I'm surrounded by them daily.

​@somehillyvuiygoodHow is that the hardest part?

Nice one! I love a bit of that Derbyshire gritstone. It usually works quite well with the hammer. No need to go fast if you're just doing you own job , enjoy the process!

Thanks for your comment and wise words. None of us know it all. Doing a trade is a lifelong learning journey . Hopefully these videos get people interested in the craft and they will find as much enjoyment in stonework as I do.

It’s a line, not a string 😁 SUNY Delhi masonry construction 1983.

Silly question but if you wanted to build a house made out of stone what trade is that, bricklayer, stonemason or both? Could someone please break down the difference between a bricklayer and stone Mason and what both do.

Best tip I ever got...Just stay on task

​@@FgttgfdI took a Masonry Vocational and we actually did both bricks for walls and rocks for fireplaces and entryways

Cheers! If there's anything you'd like to hear about in particular let me know and I'll see if I can cover it in a video at some point. Cheers for watching! 👍

cheers for watching!

Yeah its amazing when you see those walls going up massive slopes in Wales and up in the Lakes. I'll do a video at some point showing the technique of walling uphill. Hard to get your head around at first. Hard graft for sure. 🪨🪨

@@drystone-tv Thanks so much for the bloody real instructionals, Bert & Lydia! I've learned so much and really enjoy the relaxed pace of your lessons. It's a privilege to learn from your dad as well. I loved seeing the three of you all working on the same wall in another of your videos. That was really moving. Also, it would be great to see an uphill walling video. I can't find anything about it online, only on retaining walls, so you'd get all the amateur waller traffic. Cheers and many thanks from Nova Scotia!

Haha! Finally some recognition

Yes exactly. Lots of houses in the world are built with solid stone walls and a lime/earth mortar.

These slabs are perfect for walling for sure but irregular stuff is great to wall too! Just a different mindset but the same rules apply; length in, follow the internal shapes, stones meet in height at the joints. The difference is you don't need to lay them in level courses you can go a bit wavy to account for the shapiness!

@@drystone-tv you’re right, I think the waviness is what I like about the irregular stones. Your work is awesome!

Yep absolutely.

thanks for watching!

Yeah thats a good idea for a video! I'd recommended getting something like an estwing brick hammer for a start they're about £35 so reasonably affordable.

Coming soon, just on holiday at the mo.

If you can get a fast waller you might be able to afford your wall! lots of productive wallers in the UK.

Thanks!

That is certainly an ambitious build and I've done a dome before so could do a video on it to explain the process!

Bleeeedy real job 😋❤️‍🔥🤙

What you do is cut a trench that is like a set of steps into the hillside and lay the foundation up that. If i get the opportunity on a wall like that I'll do a video.

It depends where you are located but I started professionally in 2014 and have never been short of work. I mainly work in gardens for private clients or landscapers. Occasionally I will work for a farmer but where I am there is not that much Farm walling. In the national parks there are grants for the field walls so there is much more work available.

@@drystone-tv cheers thats good info. I'm Leeds based and happy to travel for bigger jobs if they're in nice places. I look into the national park side of jobs . What's the kind of rate people tend to charge ? I've seen it anywhere upto 200 for a metre squared (both sides)

@nickyraimouth hmm, that's a very difficult question to answer as it depends on a few factors. Namely, what quality are you building the wall at and how wallable is the stone you are using. I would say that £200 a meter is expensive because you should be aiming to build 2 meters a day at a minimum. If you're just starting you might not hit that target but that's what you should aim for. For my top quality work I charge £120/130 a meter. I have worked up in the dales for £40 a meter but because of the situation I was able to put up 6 meters.

@@nickyraimouth just make sure to always charge extra for prep work and tidying up .

@@drystone-tv cheers thats given me a bit more of a guide line to have a think about . Would you ever need an occasional labourer? I'm planning on doing the lantra course in Derbyshire whenever the next one is but been thinking would be good to work with someone every now and again that's doing it for a living to pick up some tricks

it's a Riley 4lb Northern Walling Hammer

@@drystone-tv thanks and great video.

Hi , this is sandstone- a great building material. I wouldn't recommend solely dry stone for any kind of dwelling , however a Dry stone cladding can look really cool! The problem is that with this technique you don't have any thermal or moisture barrier so it would make a very cold and damp house !

Yeah ill do that! I think I'll have time in September to do some more videos

I'll do my best! I've just got a timelapse camera so hopefully that will help.

There are over 160,000 miles of dry stone wall in the UK nearly all of which are built directly on subsoil and over 150 years old.

All geological stone types can be used. Generally speaking most dry stone walls are built with what Quarrys call 'overburden' This is the rougher material that is found just under the surface and can't be used for much else.

Yes absolutely, you'll need to go below the frostline if you're building for a house or something. Frost heave does affect dry stone walls which is why most of the original new England dry stone walls are totally collapsed

This is a Riley 4lb northern style walling hammer

Cheers!

I agree, this example is built on hard-core.

That is a good observation! Where I live we don't get frost heave. We get a couple of shallow frosts every winter of about 6" but nothing to seriously effect the walls. Where there is a problem with frost it's a good idea to dig down and put some gravel down. Whatever the local builders recommend really! 👌

This is stone from a private quarry on an estate in South Yorkshire. It's great stuff but it's all really big stuff. That Alston stuff is awesome just a bit too far to transport it down here

@@drystone-tv thanks Good video spot on, I've been dry stone waller for 30 years I'm in scotland

The rule you have to abide by in walling is length-in. But this applies differently to different sized stones. These stones are all touching back to back and therefore couldn't be more length in.

I've filmed the first half of part two. It's going to be a long video with lots of information so it's taking a bit of putting together. Should be up later this month. Cheers!

@@drystone-tv looking forward to it 😊

Aye, I've a wall to do in Derbyshire for my cousin that would be a good demo in limestone.

@@drystone-tv good stuff. will look out for it. cheers

Aye, if you're in an area with a severe frost cycle you'll need to mitigate that. You could dig a trench and fill it with compacted gravel up to the frost line. Where I live its rare to get more than 6" of frost so it doesn't affect the walls really.

It is, I'm just showing how to lay the stones. I'm building on a compacted stone base here and didn't fancy digging it up!

@@drystone-tv I’d be curious to see how you do those.

ukposts.info/have/v-deo/rmlkimuQo36IzHk.html

yeah, with this type of stone that's the general idea. when you have irregular stone you just need to be at the same height where the stones meet.

So unless a stone is square it will have a long side and a short side. The idea is that you place the stone so the long side is going into the wall rather than along the face. It's the opposite to brickwork where you use the longest face of the brick on the outside .

Areas around Huddersfield. We do travel further for certain projects ✌️

Aye, this is a heavy Gritstone.

I always use a hammer with newly quarried stone. I've done plenty of walling without any tools and if you're re-walling old stone it's a doddle to put em up without a hammer. In this case I wouldn't get it anywhere near as tight internally without a hammer. Each to their own I suppose. I'm near Huddersfield so not far away !