Egyptian Granite

If Kandinsky, Byrd and Harte haven't already thrown enough links at you, here's a few more...

This paper by Denys Stocks goes into more technical detail on Egyptian stone working; Stone sarcophagus manufacture in ancient Egypt, he gives references to other sources on Egyptian stone working as well (Petrie, among them).

Stocks wrote 3 papers outlining Egyptian stone working methods, they are:

• Ancient factory mass-production techniques: indications of large-scale stone bead manufacture during the Egyptian New Kingdom Period. Antiquity, (1989)
  
• Making Stone vessels in Ancient Mesoptamia and Egypt. Antiquity, (1993)
  
• Testing Ancient Egyptian Granite-Working Methods in Aswan, Upper Egypt. Antiquity, (2001)
  

During Stocks experiments he found that a smooth copper saw, in the form of a 6mm wide slab (to match found tool marks), worked best with dry sand as grit for cutting granite. Serrated blades proved less effective. All it took was time and labor.

A few more handy links on ancient tools and methods of their use:

Reshafim.org.il: Stone vessels Reshafim also has more at Ancient Egyptian resources: Stone

"Unforbidden geology", which gives several illustrations on Egyptian stone working methods; Ancient Egyptian Stoneworking Tools and Methods (this site is only a mirror of the original which vanished when geocities ceased operation).

When I was younger I remember a show on PBS where this guy would do projects by hand, no electric power tools.

Was that the "Woodwrights Shop"? great show, although it's star (Roy Underhill) was a bit of a stumblebum.

[edit on 9-8-2010 by Blackmarketeer]

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

Was that the "Woodwrights Shop"? great show, although it's star (Roy Underhill) was a bit of a stumblebum.

That sounds about right, though it was some time ago, but it showed what could be done without electric tools, or at least I don’t remember any used on the show. It was wood that was crafted on the show, but I could see how some techniques could easily be translated to other materials as well.