George Kramer wrote:

> (I know of some restoration contractors that won't use electric
> tools...period...because "restoration" to them is partially a process of
> construction in addition to the final product itself.  I always wonder how
> they find clients willing to pay for them to bucksaw wood....)

George,

Can you name names? I'm collecting contact informaton related to interviewing
preservation craftspeople for a set of articles on the "state of the trades"
planned for Traditional Building in '99. Contact information would be valuable
for the Preservation Trades Network as well. One mission of the PTN is to give
the preservation trades a voice.

My carpenter friend got a project doing some brownstone restoration and had the
idea we would quarry, by hand, the stone out of the side of a hill nearby to
the site. A wealthy neighborhood. The owner of the site, an active hiker, told
us he had permission to quarry the stone, which was on public land, but it
turned out that he did not. I think his real motivation was he did not want to
pay for salvaged stone and figured we could quarry it out of the ground for
cheap. We spent a day pulling out really poor quality chunks of loose
brownstone and came to nothing of use, mostly junk stone. Fun day in the
woodsie shade digging, drilling by hand, and using the plug 'n feathers. We
were working up the hill behind another house and the owner was quite upset at
our actions... seems it was their jogging and nature trail. The following week
the customer would not return our phone calls. Then Black Monday hit and they
had no money to continue the project. We never did get paid, but I got a free
hotdog lunch out of my carpenter friend.
--
][<en Follett
SOS Gab & Eti -- http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/5836