The Gnomic School of

 Underground engineering

Welcome to the Most Reputable and Respectable School of Underground Engineering and Stone Carving.

Thank you for subscribing to the correspondence course in hard stone cutting, incorporating granite carving for beginners and the lesser arts of claw work, we are sure that you will not regret the thirteen groats you have paid for this most enlightening course of study.

Lesson the first.

My old father used to say, the only way to start in stonemasonry is to learn the arts of moving heavy objects with skill and precision. Obviously he meant large pieces of stone (although the methods you will learn could just as easily be applied to metal or timber) and I am happy to pass on his knowledge with fortitude.

1: Levers: These are a key element and crucial, especially where lumps (technical term for large pieces of uncut or unfinished stone) of three or four times the weight of the individual mason need to be moved.

2: Rollers: more useful for squared off blocks of stone that need to be moved relatively long distances over smooth ground.

3: Stone sledge: not a sledge made of stone, as one silly first year wag suggested, but heavy wooden sledges used to move lumps (see above) across rough or broken ground. Generally pulled by a team of small donkeys or dwarf mules.

More to follow ...

Falderth XIVth, Chief Stone Engineer and Mason to his Most Royal Stumpiness; King Flertgot, high Lord of the Kindred of Mithold