| A FRAME |
Metallic structure used for storing slabs in the workshop or for transportation |
| BED |
Rocky strata clearly distinct from other substrata by a stratification joint which is usually fairly soft or even sunken |
| BEDDING PLANE |
Natural direction of rock sedimentation, not always |
| BLOCK |
Parallelepiped raw product which comes out of the quarry |
| BREAKING DOWN |
Action of cutting rough, extracted blocks of stone into smaller elements |
| BROACH |
Metal spike, 0.25 – 0.35 m long |
| BUSH HAMMER |
Square-headed hammer tipped with points, used to produce an even surface on a stone |
| CANT |
Exterior edge of a stone’s surfaces |
| CHAMFER |
Small bevel made to a corner |
| CHANEL |
Cut, in the direction of the natural sedimentation bed of the stones |
| CHISEL |
Flat-bladed tool which cuts in the natural direction of the stone’s fault-line |
| CRINOID |
Marine organism, may be seen in abundance in a fossilised |
| CROSS CUT |
Outil plat qui tranche par un de ses bouts suivant une direction naturelle de faiblesse de la roche |
| CROWFOOT/TERRACE |
Irregular joint appearing in the form of a dark line in the stone |
| CUTTING |
Area dealing with any stone cutting as well as mechanical surfacing (texturing, flaming…) |
| CUTTING MACHINE |
Machine intended to carry out deep cuts parallel or perpendicular to the rock stratification in order to facilitate its extraction |
| DIAMOND WIRE |
Cable set with diamonds dragged in water to cut the rock |
| DRAINING |
Action of emptying out water which has infiltrated a rock. Also known as “dewatering” |
| FACE |
Central area of the exposed surface of a stone |
| FALSE BED |
Position of a stone in a different direction to that of the bed |
| FINE CUT |
Thin edge of a finely cut stone element |
| FINISH |
Treatment of the surface of the stone. There are various finishes available including textured, flamed, sawn, milled, honed, polished etc. |
| FLAGSTONE |
Finished product with standard dimensions |
| FOSSIL |
Belgian Blue Stone is made up of many fossilised organisms of a special morphology. The fossils can be white, grey or black, crinoids are the most commonly found fossils in Belgian Blue Stone |
| FRAME SAW |
Metallic frame in which many metallic strips used to saw the blocks into slabs are hung |
| GEODE |
Spherical, hollow rock mass lined with crystals |
| GLAUCONITE |
Silicate hydrate containing iron, a dark green mineral present in certain sedimentary rocks. |
| GLYPTOGRAPHY |
An academic subject related to history, involving the study of signs made on stones. |
| HELICAL WIRE |
Metallic wires wound into a spiral which cut the rock by dragging sand and water across it. Old method of cutting rock. |
| KARSTIC |
Said of limestone which has been attacked by the erosive action of water on its surface and underground, forming potholes as it infiltrates the cracks |
| LIME |
Fine vein, often of white calcite |
| LOWER BED |
Lower surface of a stone, to be placed on top of another |
| MARBLE |
For those professionally involved with stone, the word marble encompasses various calcareous hard rocks able to take a polished finish. When genuine marble is specified, it refers only to metamorphic calcareous rocks. |
| MARBLE WORKSHOP |
Surfacing the slabs and flagstones (sanding, polishing…) |
| PALETTE |
Periphery of a cut element, treated differently to the central face |
| ROCTEUR |
Worker working "at the rock" to extract blocks |
| ROUGH HEWING |
Method of preparing the shape of a moulding or sculpture starting from a parallelepiped and removing prisms which become increasingly thin, until the definitive volume is reached |
| SAWING |
Cutting a block into slabs |
| SCHISTOSITY |
The splitting into layers of certain argillaceous rocks in response to deformation stresses |
| SHAPING |
Process by which machines reproduce traditional sizes from the slabs |
| SLAB |
Semi-finished product resulting from the sawing of a block into thin sheets (in the region of a centimetre). The slab is sawn in parallel to the quarry bed |
| SPALLING |
Action of splitting a stone in the direction of the layers of stratification |
| SPIGOT |
Metallic corner to break the stone along the perforation holes |
| SPLITTING |
Action of splitting the stone along the natural lines of the lamellar layers |
| SQUARING |
Action carried out to produce a more or less square sided block |
| STEREOTOMY |
Science dealing with the cutting of solid items (stone, wood etc.) ; method of cutting and assembling stones using descriptive geometry |
| STRATIFICATION |
Arrangement of beds or varieties of stone in superimposed layers |
| STYLOLITES |
Fine joins in sedimentary rocks, parallel to the layers and marked by a concentration of clays |
| SURFACING |
Action consisting of levelling all the surfaces of an untreated stone |
| SUR SART |
Thick slabs (15 centimetres and more) sawn perpendicular to the quarry bed |
| TOOTHED CHISEL |
Mason’s chisel, markedly tapering in form and jagged, generally used for roughing out |
| TOOTHED POLKA |
Hammer with double claws, turned inversely to the handle. |
| UPPER BED |
Upper surface of a stone to serve as a support for a new block |
| VEIN |
White linear structure present in the stone |
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