Saturday, December 13, 2014

Granite and Limestone


This is a section of Toronto mason Gus Butterfield's dry stone work up near Alliston Ontario. You can see his masonry skill permeating the look of the wall. Masons can make great wallers. Their stones are generally more close fitting at the surface of the wall. Being so exacting can take a lot of time and is probably the reason not many masons turn to walling. 

The occasional large split granite rock mixed in with the shaped and well fitted limestone material gives this wall an artistic feel. Granite and limestone can be found together in the lime mortared stonework of many of the foundations of older houses in this area of Ontario. I don't think that the masons back then did it to be 'arty'. They were just using the field stones they collected off the property.