Granite is everywhere. It’s the memorials we see at the cemetery. It’s the counters we cook on every night. It’s even the primary stone of Mount Rushmore! Have you ever wondered how this stone gets from the center of the earth to our shop?
Quarrying
The process of extracting granite from the earth is called quarrying. While the popular image of a quarry may involve blasting mountainsides with TNT, the process is slightly more refined. Blasting granite doesn’t work because it would smash the stone into millions of pieces…not great for a counter top.
Instead the granite is cut into pieces that can be removed whole from the quarry. There are two popular cutting methods are drilling deep holes in the granite so it can be broken up or jet piercing. Jet piercing uses a high-powered flame that scores the granite so it can be split and removed from the quarry.
Sawing
Granite is one of the hardest substances in the world making it extremely difficult to cut. Large pieces brought from the quarry need to be cut down to size for memorial markers, counters, or tiles. So what can cut this rock hard material? Diamonds .…
That’s right; a giant circular saw blade with diamonds grains attached to the cutting edge is the only answer for cutting those freshly quarried granite slabs into manageable pieces.
Polishing
Before the granite ends up in our shop, the pieces are given an initial polish (by hand or with an automatic machine) so you can see the color and pattern of the stone. Once you choose your piece of granite it’s polished many times again in our shop to give it that famous shine and finish.
So the next time you see a granite monument or memorial bench, be sure to appreciate the journey that piece of stone has been on!
Sources:
Michigangravestones.com
Adamsgraniteco.com/process