The Block has Landed

A couple of weeks ago I told you about my visit to Eskdale Quarry to select a block of stone - today it arrived and has been set down outside my work shed.  The block weighs about three and a half tonnes and came on a waggon which only just fit through the gate. 

I have never seen a vehicle like it, the bed, which was a large metal sheet with headboard, came off the back, lifted and pushed by a large hiab arrangement on the front of the lorry, then once flat on the ground the crane lifted one end and the stone slid off.  It ended up a little lop-sided, but I can live with that,  (I had visions of it rolling off at speed, through the fence and bouncing down the valley!) and certainly there is nothing I can do to level it now!  I was so absorbed by the spectacle I didn't get a picture to show you all.  It was an impressive sight.

This stone is for a compass design, which will be carved into the top.  I'll keep you updated on progress.

You will see on the block the lovely iron-ore colouring, which unfortunately has got a bit scraped by heavy handling at the quarry, and also the drill holes where the plugs and feathers went to prise the stone block from the quarry face.  Alternatively, these drill holes are filled with dynamite which blasts the block free!