The stone restoration handbook: a practical guide to the conservation repair of stone and masonry

The undying enthusiasm of the author for stone, craftsmanship and a sound ethical approach to repair shines through in this lavishly illustrated volume. Fresh from giving us the benefits of his experience in his previous contribution to the field, The Craft of Stonemasonry (2012), Daniels now embarks on a comprehensive practical elucidation of architectural stone conservation and repair. The writing style is uniquely the author’s own and strikes a personal and familiar note from the start with cleverly titled and lighthearted touches to the text. If you thought books about stone conservation were dry, scientific and objective, think again! Here is a refreshingly subjective view of the subject designed for, in the author’s words, the ‘Artisan’; an artisan with an enquiring mind and natural curiosity and consequently one who enjoys and appreciates their vocation. The layout of the book and sequence of chapters leads the reader through topics of Stone Decay and Stone Selection to two very useful chapters about ‘The Workplace’ and ‘Tool Skills’, where ample illustrations show every type of working environment and the wide range of tools required for themany tasks which stone conservation and repair demands. Photographs exemplifying the author’s advice of ‘what not to do’ both shock and educate the reader. While on the subject of photographs, I praise the extensive selection the author hasmade and the informative captions but inmore than one example I foundmyself wanting to knowmore about the location of a reference. The next chapter, ‘Lime and Mortars’, gives us further essential background information before we get into the nitty gritty of the actual conservation and repair work. A wonderful illustration in the author’s own artistic hand of a lime kiln is a joy to behold, and ‘a More Fun Method’ of slaking lime for those who want to live a little dangerously is strictly for those with experience. Health and safety is dealt with throughout this book in a practical and sensible way. Anecdotes about how things can so easily go wrong are salutary lessons. Eminently practical chapters on ‘Repointing; Dutchman Repairs’ (good to see so much space devoted to a skill which is so often overlooked); ‘Mortar Repairs’ (the author doesn’t just make the mortar for his repair work, hemakes his own fired clay armatures as well and tells us how tomake our own!); ‘Consolidation’ (a healthy dose of scepticism about the effectiveness of consolidants); ‘Cleaning’ (with a useful at-a-glance list of ‘What is Used andWhat it Does’); and finally, ‘Casting’ (a good overview and fascinating two page spread on Scagliola illustrating how to make it). This is a practical book, written by an artisan who clearly loves his profession. Opinions are generously shared and even if we might find it hard to agree with all of them none can deny they are food for thought!