Glossary
of
quarry
Bushhammer:
Beat on a stone surface with a round or square plate.
The
bocciarde have a plate of about 4x4 cm, which depending
on the
amount of teeth contained in it produce rough or fine
surfaces.
They can be "by hand" or compressed air. Those of the
"hand" type,
are hammers with a front plate of a few square
centimeters with
more or less teeth (20-25), which beating on the surface
make it
less slippery or in any case with the so-called
"Bush-hammered"
processing. Of the type "Air", are "Carrettini" dragged
with handle or even
computerized machines but always with widia or diamond
plates. Once
the teeth were in steel, tempered with the skill of the
blacksmith-stonemason. Big or fine bush-hammering
depends on the
plates and the "teeth" they contain. Even a fine tick
may seem
bush-hammered, but only the lines of the tip distinguish
it and
must be a few millimeters and aligned (fine check).
Cognara:
Vertical slit on the stone with a length of 4-5 cm
and a width
of about 1 cm, made with hardened steel points to cut
the stone.
Depending on the size of the boulder they are more or
less numerous
at variable distances: from a few centimeters to a half
a meter
from each other. One cognara calls another and together
they
determine a good cut. They can be made by hand excavated
with a
hammer and a hardened tip, or with compressed air guns.
If you want
to cut a 30 cm stone for example, you do not need to
make a 5 cm
cognara, but you only need one of 2 cm made in the right
direction
of the stone. The depth of the cognara is about 2-3 cm.
Facing:
This term refers to a stone worked with a natural
gap. For
example, a sawn stone is not open-faced and not even
bush-hammered
or polished. A wall of natural stones, even if
"Traguardato" is a
face-to-face. Horror in the work in front of you: the
signs of the
cognare or cuts! A simple example of facing work is the
"Bolognini", stone bricks of various sizes with the
natural façade
of the local stone.
Escape:
Space of plaster or mortar of cement or lime that
joins one
stone to another. An escape can be regular or filling
this depends
on the ability to know how to work the stone. The long
getaways
become "Corsican" and tell work done in economics. The
stones can
be laid to "dry" and then lean one on top of the other
without the
addition of adhesives. In this way they must be precise
when
working and must have the shaped sides for a solid
support. They
have been used for a great many containment purposes
during each
historical period. The effort and the scrupulousness in
the
construction determined the duration in time.
Giandino:
Tool to be used by hand chisel type with plate and
well-defined edge. It can be used to trim or glaze
paving stones.
They have been widely used for trimming paving of
squares, or for
defining corners of pillar or cantonal corners. It can
have solid
or gentle cut, given by the momentum of the hammer that
beats and
the sensitivity of those who use it. He created straight
or jagged
threads, precisely according to the abilities of those
who wielded
it. Originally it was of tempered steel and beaten
mainly by
stonemasons with blacksmith quality. It was very
difficult for
those who did not use it to be able to create it to
measure. Now
the last stonemasons use those with the plate in widia
(pronounced
vidia).
Opus
Incertum:
In the jargon it is also called "Uncertain Work". It
is a
Romanesque style of stone working where the "Fugues" do
not have to
be long but discontinuous. It looks like a spiderweb
that suggests
an art where the square meters do not count but the
ability to
execute it. Opus incertum can be used both for the
construction of
walls and for pavings with raw or cracked or polished or
bush-hammered stone slabs.
Ponciotto:
Steel cylinder with a diameter of about 4-5 cm, and a
length
of 8-10 cm, beaten and chiselled but not sharp, must be
placed
inside the cognara and beaten in sequence to the others
until the
beat changes sound by breaking the boulder. Once they
also used
wooden wedges that were then beaten in the cognars. Then
they were
wet and left there until the wood was growing so hard to
cut the
stone. Another similar technique was used with leather
or thick
leather.
Punta:
Octagonal cone in steel with a diameter of 18 mm; the
new
length is about 25 cm. Beat and tempered with four-sided
tips, it
is used for roughing out the stone and for making the
contacts. It
is one of the most used tools by the stonemason. Those
of air guns,
are larger and with precision ports.
Shoulder
cut:
That follows the vertical length of the grain. This
system of
cutting the stone, and in particular the trachyte, may
be necessary
when the boulder is in some positions inconvenient to
other types
of cutting. It is not ideal because the outcome depends
on the
grain if it is straight or not. In this case the
so-called
"Egg-shaped" cut can occur. It depends above all on the
climate.
With so much cold and icy stone the cut does not follow
the desired
course.
Trimming
cut:
Contrary to the grain; cutting the boulder
horizontally to the
grain, most often making the trachyte with the perfect
shapes. The
trimming cut is used to cut stones that are then worked
in front of
you. It is also called "Taglio di testa".
Finish
line:
Term used to define a plan on different levels. In
the rough
stone the "Finish Line" consists in gleaning the edges
so they are
perfectly in line with the other side and can be joined
without
steps or differences. For "Traguardare" the stonemasons
use
straight iron rods that together with the sensitive eye
determine
the differences to be adjusted. Just linear one side and
then mark
with charcoal or pencil and the help of a row of iron
the other
side. In this way joining them the stones can be popped
and worked
with straight plane. Walls or "Opus incertum" works will
be linear
and well worked.
Since 1997
Sandro
Lazzarini.
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