Cutting granite with an angle grinder

Every once in a while I will carve a sculpture for another sculptor. This Saturday I started sawing a hefty block of granite for a tombstone. Because it's not my own design I will not say too much about it, but I can write something about the process.

I started with a rectangular block of granite. When you need to cut away large pieces of stone with a angle grinder, it will be easiest to cut a number of parallel lines, as deep as the blade can get. Then, if you hit it with a lump hammer (club hammer, as they're also called) and give a number of blows next to each other on the side of the pre-cut strip, while moving back and forth over the entire length of the strip , it's possible to loosen a whole strip’ at a time. In the picture above you can see it well.

I prefer to cut granite with water added, it helps against dust and overheating. The large pieces I just cut with an ordinary diamond blade , because it doesn't splash as much. Finally, I will cut the faces flush with a special flat blade, and that saves a lot of work during carving later on. Otherwise I would have ended up with a huge rough surface, that I would have had to carve flat with an (air) hammer and chisel.

Today I made some good progress, by mid-day, the volumes were already becoming clear.

Nasty the next post about this project.