" Granite is dressed," states " Builders' Work and the Building Trades," " by means of heavy picks and axes, after having been roughly shaped with'thescabblinghammer. Mouldings.rebates,etc.,are cut by means of iron chisels, steeled at the cutting edges and used with a small hand hammer, called a mash hammer (Fig. 1). Granite, grit, and other hard stones, built into walls with their faces merely scabbled, are said to be quarry-pitched, hammer-faced, or hammer-blocked. Such work is called rock or rustic work, and is mostly confined to foundations, plinths, and quoins, where a bold massive appearance is aimed at. The following are the different kinds of work put on granite in Aberdeen; other hard stones are dressed in a somewhat similar manner. Hammer-faced, hammer-dressed, or hammer-blocked work is done with the scabbling or spalling hammer. Tims squared -tones for the quoins or face of a wall, merely left rough from the hammer., would be termed hammer-faced ashlars; the term ashlar in such a case being taken to mean square blocks 12in. deep on fact- and upwards, squared stones under I2in. deep being called shoddies. Scabbled or roughlypi with a pick, such as in Fig. 2, sometimes called a scabbling pick, and weighing about 201b., which takes down the excesive irregularities on hammer-faced work. Punched or puncheoned, or worked to a finer face with a blunt pick (Fig. 3) called a punch or puncheon. Picked, or brought to a finer face with the pick shown in Fig. 2. Close or finely picked, dabbed ordaubbed,donewi1 ha fine-pointed pick, or with a serrated pick, as in Fig. !, leaving a surface as smooth as the process will admit of. It i -usual to run a, draught, or smooth surface, 1 in. or more in breadth, round the margins of squared even when dressed only with the hammer or pick, in order to ensure close-fitting joints. The stones are then said to be hammer-faced or, as the case may be, with draughted margins. These margins are wrought with the axe as in single and fine axing. In single axed work the inequalities left by the pick are reduced by an axe weighing about 9lh. (Fig. 5). Axed work shows the mark of the tool in parallel lines, and is used in quoins,rebates cornices, etc. Fine axed is a more careful description of single-axed work. Patent axed is the finest description of surface-work before polishing, and is produced with a hammer or axe the faces of which are formed of a number of parallel thin steel blades bound together, so as to allow of their being taken out and re-sharpened (Fig. 6). Polished work is performed by rubbing, first with fine sand and water under an iron rubber, then with emery, and lastly with putty and flannel. All plain surfaces and running mouldings can be done by machinery, but carvings and broken surfaces have to be done by hand. Hard stones, such as granite, show off to best advantage when polished; but if such a high finish is considered too costly, it is better not to waste money on too fine a face, which only destroys the beauty of the grain, and produces a flat, monotonous surface." In the accompanying illustrations Fig. 1 is a mash hammer; Fig. 2, scabbling pick; Fig. 3, punch; Fig. 4, serrated pick; Fig. 5, axe for single-axed work; Fig. 6, axe for patent-axed work.

Tools for Dressing Granite.