[TheForge] Feather & wedge (Re: Free the Stake!)

[Larry Brown]

I believe the Egyptians used wooden wedges and soaked them with water. I 
think they were using bronze chisels  also so as soon as bronze becomes 
plentiful enough the next step is someone with the idea, though the 
necessity may depend on the types of stone
L Brown

At 02:59 PM 1/22/2008 -0500, you wrote:
>I wonder how old this method of cutting stone is?  It would seem that 
>since both the feathers and wedge work in compression that this would work 
>with bronze tools.  Wrought iron would not be required.
>
>Dave
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer" 
><artgawk at thegrid.net>
>To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 2:29 PM
>Subject: Re: [TheForge] Feather & wedge (Re: Free the Stake!)
>
>
>>I talked to an old Swede who said that his first job as a little kid in 
>>his father's stone yard was splitting huge blocks of stone. They'd lift 
>>him up onto the drilled block with a box of feathers and wedges and a kid 
>>sized hammer and he'd set up the wedges and feathers in their respective 
>>holes. Then he'd go down the line striking the wedges and listening to 
>>the sound. The object was to match the pitch on each hole. When he'd gone 
>>the length, he'd go back to the beginning and raise the pitch another 
>>note. Eventually there was a loud cracking sound and someone would come 
>>and lift him back down....pf
>>
>>Andrew Vida wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>Mike Spencer wrote:
>>>>...I figured out that the reverse taper
>>>>in the feathers is as important as the taper in the wedge and that the
>>>>tapers should more or less match.
>>>
>>>     IMO there is nothing more or less about it.  The tapers should 
>>> match with good precision.  You want as much sliding contact as 
>>> possible to avoid jamming the wedge or otherwise ruining the 
>>> surfaces.  Also, the better the contact, the better the distribution of 
>>> the force will be. Point stresses may cause the stone to fail 
>>> unpredictably and in undesired ways.  You want the force nicely 
>>> distributed along the lengths of the feathers.
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