[dan deutekom]

Old tire.

Have you ever seen those suction lift devices for picking up slabs of polished stone? They are really cool.

[Will Pacala]

There great if you do counter-tops or windows and mirrors. Yeah too bad they don't work on other stones. It would be great to be able to lift a stone from the top instead of forks or straps or even wires. OK, who wants a winter project. Design one for us. Come on who's up for it!!!! Ah forget it, just kidding!!

They would work better if you could mount them on pallet forks on a skid-steer or something. I think I remwmber seeing something like that. I'll have to check!

[Will Pacala]

Here's one that should work nicely for what we would do! Check this out. Sells for around 2-4 thousand$$$$$$$ It's still a cool toy to have.

[Will Pacala]

While I was looking for this picture I came across this. This is where I found that pic too. The site has everything you need for stone type stuff. Or hardscape work. Check the site out. They have the neat and rare stuff that is harder to find. Ro at least you can't find it by me!!!

http://www.contractorstool.com

Great stuff here.

By the way does anyone do countertops here?? That's really what that tool is meant for.

[dan deutekom]

Actually the one I saw was on a large commercial construction site and it was hooked up onto a fork lift. They were picking up 6' x 6' x 6" cut granite "pavers" for use over the parking garage. The suction was supplied by a vacuum pump that looked like it was run by 16HP gas engine. The surface of these "pavers" wasn't all that smooth but it seemed to work quite well.

[site]

We do a lot of granite steps, and when we use straps we use the same style and methods as jwholden. Mostly we try to move the steps without the straps though. Whenever possible we use the skid steer forks. I think it's a lot safer. I'm talking about steps 4' x 7" x 13" they weigh about 300lbs each. With some creativity we almost always avoid straps.
One thing to watch out for is chipping the stone when prying to remove the straps. We pry against wood shims. We set the strapped stone down on 4" x 4" bunks and remove the strap. Next we use a rock bar to pry out the bunks and replace them on two corners with 3/4" plywood. Lastly we use a carpenters 14" prybar to lower the stone to it's resting place. If we are successful we have 10 pink fingernails, and a chip free step.

[jwholden]

Site,

Those granite steps are exactly the same size as my supplier has (though this could be a common size).

Have you ever heard of Swenson Granite?

[dan deutekom]

We get granite steps in that size as well as 5' and 6'. These home made clamps work excellent on them.

[Will Pacala]

I do some granite steps but not too many. It's usually a more rough and natural looking stone around here. Although I have seen both granite steps and those suction machines being used here as well. We don't do enough steps like that to actually go out and buy that suction lift.

[site]

jwholden,
We buy our steps from Swenson. They have a quarry in Concord, NH- about 50 miles away. I learned some of my tricks by watching their drivers work the boom truck setting big steps- 7' x 4' x 7" and sometimes bigger. Those guys are good.

[jwholden]

The manager in Newtown is a second generation mason. I don't hesitate to ask questions over there.

I absolutely love that place. The granite is clean and needs to weather but what a selection. I special ordered the steps for my current project with a cushion edge. It gives it a more antiqued look.

[Will Pacala]

Waht color are those steps again? One local ompany has certain stones that are granite weighing in at over 4 and a half tons for the largest one. The smaller ones look beutiful when used as steps. Has anyone ever really used them as a walkway. the smaller pieces work like this. A friend told me this but I'm not too sure how well it would really work. This local company also has a bunch of boulders that are actually hardened lava. It's called (of course) lava rock. The odd thing is that a large boulder that you could hardly fit your arms around weighs only about 1oo-120 pounds. It's filled with cavaties of air therefore it's so lightweight. Has anyone ever used this type of stone as an accent boulder or is this something that isn't really found much out your way?