If you enjoy working with stone you will find a way, masons spend years honing a skill that you want to bypass with this machine. A sheared cut on a stone will still need to be worked to make it look like stone. This is not a new concept and it works well on splitting concrete products or slab like stone where the cut face is not seen. There is a reason why people in the "masonry and landscaping trades" don't use this tool.

Thank you sooo much for responding, inkognito.

"If you enjoy working with stone you will find a way..."

Whew! Right now the lazy part of me wishes you hadn't issued that challenge...I LOVE stone. LOVE IT. There is something about it that I really connect with. Almost something spiritually. I can't explain it. I guess I have issues. But as for the rest of your answer...

That's kinda what I thought. That's why I asked if it was cheating...I felt like it was, in a way. Just to clarify, I wasn't planning to let the cut face show. I was just going to cut some sides to fit certain rocks in. I love the rough, natural edges of my stones that show.

I'll tell you what, this is A LOT harder than what I thought it would be. I've so very carefully selected the stones and the edges that I want to show...but after more than a month at it I'm just so frustrated.

See, you brought up something that I hadn't even considered...the respect...the history, the concept, integrity, authenticity...I'm know I'm not using the right words here, but that's the gist of of it.

But no, I absolutely don't want to bypass any of it. I wasn't looking at it that way, and I guess that's what was bugging me. I don't want the wall to be anything other than an authentic, beautiful, dry-laid stone wall that I did 100% by myself. So I guess that means it has to be 100% real, and done the hard way, huh?

I've been putting plants in some of the gaps as I go, and it is meant to look rustic and imperfect, but I started getting concerned about what it will look like in winter when the plants are no longer showing.

I'll tell you something else, I have a whole new, PROFOUND respect for those that do this on a regular basis. I think it's worth every dang penny they make and more.

So, am I posting this on the correct forum? I'd like to post some pics of the wall later, but I'd hate to go on and on about it if I'm on the wrong forum!

And again...thank you!

Go ahead post the pictures and do 'go on' about it, enthusiasm is contagious.

Thanks, inkognito! I am enthusiastic about it, can you tell? :)

My husband, I think, is ready to have me taken away...
I guess he's just tired of the huge piles of rocks in the back yard. Or...
He doesn't understand why I'm so consumed with it.(Like I do?). Or...
He's just making jokes. Sometimes he's a funny guy, sometimes he just thinks he is.

I'll take some pics in the next few days of my progress so far. But promise me you'll give me a very honest critique. It's dry-laid...so anything can change, and like I said, I want to do it right. I want it perfectly imperfect. I'm totally open to any suggestions and criticism.
Okay, that should read 'close to obsessive-compulsive' about it. So, yeah, I think I already said I may have issues...

We bought this house 1 1/2 yrs ago, FOR THE LOCATION. The house was okay, but we are in the process of remodeling. We've done a 1000 sq ft addition, and now there seems to be some descrepancy (?) in what the builders did and what the landscapers say they should have done, so I'm dealing with several problems. I take in all I can, then go play with my rocks...

But hey, I could be drinking...right?

Anyway, I'll get the pics posted in the next few days...

Thank you!
Suzie

Man, I just reread all that romantic, history-appreciating BS I wrote yesterday. Yesterday, when it was entirely too hot to be outside lifting heavy rocks.

Well today I WAS out there all day, and all I can say is this:

I AM A WOMAN. I SHOULD BE SHOPPING AND GETTING MANICURES, DANG IT! Okay, now that that's out of my system...

Seriously, when I'm not worn out it all sounds great, but today kicked my butt. Where do I get these lofty ideas???

Tomorrow's another day, I guess...

Suzie

Hello, Suzie-

Hope you got a good night's rest! When I first read this thread, I remembered some material I had saved about dry stone wall construction. You're probably way more familiar with this stuff than me, but I thought you might like it.

When I had found it again, the idea floated into my brain that what might really help and encourage your efforts would be to spend time with an expert. I wonder if that's possible somehow?

I think you should build this wall, but keep it in perspective. You're expecting greatness first time out. If you could find someone to give you pointers and affirmation, I think you'd relax and be more patient with yourself and the process. Again, I'm hoping you stick to it!

Anyway, here are the quotes. I hope they don't mess up the screen like that other timey'all know what I mean if it happens! They come from two sources, but are talking about the same guy, Steven Allen. Their a bit dated.

First quote:
"Cement," asserts dry-stone waller Steven Allen, "is a sin."

AllenÂrecord-setting winner of five Grand Prix walling contests in the past decade, is a superstar among those who have an appreciation for the aesthetic appeal of stone walls in the United States and Britain -- those for whom walling has suddenly become hip.

Allen works full-time as a dry-stone waller. He walls nine hours a day, six days a week, every week of the year. On Sundays, instead of resting, he often returns to the family farm and walls there, too. Allen can safely be described as the best dry-stone waller in Great Britain. By extension, he may well be the best wall-builder in the worldÂ

When Allen builds a wall, all the stones tilt slightly downward, like roof tiles, so that water can drain out of the wall. The pebbles and rock chips placed in the wall's center are packed tightly, giving the structure critical strength. He studies stones carefully, chips them sharply with a hammer and then clicks them into place -- wedging them between their neighbors as tightly and neatly as if he were building with Lego toys.

A dry wall that is distorted and yet still fairly sturdy has reached what Allen calls "old age." Cement walls, on the other hand, do not reach old age. Cement walls do not move. They crack, and then they fall.

Second quote:
"I watched [Steven] Allen work. He'd stand stock-still for a moment and stare at his wall with a calculating look on his face. Then he would swiftly turn around and bend down and select a stone. He'd twist it and jiggle it and flip it over and back, as if fiddling with prayer beads. Then he'd pick up his hammer, hold the stone to his thigh, and chip off pieces with a few sharp taps. One of the qualities that sets Allen apart from other wallers is his feel for the hidden seams snaking through a rock. He can't quite explain how he knows where it will break; he just KNOWS. When Allen hit a rock, it invariably fractured along a plane as smooth as a sail. He'd flip the rock one or two more times, perhaps tap it again with his hammer and then place it on the wall with a pat from his palm. ...

As Allen spoke, we passed through the city of Huddersfield. The stone walls suddenly ended, and everything turned to brick. After staring at stone walls all day, I found that the brick seemed garish and artificial, like a cheap toy. I was reminded of one of Allen's sayings: "Everything is more or less in wall-building," meaning that no matter how neat a wall appears, each stone is still in some small way slightly imperfect. I repeated his aphorism out loud.

Allen glanced at me and looked out the windshield and understood what I'd been thinking. "Laying bricks," he said, "is the most boring thing I can imagine."
-Michael Finkel, "Someone There Is Who Loves a Wall," The Atlantic Monthly,
May 2000, 115-16.

"I'll tell you something else, I have a whole new, PROFOUND respect for those that do this on a regular basis. I think it's worth every dang penny they make and more."

It's not rocket science, but it is hard hard work, most of it from just the lifting the stone and moving it around, and I agree worth every penny the professionals make. My DH and I laid a stone patio ourselves a couple of years ago. It took 8 months of weekends, working diligently every weekend, and I will never do that again. My arms were really buff for awhile though.

Spazzycat...How funny. I wasn't going to mention it here, but yeah, I do appreciate the results I've seen from my workouts! :) Not to mention how much stronger I feel!

Wellspring, thanks SO MUCH for the Steve Allen info and story! I'll have to look him up. I'm actually kinda suprised I haven't run across that name, because I've done a lot of web research, and I've bought a lot of books. Man I'd LOVE to meet him. (I wouldn't mind him helping me break the rocks, either.)

And I completely get it, because my husband will sometimes walk by and say "Staring at your rocks again?" And please, it probably sounds like he's a lazy jerk who won't help me. HE DOES. He picked up the first pallet of rocks, unloaded them, and lifts anything I can't lift. I just have certain ideas in mind and want to do this myself. It's really important to me to do it the way the books describe, but he'd just throw a bunch of rocks there and call it done.

Truly, the only part of it that's hard is cutting or breaking the rocks. And after yesterday I find myself thinking about the Stoneshear machine again...but last night I ordered about $200 worth of books. I haven't been able to find the David Reed books here, so I ordered his two, plus several more. And one older book on stonemasonry.

Also, wellspring, I'd love to take a course or spend time with an expert! I was so excited when I saw that stonefoundation.org does a symposium every year, but this year it's in Spain. I'm in Missouri...

And about the affirmation! Dh came home from work and several people who'd seen it the past weekend mentioned to him how good it was looking, and that he should be patient because I was doing it right, etc. Boy it felt good to hear that!

But don't worry, I will stick with it. It's still exciting and rewarding and fulfilling...I just hate getting stuck. So I'm waiting patiently for my books...

Thanks so much for your input. I do appreciate it!