The Diamantfil Jolly is a single-wire diamond wire saw from Pellegrini Meccanica, and it is capable of processing two-dimensional profiles as well as vertical, horizontal and inclined cuts.
Ever since the Vitória Stone Fair began taking place in the stoneworking region of Vitória, Brazil, in 2002, the show’s growth and energy has mirrored the explosive growth of Brazil’s stone industry. This past edition, however, took place at a time when the nation’s industry is facing its first real challenges since becoming a major player in the international stone industry. Because Brazil relies heavily on the U.S. as an importer of its finished stone products - particularly granite slabs - the downturn in the U.S. housing market has had a noticeable impact on the Brazilian stone industry.
The Breton Fabcenter is a multi-function digital workcenter for fabricating countertops to completion, and it has been engineered to be easy to operate with minimal labor.
For many stone industry purists, the stoneworking region of Carrara, Italy, is the heart of our industry. As the home of Carrara White marble - Michelangelo’s material of choice - it has a built-in history in stone. More importantly, it has been home to generations of stoneworking professionals who are passionate about stone and its place in architecture, art and culture. I’ve been traveling to this region for over 10 years, and every time I visit, I am reminded that this dedication to the artistry of stone remains alive and well today.
Water Treatment Technologies’ Enviro-System is a patented technology that produces thousands of gallons of crystal clear water that it reports is safe for all fabrication equipment - even CNCs and waterjets. The closed-loop EnviroSystem eliminates the need for a permit to discharge the wastewater from the fabrication process, and it demonstrates a company’s efforts to create a “green” shop, recycling the water and supporting the local environment.
For some time now, the “Fabricator Forums” held at trade shows around the country are among the best-attended events in the stone industry. One of the most recent large-scale Fabricator Forums was held at the last StonExpo trade show in Las Vegas, NV, and attendees discussed a wide variety of topics.
In the late 1990s, I was asked by a high school friend to help install some kitchens for a granite shop that he managed. I owned a small home remodeling business that was slow at the time, and I was looking for some “busy work.” We spent the next month installing a few kitchens a day. The more I worked with granite, the more I was drawn to the allure of natural stone. I closed my home remodeling business and went to work for that granite shop full time. Over the next several years, I worked my way from installer to measure tech. I spent a few more years measuring and developing a templating system that we still use today. Meanwhile, my friend Matt, who had gotten me into the business, moved off to another company. This opened a position for me in the office doing bookkeeping and scheduling. Over the next few years, I worked my way to operations manager. The shop grew considerably, and at one point, we were producing 10 to 15 kitchens per day. With that type of volume, efficiency became an issue. Customers became numbers instead of names. We lost the ability to spend the quality time needed to produce a custom product.
In this issue of Stone World Magazine, our “Re-Emerging U.S. Stone Industry” subject is the Cold Spring Granite Co.’s Carnelian granite quarry, which is located in Milbank, SD (page 38). This quarry has made a name for itself by supplying material for prestigious projects across the country, perhaps most notably the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC, which utilized 6,000 tons of Carnelian granite. This fact alone entrenches Carnelian granite’s place among the historic materials of our nation.
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