Database of Roman Purbeck limestone: tools

Stoneworking tools

- name Norden industrial site
- cat tool
- site Norden, Corfe Castle
- source Thomas C in Sunter and Woodward 1987 p.37ff
- desc Saw-grooves 3-5mm wide. Compare Cunliffe's finds, and experiments with a copper wire saw, at Fishbourne (1963a, 1971), Pliny Nat Hist 36 ix, and Meiggs R 1960, Roman Ostia where saws had iron blades but no teeth, as also in Purchase WR 1904, p.4-6 and fig 25. All cuts at Norden are straight, indicating flat rather than wire blades.
- desc Purchase p.6: ``saw plate ... of iron, abt 4in wide by 1/10in thick ... a bushel of sand will cut about 12ft super of Portland stone ... the ... stone ... cut by the attrition of the sawplate with the sand and water. A good sawyer can cut by hand from 15 to 20 ft super of Portland stone in one day of 10 hours. [On large jobs] steam sawframes are used, in which if necessary from 1 to 20 cuts may be put in one block at the same time.'' Pressure of saw on stone about 8-10lb (adjusted by a counterweight attached by a rope over a pulley)
- comment Pliny's Latin says nothing about multiple blades.
- name Brown's Norden Rubbers
- site Norden, Corfe Castle
- source Thomas C in Sunter and Woodward 1987 p.37ff
- publ microfiche M7 nos.19,20 in Sunter and Woodward 1987 p.37ff
- desc Rubbers: 2 roughly cylindrical stones with rounded ends, one of fine-grained limestone and one of tufaceous burrstone
- comment also described in Portable section
- name Fishbourne Palace
- site Fishbourne, near Chichester, W Sussex
- publ Cunliffe 1962 p.18
- publ Cunliffe 1971
- desc (a) Rubbers of sandstone
- desc (b) Sawing: Part-sawn blocks with parallel cuts were found, suggesting use of a multiple-bladed saw. Also much sand, probably used in cutting stone as described by Pliny. See also Norden industrial site.
- cat tool
- site various
- publ Blagg TFC 1976
- desc Illustrations of hand tools; some ancient, some are of modern examples of types of tool the marks of which have been found on ancient masonry. ``The minute scratches which [finishing tools] leave can usually only be seen on the harder stone, such as PM, on which very fine scratches can sometimes be observed, possibly from a sandstone rubber if not from a rasp''
- cat tool
- site various
- publ Blagg TFC 2002 chapter 2
- desc Good discussion of tools available to Romano-British stonemasons, with illustrations of hand tools and of two possible set-ups for a heavy lathe for turning columns. Similar lathe described from modern Malta.
- site various
- publ Bidwell 1979 p.139
- desc Discussion of finishing and jointing techniques
- site various
- publ Bidwell 1979 p.143
- desc Further discussion of jointing techniques
- cat tool
- site Vindolanda
- publ Bowman and Thomas 1987
- desc Wagon transport of stone, ``The writer of one incomplete letter is preoccupied with the transport of stone by waggon on a fairly large scale, perhaps for use in the construction of a bath-house or installations on the Stanegate frontier. Inv. no. 85/183''