question about stone

[mrgrouch]

i may bid on a monument to be made with the remains of a demolished hospital (weyburn mental hospital to be exact). bricks and a kind of stone i've never seen before but seems common in canada. they call it "kindle" stone (not sure of the spelling) but it looks like some kind of limestone with hard "veins" or something.

i see it everywhere as masonry, but i know it can be carved as the crest of the hospital shows.

has anybody worked with this type of stone of know anything about it? even the actual name of it would help.

thanks

[Robson Valley]

It may be the limestone found in great deposits in NE Sask, around Deschambault Lake, Jan Lake, up there past Nipawin.

USask buildings are almost all skinned with limestone which was collected in the form of glacial erratics from homestead farm stone piles. It all has a much stronger straw color than what you show. . . could just be the picture.
Even in the 1960's and 1970's, great teams of stone masons bashed away all winter with absolute mountains of limestone, hence the uniform, finished appearance. (B.A, M.A. USASK)
.

[mrgrouch]

thanks robson valley, i looked for construction material of uofs and somewhere in there i found the answer, the stone is called in fact "tyndall stone" (boy was i wrong) because it's quarried near tyndall, manitoba.

cheers

[Robson Valley]

Good. Pleased to be able to contribute.
You have just taught us all what it is and where it comes from.

My comment about USask was very nearly just an afterthought! Despite the warm straw-color tones, they refer to it all as "Greystone."
Looked at the Tyndall stone UofS Crest on the wall of the old Admin bldg = the surrounding stone is the limestone that I was referring to
as the skins of the buildings.

[tobias]

Hey grouch. Go ahead and carve that stuff. Nice and soft. Not as soft as Texas limestone but you can use electro plated blades on it for a really fast carve. Have fun man.
Oh yah I think you should carve it even if you don't get a commission.

[mrgrouch]

have you carved it tobias? are the dolomite veins a nuisance? i think that would be the real challenge, constantly going from soft to hard and back to soft.

i should try and get familiar with the stone before even bidding on the commission to see what i can do with it.

[tobias]

I have carved it. I didn't find the veins to be too much different really. It being limestone I didn't really do much to the surface after carving. I think if you were to try polishing or sanding it you might find issue. Being a hard stone guy I don't see any point in polish or too much surface sanding on soft stones. Just jam some wax or oil on to it and the color comes out just fine.
I alSo really like to show evidence of the process so tool marks are good

[GarryRicketson]

Originally Posted by mrgrouch

have you carved it tobias? are the dolomite veins a nuisance? i think that would be the real challenge, constantly going from soft to hard and back to soft.

i should try and get familiar with the stone before even bidding on the commission to see what i can do with it.

The cantera we use here, has a lot of veins, and they are annoying, the "soft and hard, is difficult, not sure what mineral they are (the veins), but they are hard. When you pass over a vein, since it is hard, one has the tendancy to start "pushing" down, or trying to force the cut, and of course as soon as the vein is cut, the blade sinks down into the softer part, perhaps makeing a cut the is much deeper then you wanted,..I try not to force it, for one, there is less heating ( and sparks do fly when I hit a vein), You should get the "feel" of it pretty easy though.
I can't say much about the stone you are talking about, as I have never worked with it,
but I would agree, it would be wise, if you can , to try some cutting, etc with some small scrap, pieces, before you make a bid,..