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Home > Search > Site Map > Cemetery Stones & Monuments > From Quarry to Cemetery Monuments > Stone Mills, Sheds, Shops & Works > Tools & Equipment Used in Stone Shops & Mills

From Quarry to Cemetery Monuments

Tools & Equipment Used in the Stone Shops & Mills (saws, hand tools, etc.)

(Also see: the “Quarry and Workship Equipment” & Stone Carver “Tools and Equipment” sections of our web site.)

In the sawing mill (from “In the Marble Hills,” Century Magazine, 1890)

In the sawing mill
(from “In the Marble Hills,”
Century Magazine, 1890)

Gang saw in Gantt's Quarry marble mill (ca 1916) One of a battery of one hundred gang-saws (from The Story of Georgia Marble) Granite Gangsaws Operating in a Madera County, California, Mill (postcard photo)

Gang saw in Gantt's Quarry
marble mill (ca 1916)

One of a battery of one hundred gang-saws (from The Story of Georgia Marble)

Granite Gangsaws Operating in a Madera County, California, Mill (postcard photo)

Lathe turning marble column in marble mill at Gantt’s Quarry (Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, 1916)

Lathe turning marble column in marble mill at Gantt’s Quarry (Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, 1916)

Showing cream-white fluted column segments on finishing tables. Gantt’s Quarry (Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, 1916)

Showing cream-white fluted column segments on finishing tables. Gantt’s Quarry (Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, 1916)


Circular cut saw in use at the Butler Marble & Granite Company’s Works, Marietta, Georgia (from Preliminary Report on the Marbles of Georgia, 1907)

Circular cut saw in use at the Butler Marble & Granite Company’s Works, Marietta, Georgia (from Preliminary Report on the Marbles of Georgia, 1907)

Grooves & Beveled edges are cut by carborundum wheels, (2) Urns, vases, small columns, balustrades, are turned on lathes (from The Story of Georgia Marble)

Grooves & Beveled edges are cut by carborundum wheels, (2) Urns, vases, small columns, balustrades, are turned on lathes (from The Story of Georgia Marble)


Stone-sawing machine. Bly Bros. Stone Company, Los Angeles (from The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, 1906)

Stone-sawing machine. Bly Bros. Stone Company, Los Angeles (from The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, 1906)

Column on lathe at the Settlment Quarry, Deer Isle, Maine (postcard photo)

Column on lathe at the Settlment Quarry, Deer Isle, Maine (postcard photo)


Gang saw cutting blocks of limestone into slabs“The Hand of the Architect controls from afar the gang saws that cut the slabs into rough strips according to his specifications. Some wide, some narrow, each is already marked for its place in a skyscraper’s wall.” (“Limestone: A Portfolio Depicting the labors of the Indiana Limestone Co. in Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana,” by Margaret Bourke-White, Fortune Magazine, 1931)

A Diamond-Toothed Rotor receiving piles of slabs from the gang saws, cross-cuts them into handier sizes..."“A Diamond-Toothed Rotor receiving piles of slabs from the gang saws, cross-cuts them into handier sizes, gives them a perfect finish for the walls of American cities at 700 revolutions per minute.” (“Limestone A Portfolio Depicting the labors of the Indiana Limestone Co. in Lawrence and Monroe counties, Indiana,” by Margaret Bourke-White, Fortune Magazine, 1931)


Large diamond-toothed saw being used in a marble shop (postcard photo)

Large diamond-toothed saw being used in a marble shop
(postcard photo)
Sanding a slab of stone ( (from the Cape Ann Quarries, Harpers New Monthly Magazine, 1884)

Sanding a slab of stone (from the Cape Ann Quarries, Harpers New Monthly Magazine, 1884)

The polishing bed (from “In the Marble Hills,” Century Magazine, 1890

The polishing bed (from “In the Marble Hills,” Century Magazine, 1890

Rubbing beds where preliminary smoothing is done (from The Story of Georgia Marble)

Rubbing beds where preliminary smoothing is done (from The Story of Georgia Marble)


Machine surfacing granite at Bly Bros.’ Stone Yards, Los Angeles (from The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, 1908)

Machine surfacing granite at Bly Bros.’ Stone Yards, Los Angeles (from The Structural and Industrial Materials of California, Bulletin No. 38, 1908)

Rubbing bed in Vermont Marble Co. Mill (postcard photo)

Rubbing bed in Vermont Marble Co. Mill (postcard photo)


Worker working on block of stone (postcard photo; early 1900’s)

Worker working on block of stone (postcard photo; early 1900’s)

Stone Carver at the Vermont Marble Co. Mill (postcard photo)

Stone Carver at the Vermont Marble Co. Mill (postcard photo)

(1) Sand-blasting cuts the cost of incised carving, (2) A skilled sculptor with air-chisel follows his plaster model (from The Story of Georgia Marble)

(1) Sand-blasting cuts the cost of incised carving, (2) A skilled sculptor with air-chisel follows his plaster model (from The Story of Georgia Marble)


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