.
- Diamond tools which include burrs, cup wheels, and blades mounted on a host of power tools. These are used sometimes through the entire carving process from rough work to the final finish.
- Abrasives for material removals - such as carborundum blocks, drills, saws, grinding and cutting wheels, water-abrasive machinery and dressing tools such as French and English drags.
More advanced processes, such as laser cutting and jet torches, use sudden high temperature with a combination of cooling water to spall flakes of stone. Other modern processes may involve diamond-wire machines or other large scale production equipment to remove large sections of undesired stone.
The use of chisels for stone carving is possible in several ways. Two are:
- The mason's stroke, in which a flat chisel is used at approximately 90 degrees to the surface in an organized sweep. It shatters the stone beneath it and each successive pass lowers the surface.
- Lettering chisels for incising small strokes create the details of letters in larger applications.
- Fishtail carving chisels are used to create pockets, valleys and for intricate carving, whilst providing good visibility around the stone.
- Masonry chisels are used for the general shaping of stones.
- Stone point tools are used to rough out the surface of the stone.
- Stone claw tools are used to remove the peaks and troughs left from the previously used tools.
- Stone pitching tools are used to remove large quantities of stone.
- Stone nickers are used to split stones by tracing a line along the stone with progressive strikes until the stone breaks along the line.
The Metal
And Stone
ยท Dimensions of the figure to be manufactured are marked on a stone slab. Extra edges are removed from the slab by beating with a hammer. Big pieces of stones are cut vertically into smaller slabs, and rough sketches are made on it. The article is taken out from the slab with the aid of a saw. This slab is now converted in the form of the desired figure with a hammer and a chisel. Minor carvings are done by pointed chisel. Before carving the stone is kept in boiling water overnight and treated chemically. This smoothens and whitens the surface of the stone. Polishing is done for the final finishing with sand or carborundum pieces. Several of the carved artifacts are painted.
In carving an image, the stone carver sketches a rough outline of the sculpture on the stone - block. The craftsmen then sprinkle water on the stone during the course of their work because of the friction generated due to the constant chiselling away of the unwanted material that result in the tools heating up. Finishing is accomplished in a variety of ways. An outline is drawn on hard or soft stone which is already cut to the appropriate size. Once the outline is incised indicating the shape, the final figure is brought out by removing the unwanted portions.
0 Comments