Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This work served as a model for us in the months that followed as our brick-
layers and masons practiced and dutifully followed all they had learned prepar-
ing our first batch of cut-moulded bricks for Jigginstown House.
By October 2005, the gault bricks had been made and arrived in Ireland and
our trained craftsmen set about cutting and rubbing some of them in earnest.
Similar to historic craftsmen this work was scheduled for autumn and the winter
months when little laying takes place. We had established a cutting shed area at
our Dublin works and equipped this with all we would need, the rubbing stones,
bedding slates and chopping blocks, as well as the brick axes and tungsten-tipped
carving chisels and hand-stones. We also invested in a brand new electrically oper-
ated bench-mounted disc-cutter with diamond masonry blade. The first process
was to rub all the bricks to be used so they were both flat on bed and face and
square to one another. This was done on the large rubbing stone holding the
brick with two hands and rubbing in a circular motion and then checking them
with the try-square. Once all the bricks were squared they were then placed on
the bedding slate alongside their templet and scribed to profile with a very sharp
metal point. Each brick was numbered to match that on the templet for identifi-
cation with the scribe. To save time all the excess brick material above the scribe
lines was carefully cut away using the disc-cutter, ensuring each brick was safely
clamped and not held by the operator. The bricks were now ready to be cut to
shape and both axing and the mallet and the chisel did this in a similar manner
to how stone is worked. To match the finish on the original Jigginstown bricks
all was then rubbed smooth using the hand-stones or other shaped abrasives. As
masons our team was very careful to ensure all waste was regularly cleaned away at
all stages of cutting and any dust created was continually vacuumed up too.
When a large batch was made, we delivered them down to Jigginstown
House ready to build some sample panels of a section of the plinth course on
site. In consultation with both Gerard and Dr. Sara Pavia we had settled on a
NHL 3.5 bedding mortar to a ratio of 1:2. In May 2006, our Historic Brickwork
Consultant came back over to check on our overall progress and to undertake
some further on-site training at Jigginstown House itself and, at my invitation,
he critically examined the 'sampler' work that we had made. He was completely
satisfied with the quality of the majority of the cut and rubbed brick units; advis-
ing on slight improvements where deemed necessary. In respect of the built
sample of cut and rubbed brickwork, laid only the day before, he expressed
satisfaction with it as a first trial, but with great diplomacy and respect for the
efforts of the craftsmen who built it, he pointed out how it could be substan-
tially improved. We re-examined the style and appearance of the surrounding
cut and rubbed plinthed brickwork, with him highlighting the various original
seventeenth-century bricklayers' styles and nuances. This enabled us to see and
note the differences between our new work and the old, allowing us to improve
the aesthetics as well as the structural considerations.
