Carry Back

I've now got until March 7th to carry the stone back home again. The first decision to be made was how the completed Carry should be dismantled. I've decided to work from the back to the front so that what remains shows how high the pile was for as long as possible. The first picture below shows Carry less than two weeks after I started to carry home.

December 12, 2012

Today is a month later and the pile of stones that I've brought home is starting to look impressive. Until I decide what to build next with this stone, I'm just piling it outside our back door. The weather here today is climate change warm at about 13 C or 55 F, so most of the snow that we've had is gone.

Partially Home - January 12, 2013

One surprise that I've had carrying the stones back home is that at the end of each day when I choose the stone or stones for that trip, I often remember a stone from the trip in. What I'm tending to recognize is the shape of the end that I choose to be at the bottom of the pack since it's best if that is square, and since most stones aren't, what I remember is how off square it is and wondering what discomfort it will produce during the trip.

Another surprise is that the walk home is much more uphill than I had noticed before. There is nothing like carrying about 60 lbs of stone to make you more sensitive to gradients. I've already taken the two largest stones since they were worrying me. I'm not getting any stronger, and carrying them in felt like my absolute limit. I wanted to be sure to carry them home on a day when the footing was good and I felt strong. With those two done, a feel like the remaining ton or so of stone should be no problem.

The Show

The opening for the McMaster Innovation Park Art in the Workplace 10th Exhibit is this Thursday the 29th from 7-9 PM.  One of my jobs as part of the organizing committee has been to help with the installation.  Last weekend, a group of us spent the better part of Sunday getting all of the art onto the walls, stained glass into the windows and sculptures arranged in the sculpture area.  This show includes some really great work, including this sculpture by Jennifer Wilson-Bridgman, which I find breathtaking.

http://www.mcmasterinnovationpark.ca/art_workplace_entries/view/289

If you can make it, come on out to the opening.  The best part is being able to meet all of the artists and to find out what inspires them and how they make their art.  For more information, go to...

http://www.mcmasterinnovationpark.ca/art_workplaces/view/14

All In

My goal was to carry in the curb weight of my car, and this past week, I reached that milestone. Now, I'll take a break from carrying stone for a few weeks until the 29th, and then I'll start to carry it home.

November 8, 2012 - 3,100 lbs

The 29th is the McMaster Innovation Park Art in the Workplace 10th Exhibit opening (7-9 PM). I want the structure complete for the show, and then I'll be a bit pressed to get it all carried home again by early March next year. At least I don't have to worry about finding the stone and cleaning it up now.

The last few loads included a lot of small stone as I tried to fill in the gaps. I also took some time to rearrange some of the stones so that on odd shaped stone that was sticking up is now positioned flush with the top surface. People who work with stone call those odd shaped stones "problem solvers". The idea is that you can use them to fill awkward spots in your structure. While that is a good attitude to have, the truth is that stones that look like they are going to be difficult to work with, usually are.

Where I'm Finding the Stone

I have a lot of stone on my city lot.  Retaining walls ring the lawn, and at the back of the lot, I have walls terracing up to the abandoned lane way.  I had a fair amount of extra stone piled at the very back.

Back Yard Still Intact

However, once I got started collecting and cleaning the spare stone that I have, I realized that I was going to need something more if I wanted to leave all of the walls and steps that I've built over the years intact.  I live at the base of the Niagara Escarpment, and there is lots of stone laying below, but that is public parkland and off limits as far as I'm concerned.

A little less than 2 km from my home, there was a large dump of fill and in that fill, there is a lot of decent stone.  The problem was that it needed to be collected and cleaned before I could carry it to work and add it to my Carry structure.  Since this project is all about carrying stone, I decided that I'd carry the stones that I collect there home, hose and clean them off and then carry them into work.  I chose an area beside my house as a staging area and piled dirty stone there until I could clean it up and move it to another pile of stone ready to be carried into work.

One in the Hand, Two in the Bag
(and a large one in the backpack)

I used that pile as my source for a while, either walking around to it on my way home from work, or making extra trips to gather stone on the weekends.  A few weeks ago, the pile was bull-dozed flat, so the stone that was sitting on top was now buried or pressed into the muddy surface.  Since then, I've been using a similar smaller pile of fill a little closer to home.

Whole Ton Creation

Last month, my wife and I stopped by the You Me Gallery on James St North in Hamilton to check out the Occasional Whirligigs Show. One of the whirligigs was a crown by an artist named Helen Sovereign.  I wondered to Bryce Kanbara who runs the gallery, whether she was inspired by her last name to choose a crown as the basis for her whirligig.  I then wondered what I could do with my last name, and the answer was immediately obvious.  It just took me another couple of weeks to get there.

October 11, 2012 (about 2100 lbs)

Oh, and thanks to Bryce for encouraging me to document this project.  That gave me the push I needed to start this blog.

Method for this Madness

People want to know how I'm carrying the stones.  The first stone was just a little two pounder that I picked up one morning and then didn't put down until I reached the office.  I could carry it easily in one hand without attracting too much attention.  After a few more of those, I decided to carry larger rocks and began using a small Eddie Bauer hand bag.  That was fine until I tried to carry a 35 pound stone (the one shown as "The Beginning" in the first post on this blog).  I needed something more substantial!

I bought a sturdy Mountain Equipment backpack.  With it, I can carry up to 40 lbs for 2k with reasonable comfort.  I still use the handbag, and that allows me to carry another 15 or 20 lbs.  Both bags are standing up remarkably well, and if they make it through this project, I'll give them 5-star reviews.

The handbag also holds my lunch and some gym clothes for daily workouts at our fitness facility.  I've stopped carrying my computer every day since the extra 6 or 7 lbs was not worth the odd time that I actually wanted to fire it up at home.

Density of Limestone

I suppose that I should be weighing all of the stones that I carry but, being an engineer, I'll be using a tape measure and calculator instead. Most of the stone that I'm carrying is limestone, and since I live at the base of the Niagara Escarpment, it is that type of limestone.

The density of limestone apparently varies from 2.1 to 2.7 g/cc. The density of water is 1 g/cc or 62.4 lbs per cubic foot.  Since its easier to think in cubic feet than cc's for something as large as this, we'll go with limestone weighing somewhere between 130 and 170 lbs per cubic foot. The middle of that range is 150 and a nice round number to remember. So, I declare that the average density of the stone that I am using is 150 lbs per cubic foot. I found one mention of the density of Niagara Escarpment Dolomite Limestone at 165 lbs per cubic foot, so I think my value is fair.

The structure that I am assembling has the stones packed fairly closely together, but I'm guessing that there is probably around 10% air space between the stones. The footprint of the structure is 6 feet by 3 feet and the height right now varies between 4 and 12 inches with an average around 7. Therefore, the current total weight of the stone that I've carried to work so far is about 6 x 3 x 7 / 12 x 0.9 x 150 = 1,420 lbs.  The weights that I post from now on will be based on this type of calculation.

September 18, 2012 (1,420 lbs)