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How a Stone Quarry Cuts Perfectly Rectangular Blocks Using a Ride-able Machine

As industrial designers, most of us are keenly aware of how plastic, metal, wood and glass are manipulated into objects. But stone is a lesser-used and more mysterious material; how exactly does a quarry turn what’s in the earth into a slab, and turn that slab into rectangular blocks?

In this video shot at a stone quarry in Malta, we see that it requires first surfacing the top of the slab and then performing a series of “rip cuts” (we don’t get to see these two steps), then setting up a dolly track perpendicular to the initial cuts, something like the track of a tracksaw. Then a ride-able machine goes along the track making two cuts at once, while a trailing splitter separates the blocks and helps a second worker set them vertically:

More Examples of How to Work Stone:

How to Hand Drill Holes in Stone and Concrete

How to Quickly Carve Stone Using Cheap Tools

Ben Uyeda’s DIY Stone Bench

CNC Wire Machines Can Cut Stone Into Crazy Shapes