How well acquainted are you with stone dressing?
Posted: Thursday, April 4th, 2024
Danny Madden is joined in the Fix Studios by James Robinson aka The Yorkshire Stone Dresser to talk about stone dressing, his career, and what drives him. James got into the trade right out of school at the age of 15. "I wasn't interested in studying and always wanted to be a plumber," he says. "I got offered a full-time job as a labourer for a stone merchant." As a labourer, he was learning the basics - loading and measuring stone. "At the age of 18, I picked up the tools and started 'backing off'. I found that I was quite good at it." He was delighted to have created something with his hands and see how he'd progressed in the trade. "I liked how I took a bunch of rocks and made them into products that were saleable." Due to the nature of his job which is cutting stones, James has to take his tools for sharpening to a local blacksmith every two and half days. He also informs that there's no formal learning course or apprenticeship available to learn stone dressing. "It's just lads like me given a hammer and chisel." James further reveals the kinds of stones he works with. "The best type of stone to work is 'facing stone' where they've come off the face of the building. Nowadays, it's hard to get reclaimed stones so quarries are focusing more on producing new stones." He also talks about the dangers of the job, PPE, his social media journey, and how he started his business. Listen to the podcast here.
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