In the last issue of “Stonechat” we looked at the similarities in approach to working with different types of slate. In this article we look at the methods employed in, and differences between, building with cut slate and slate waste.
Category: Master Classes
Master Class: Slate, Part 1
Master Class: Corbelling, Part 3, Roofs
The last two instalments of “Masterclass” have examined the theory of corbelling and its effect on a couple of practical considerations. Hopefully I have established the following, in no particular order: tilting stones can be swings and roundabouts with regard to what can be gained by being able to extend a stone out further over…
Masterclass: Corbelling, Part 2
In the Autumn 2010 issue of Masterclass by Sean Adcock, he continues the topic of Corbelling starting with “Last time we saw how with given uniform stone (or playing cards/dvd boxes!) a dome can be formed according to a neat formula, the main point of which is that initially you can only extend the stone…
Masterclass: Theory of Corbelling
Not sure this should really be called a masterclass seeing as how I’ve never really carried out structural corbelling. Mind you I don’t suppose it’s ever stopped me spouting on authoritatively before, so why stop now? I have of course used the principle of cantilevering, have some experience of in effect corbelling the bottom and…
Masterclass: Settling
In the Spring 2010 issue of Masterclass by Sean Adcock, the topic is Settling. Here’s how he starts “I was recently asked to comment on the efficacy of/necessity for a cover band, in any situation other than on a wall for which you have either insubstantial or insufficiently wide copes to span its width, and…
Master Class: Problems and Planning, Part 4
Talking about planning ahead I had intended to end this series in this issue with a final instalment, not so much about planning, rather covering a couple of bits missing from the first three installments, often of an analytical and theoretical nature, or tangents to them which did not seem to fit properly at the…
Masterclass: Problems and Planning, Part 3
In part one (Stonechat 26: Summer 2012) I suggested that “poor grading can become what is in effect a self-fuelled inevitability” . This was developed in part 2 when we looked at the tendency to place large stones alongside and on top of each other leading to grouping. This however does not just apply to…
Masterclass: Problems and Planning, Part 2
Last time I stated that “Inevitably a wall has faults, being a better waller involves reducing these faults, and not compounding those that are made…” a philosophy I shall now add to… When building a wall you are presented with a series of problems to solve. The nature and severity of these will vary depending…
Masterclass: Problems and Planning, Part 1
The content below was copied with the generous permission of the author Sean Adcock. This Master Class article originally appeared in the Summer 2012 issue of Stonechat, produced by the North Wales Branch of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain. This entire issue of Stonechat, and many more, are available at http://www.dswales.org.uk/Stonechat.html Thank…