MEMORIAL SEAT TO BONES

The Memorial Seat dedicated to Antony 'BONES' Wakelin stands on the forecourt of The Ship Inn, Wool, Dorset.
It was made possible by the love, consideration and dedication from the community, in particular his friends and family and from regulars and staff at The Ship Inn where he worked. Bones was the most precious of people sadly taken from us at the young age of fifteen. A talented young man with an amazing future ahead of him. He is one of the best and will always be remembered for his charitable kindness, for his dedication to his work, for his caring nature towards others and for the amazing smile that would light up a room. God Bless you Antony

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A trip to the Portland Stone Firms quarry to hand pick our arm rests

Our Portland stone quarry block is back at the workshop. With the bottom bed facing up it has been marked out in preparation to work a flat surface

Derek and Jenny punching the bottom bed of the Portland stone quarry block during the work to create a flat surface. This will enable the stone to be layed with an even bedding joint resulting in an even distribution of weight

A boys day out

Ricky-Lee 'n' Scott using hammer and punch to reduce the large lump to a more suitable height in preparation for Thomas 'n' Josh to reduce the height further and closer to our desired finish using mallet and claw chisel

Demonstrating a panel of punched finish in preparation for the next stage in creating our flat surface.

Jenny and Josh claw tooling the ridges left by the punch. This will reduce the surface in preparation for the final tooling with mallet and boaster

Sarah using mallet and boaster to finish the flat surface of our bottom bed

Our quarry block now has a flat bottom. It is ready to divide in two to produce the arms of our seat

To begin the setting out of the dividing point the centre line is drawn and positions marked along this line. Holes are drilled in preparation for the splitting process

Plug and feathers, a three piece tool designed to gently split stone along a perforation line, are placed in the drilled holes

The plugs are hammered in a specific sequence which exerts a gentle pressure eventually causing cracks between the weakest points, that being the drill holes.

That's the theory, although as stone is a natural product there is always an element for the unexpected

Thankfully the stone splits along its' perforation line, phew!

The recess to support the seating stones is set out on both faces and the outline is cut-in using a half in chisel (not shown)

Roughing-out the recess using a hammer and punch.

The recess is being sunk to a depth of four inches. The sides are roughly dressed using mallet and claw chisel while the 'meat' is removed using a hammer and punch.

The double sinking square (DSS) is used to square off the sides using the bottom bed as the reference point.

Detail showing the recess that will form the support for the seating and back rest stones. This is mirrored on the opposite arm rest

Rubbing up and polishing the seating stones using graded diamond pads. The stone chosen is Purbeck Spangle, an interesting sedimentary stone which has pronounced beds of large shells and occasionally ammonites

This close up picture shows the glass like polish that can be achieved and the shell content of the stone

Detail showing the seating stones positioned in one of the arm rests and awaiting the positioning of the opposite stone

Arm rest number two in position. The seat is now ready to receive the back rest

The back rest is made from Purbeck Cap stone.This is one of the hardest of the Purbeck beds and has a beautiful range of swirling colours from pale orange through to a blue/grey. It also contains bands or beds of dark grey flint. The picture shows the stone, having been dressed to shape, in the process of being inscribed.

The back rest being lowered into position, while Barbie looks on.

At the end of a long day, Ian Dominy relaxes on the seat.

Special thanks to Ian for his invaluable help during the latter stages of the project and to all who took part in the developement of the memorial seat.

To see the complete portfolio of pictures please visit How It's Made

 

For further details and information on services, products and ordering please email Richard Harbury Stonemasonry