Customer Reviews

Building with Stone

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an excellent first book for those who want to learn about building with stone as an old-world craftsman, rather than a money-hungry contractor or assembly-line modern mason. Charles McRaven does not fill his book with theory, but with practical methods and ideas which are true to proper masonry techniques but allow even the most novice to begin to lay stone right away. The anecdotal style of this book makes it an easy read, and inspires confidence to pick up that trowel for the first time!

This book seems to have a bit of everything that has to do with traditional stone masonry. It shows how to build different types of buildings and objects. Pictures are only in Black and White. If your looking for a full colour glossy paged book on stone architecture this is not for you.

This book was better than I expected. I was hoping for color photographs, but it has B&W only. Doesn't get into a lot of details, but covers quite a few topics on the subject of stone masonry. I agree with previous review. Would have been great if the section on Mortaring Stone could have been more detailed. All in all, a good starting book to refer to.

An excellent introduction for anyone who is interested in learning more about stone work and masonry.

I enjoyed the book for the breadth of coverage, and for the anecdotal stories. It is one thing to be told safety tips and procedures, but the lesson is much more effective with a good story. I had hoped for a more comprehensive discussion of the tools used, how to use them, and how to shape the stone. However, lack of this does not detract from the usefulness of the book. The closest I have come to stonework was moving stones around for landscaping, but now if I were armed with a set of stonework tools, I would be tempted to try something more complex.

Chuck will keep you smiling as your read his books. They contain plenty of humorous stories while they display the stone arts. There are better guides but you should read as many as possible: you'll need it.

Stone work is the hardest task you'll probably ever do in your life. If your project is big, it seems to never end and you'll doubt you'll ever finish. One rock can take 2 hours to lay whereas if all goes well, you can lay 5 in an hour. So, if you are interested in stone work, I'd advise to start small on the first few projects. This book is a good guide to helping you along the way.

This book is informative with good use of photos, which I expect in a book of this type. What else you get, is a really well written and entertaining book as well.

The author is humorous and also a blacksmith among other things. He talks about doing things in the old ways with the help of modern contraptions where they will actually help.

If you are interested in American History or primitive skills (not to mention building with stone) you should read this. It may even help make you a better person.

As a stone mason in the making this was a good book to read. Even if you have no present project that you have under hand, it may either get you to start one or just inform about an art that however pushed to the background by modern building practices is still very much alive.

I bought this as a gift for a friend and he seemed to enjoy it. This book is difficult to find, and Amazon.com came thru with the goods.

My husband is really enjoying this book. He has plans for building a variety of things with natural stone, and this book has lots of practical advice.