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Quarrying of
the Solnhofen Natural Stone
The Solnhofer
Natural Stone was already won in roman times. In a great
number of excavations, wall and floor-pavements were found
in roman buildings, for example in the Weissenburg Therme. At that time as now, this natural stone is only won by hand.
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Quarrying the
Solnhofen Natural Stone, Fotos
from 1960 |
After
uncovering the suitable layers, bigger plate-pieces are
ushered out by lever and pointed-chop. Then, the packet is
split into single plates layer by layer. The experienced
quarrymen separate the plates suitable for further process
with high quantity of lime from the useless ones which
include clay. Afterwards, every single plate is examined for
hidden cracks by beating it with a small hammer. A EealthyE
plate has a high, pure tone. Useless material is brought to
the slag heap. Only about 20- 25% of the dismantled stone
pass the strict quality control of the quarry master. Still
in the quarry, the plates are reduced to normalized measures
with special hammers and scales. These rawly asserted plates
then come to the sawry and grindery, where they are
ennobled to a high-quality natural stone.
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