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.
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.
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
…yeah…I got nothing fam 🤷
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?
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.
I have an Estwing brick hammer that gets some use, but not nearly as much as the lump!
Estwing just makes good shit. Or did. I don’t own any Estwing stuff newer than a decade old.Hmmm…might have to have a look at the camp axe 🤔
What’s your favourite-size mason jar, and how many stones will it hold?
Shit…uhmmm…let me check? I have the one I usually put the hot sauce I make in the cupboard somewhere. I’ll get back to you!
Oh no, it shouldn’t take a day to get to the cupboard and back. I think OP is dead or maybe just incapacitated or napping.
I’ve not been sleeping well and working 16 hour shifts. Even at my best my memory is not great. Thanks for reminding me about the mason jar, I’ll check the cupboard when I get home from buying lunch.
Does sand count as stones?
Glad you’re still alive, bud.
Does it? It counts as aggregate, and so does small stones and pebbles. What’s the cut-off for the transition to sand from stone? I’m positive that some nerdlinger drew a line in the scale and said “past this is sand!”
I am highly skilled at pedantry and enjoy challenging arbitrary lines. I bet there’s even a way to argue that we’re all stones or made up of the same stuff as them.
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.
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.
Those are some pretty walls.
❤️
Question coming from complete ignorance: are you picking through a big pile of stones to find the ones that fit a gap or are you cutting them to fit (or both)? Also, are you a Mason (like a member of the illuminati group)?
Both, but it also depends on what style of stone is being laid. The examples I’ve put up are all random. For ashlar you’ll have either a set pattern of sizes, or a small selection of sizes. You’ll still end up cutting pieces smaller due to needing a proper bond and keeping the pattern.
I am not a Freemason.
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.
Don’t forget the super secret handshakes
And pretend acting out the killing of Hiram.
😬 fact check: true
🤦 I had. In my defence I was tired AF when I was answering questions, and something like super secret handshakes isn’t something I think about very often.
Haha I was just playing, I just think the handshakes are hilarious, especially how serious they take them
Fair enough 🤣
They are pretty silly aren’t they?
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!
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.
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.
Do you have access to explosives?
I am advised by legal counsel to say no.
You clearly pay them well enough for the good advice you get.
Tunnel under the wall if you can, light a giant fire, or your not explosives.
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!
Doooooope! I was going to settle for cremation, so why not go out like a boss on a pyre!
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.
I’d actually love to see it! It’s quite a pain in the process, but the satisfaction of the job done is beyond compare.
Happy to give some pointers.Thank you for your offer of advice. If I have any questions I’ll most certainly take you up on that! All the best.
No trouble at all 👍 always happy to help.
What’s your favourite stone building?
Do you mean on c/AskMeAnything? or lemmy.ca in general? I’m new here.
On AskMeAnything.
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