Book Description
Readers will learn to collect and handle stone while creating walls, stairs, pools, and even waterfalls.


From the Back Cover
Discover the lasting satisfaction of working with stone and learn the tricks of the trade from a master craftsman. No building material rivals stone for beauty, permanence, and enduring popularity. Builder Charles McRaven offers the benefits of his fifty years of stonework experience in Stonework, a book that will inform, entertain, and inspire anyone using or working with stone. McRaven helps even first-time builders comprehend the intricacies of working with different stone types; choosing the most suitable stone; handling, cutting, and shaping stone; working with recycled stone; and using stone inside the home. Stonework presents complete, fully illustrated instructions for: * Using stone for gardens, paths, pools, and waterfalls * Building walls, from simple to serpentine * Making gateways, pillars, and doorways * Using large stones as wall and landscape accents * Installing stone steps for porches and entries * Creating retaining walls * Building bridges and walkways


About the Author
Charles McRaven is a stonemason and blacksmith who is nationally known for building and repairing dozens of stone structures, log homes and post-and-beam buildings since 1946. He has restored water-powered mills, covered bridges, hewn log houses, and stone and timber-frame projects within the United States. He has written several books on the subject of stone, including Storey's Building With Stone and Stonework, and has also written Building the Hewn Log House and Country Blacksmithing. Charles's articles have appeared in Country Journal, Fine Homebuilding, and many regional magazines. He lectures and conducts workshops through art, history and architecture departments of colleges and universities, as well as teaching private courses in log and stone construction and blacksmithing. He is a consultant to many organizations including Time-Life Books, National Geographic Society Books, Drury College, and Arkansas Folk Center, to name just a few. Charles lives in Free Union, Virginia.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Discover the lasting satisfaction of working with stone and learn the tricks of the trade from a master craftsman. No building material rivals stone for beauty, permanence, and enduring popularity. Builder Charles McRaven offers the benefits of his fifty years of stonework experience in Stonework, a book that will inform, entertain, and inspire anyone using or working with stone. McRaven helps even first-time builders comprehend the intricacies of working with different stone types; choosing the most suitable stone; handling, cutting, and shaping stone; working with recycled stone; and using stone inside the home. Stonework presents complete, fully illustrated instructions for: * Using stone for gardens, paths, pools, and waterfalls * Building walls, from simple to serpentine * Making gateways, pillars, and doorways * Using large stones as wall and landscape accents * Installing stone steps for porches and entries * Creating retaining walls * Building bridges and walkways

SYNOPSIS

Readers will learn to collect and handle stone while creating walls, stairs, pools, and even waterfalls.