Hand-Held Tools: All in the Feel

May 5, 2003

With all the emphasis on computerized stone production, is the end near for skilled hands and their hand-held tools?
Not likely. Not only are we far from the day when every fabrication shop runs a CNC machine, but cost and need may never justify their purchase by some companies. Nor are the automatic devices able to successfully reproduce every step many owners feel is necessary to turn out a first-rate product.
Whether you’re in a shop that has a CNC machine that works through the second shift, or where dollars or other forces keep one of the electronic marvels from coming through the door, there are still some hand tools that make up a shop’s must-have list.

CAN’T MISS
Talk to just about any shop about hand-held tools, and what rises to the top of the can’t-do-without list is the grinder, although preferences varied considerably on just which model – larger or smaller, straight or angle-head – is the best one.
Ray Puga, president of Boise Stone Inc., in Boise, Idaho, says his real preference is for the 7” and 8” models.
“They work the best for what we do, which is cutting and fabricating 3/4” and 1 1/4” material for kitchens and bathrooms,” he says.
Jay Forsell, manager of Granite & Marble Expressions in Lyons, Ill., agrees with Puga on the importance of grinders in the shop. His preference is for the 4”, however.
“It’s easier to get around angles like in sink cutouts,” Forsell contends. “With the bigger, heavier grinders, you can’t maneuver them as well as you can the smaller grinder. We do have 7” grinders in the shop, too, but they’re for bigger jobs like sanding down an edge.”
Mike Davis, shop foreman of Carthage Marble Corp., in Kansas City, Mo., doesn’t list his grinders first, but they’re right up there behind his belt sander. He’s one of those who likes a variety of the devices, particularly a 7” and a 9” angle-head grinder.
Chuck Link, field superintendent for Milwaukee Marble and Granite in Milwaukee is another one who puts his grinders second on his list. He, too, likes a variety of sizes, saying his company particularly uses 4” and 9” grinders.
“Both the stone setters and the shop make a lot of user of the 4” grinder,” Link says. “We’re using it for cutting out small pieces, like cuts and notches; and it also adapts to being a cup grinder, and it adapts to putting anchors in the back of pieces for mounting bolts.”
Link says versatility is very important for Milwaukee Marble when it comes to tool selection, with those that can fill multiple purposes being preferred. Bradley Mobley, president of Indiana Limestone Fabricators in Spencer, Ind., agrees. He says his company uses the 7” and 9” grinders, in a model that can be converted to a vertical hand saw.
“They perform well for us, and they’re basically disposable,” he says.
Perhaps not surprisingly, when it comes to listing shop essentials, the idea of a powered hand-held saw was also high on the list with most shops. Link, for instance, says his shop uses a basic skill saw, while Forsell mentions his preference for one with a 7” blade.
“You can start your sink cutouts with it,” he says. “Out in the field it’s good for doing quick cutouts, and it’s also good for shaping an edge. Not that we don’t have a machine for that, but you can take the 7” saw and also shape the edge. It’s helpful when the 4” grinder it too small.”
Another power item that’s made itself popular in the shop is polishers. Forsell says he’s partial to a variable speed model that’s also water-fed.
“They do a real good job polishing stone,” he says.
Davis recommends a 4” system, and Puga puts them right up with his grinders – although, again, he prefers a larger version with a 7” buffer.
Other powered items that appear on people’s must-have lists include sanders – palm, belt and vertical – hand-routers, and a sector (or shape-milling) machine.

BALANCING ACT
Perhaps the biggest difference between these tools and what might have filled the shop a couple hundred years ago is that many have become commodities. While good muscle-powered hand-tools might have been handed down from generation to generation, the life cycle of many of these items eventually makes them disposable.
And, it’s not that the shops aren’t looking for good products, either. Most shops profess to have worked with most of the brand names over time, and make their decisions based on that delicate balancing act between price and durability.
“It’s mainly a matter of trying one and seeing how it works for you,” says Carthage’s Davis. “You buy a machine and if it doesn’t work for you, you try a different one. There are all sorts of guys in the business that you can call who will say what they’re using is the best, but you have to use it and see if it works for the job you’re doing.”
Of course, there are other criteria. Milwaukee’s Link mentions those that have multiple uses, while Boise’s Puga says revolutions-per-minute is a standard he tries to follow.
That individual experience is pretty much the determining factor on how long a user can expect these tools to last, when to tell they’re in need of replacement and even how many the a particular shop needs to have on hand.
For instance, Link explains that each installation crew has most of the tools he mentions on its truck. And, while different departments have different equipment needs, the rule is to have at least 10 of each major piece of equipment on hand in a shop of 30 people.
“You want to make sure that everybody who has a chance of needing a particular tool will have one,” he says. “We don’t want to have a lot of down time while people are waiting to use a particular tool.”
“You can share some of them,” says Davis. “Like with grinders and sanders, not everyone will sand and polish at the same time.”
However, Granite’s Forsell says in his shop it’s important that most of the tools be at each station.
“Each guy has his individual tools, and while they might share here and there, they have their own tools so they can do any job that’s given to them when it gets on the table.”
Exceptions to that, Forsell adds, include the sector machines (there are three of them for nine workstations) and some of the saws.
How long different pieces of equipment will last seems to not only vary by manufacturer, but also by the shop using it. Puga, for instance, says he expects a good air tool to last three or four years in good working order, with a total lifespan of up to six years.
“It’s a matter of how long they take care of it and oil it daily,” he says, adding that he trains his employees to take care of their tools. “You have to; it’s what makes their living.”
On the other hand, Forsell says it may be as little as three months before a saw goes from brand-new to what he calls, “acting up.”
“But, that’s with good 10-15 hours a day of getting beat up,” he says. “Some of the polishers may go up to six months.”
As for knowing when it’s time to service – or even replace – a particular piece of equipment, uniformly, these experts say the machines themselves will make that clear.
Davis says those signs included having less performance than before, and hearing the parts grind – thanks to the presence of stone dust. He agrees with Puga that good maintenance can extend their life.
“If you have people who clean them out regularly, you can maintain them more,” Davis says. “It also helps if you have a good tool guy who can tear them apart and clean them out for you.”
Still, even regular maintenance only goes so far. After awhile, they just quit running, says Link.
“Then, we send them in for servicing, and if the service costs more than half what a new one does, the old one is done for; it’s retired,” he says.

HANDY HANDIWORK
With power tools becoming commodity items, what about those true hand tools that used to predominate in most shops?
Well, there are still some truly hand items that are hard to do without. Although not everyone may think of them as tools, Forsell mentions a good combination square, a source of heat and a squeegee.
“The combination square will show you that the edge is flat when you’re doing things by hand,” he says. “You need the heat to make sure the edge is polished right. Some people use little torches, but we have propane tanks with torches hooked up to them. And, you need the squeegees because you work with a lot of water, and you have to wipe it off.”
That’s not to say some shops aren’t still also relying on their hammers and chisels to produce what their customers want. Indiana’s Mobley recently purchased a CNC machine, but he still says there’s still a lot of handwork that goes into many jobs.
“Because we’re working with Indiana limestone, a lot of our cutting is still done with the chisels,” he says. “They’re made by a blacksmith and they’re made for cutting the profiles we’re working with. They’re probably the most-critical tools our guys use in creating a finished product.”
And, yes, they pretty much last a lifetime. But, then, Mobley says that he doesn’t think computerized equipment will ever eliminate the skilled stonecutter.
“That certainly wasn’t our goal,” he says. “Our goal was to make the more-ornate work more affordable.”
Milwaukee’s Link agrees that even the best CNC equipment isn’t perfect, and that’s why people are still needed in the process.
“The CNC is limited,” Link contends. “For instance, just about everything on the CNC goes to our polishing department because it will leave fine lines in the edge, and that’s not up to our caliber of work. It’s just like every piece of marble we buy from Italy gets re-polished, because it’s not up to our standards.”
And, there’s the recommendation of one second-generation stone man who didn’t have any words to say about power tools.
“The best tools you still can’t do without,” he says, “are a good set of hands and plenty of knowledge.”