This is what the surface of a stone looks like after it has been (badly) cut by a frigbob. Usually it is roughly smoothed off by a toothed tool called a 'drag'. Maybe another bit of Somerset quaintery.
Frigbobs are very long and - being made of thick steel - very heavy. All you do is push them back and forth across the block and their weight is enough to send them downwards.
Once you get used to it, using a frigbob is not as arduous as it may seem. It is very hard work of course, but - aided by the rhythmical sound of metal against stone and the controlled deep breathing one has to maintain for endurance - you get into a trance-like state which makes it possible to saw for hours without a break. There used to be two 80+ year-old men up in Combe Down who cut stone all day, every day to make a living. They didn't retire, they just died. I am pleased to say that I bought stone from them while they were still at work.
At the Theatre Royal I mentally prepared myself to cut a four-foot high block in one go, reckoning it would take me about an hour. Once the top groove had been cut and the blade was halfway deep, I settled into a rhythm of back and forth, back and forth which never varied from the natural speed set by the length of the saw.
About half an hour in I noticed an American tourist watching intently from the other side of the railings and I prayed that he would not try to talk to me.
He watched silently for about a quarter of an hour, then tried to get my attention by waving his arms and shouting. I ignored him and willed him to shut up or go away, but he did neither. Eventually he shouted so loud and so persistently that I could not pretend I had not heard him anymore. I stopped sawing and looked directly at him.
"Can you keep that up all day?" he bellowed.
"Usually".
It was Tasker who asked.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, so it was. I'll correct it.
DeleteYour line about, "They didn't retire, they just died", created a Python scene in my head of those two men just keeling over in mid "saw". Otherwise, this was an interesting post, teaching me something I knew nothing about. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteThey might have died during work, I don't know.
DeleteThe frigbob is a saw used to cut the stone. Right, I get that. I don't see how the marks on the house relate.
ReplyDeleteSmoke from coal fires stains the stone brown or black. The ridges from the saw cuts cause the rain to wash the staining from the high points as it runs down.
DeleteThat reply is perfect for you Tom!
ReplyDeleteI stopped myself from using bad language.
DeleteThat was interesting, Combe Down is supposed to be honey-combed with mine shafts isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt was, but a friend of mine filled them up with aerated concrete.
DeleteI thought this might be good for wordgames but can find no consensus on whether it's two words, one word or hyphenated.
ReplyDeleteHere's one for you. A zax is a tool for splitting slate. It's a Scrabble high scorer.
DeleteThose damn Americans. Thanks for the great Scrabble word, I shall hopefully get a chance to use it this evening.
ReplyDeleteWhen life hands you zs and xs...
DeleteInteresting! I goggggggggled it and there is a whole article on it at https://taths.org.uk/tools-trades/articles/195-digging-bath-stone-with-saws
ReplyDeleteHowever, 'frigbob' sounds like a very trendy hairstyle. Or one that has gone terribly wrong.
Yes, that's where I got those photos from. It was quicker than driving to my workshop and photographing my own tools. There are a lot of people with frigbob haircuts walking around at the moment.
DeleteThank you for the new word, Tom and thank you for the link, Iris. I love little snippets of information like that. PS: Are you offended by all Americans, Tom? We can be a truly ignorant bunch.
ReplyDeleteNot at all. Do not think that when I describe a tourist as American, it is a derogatory term. It was just a statement of fact. No insults intended.
DeleteAt first I thought you were going to write about fridge magnets.
ReplyDeleteThat's a whole new, interesting subject which I am not qualified to write about.
DeleteAmericans can be right frigbobs, with fribobbing questions. Enough of that, Joanne!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a blessing we Americans had so many acres of forest to desecrate for homes and seldom went after the stuff of hard, hard labor, like the stone underfoot.
We only began to build in cut stone since the Romans were here. I like the idea of living in a maximum two-story wood house.
DeleteWonderful esoteric knowledge an ancient craft...from a not so ancient craftsman!
ReplyDeleteI'm getting there.
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