Back in the 1980's the blocks that had been extracted from the quarry were converted into slabs on frame-saws before being cut to dimension by overhead, circular beam-saws which cut through the slabs and into the 6” x 6” timber skids that supported them.

A block extracted from the quarry waiting to be sawn into slabs on a frame saw.

Skids that I gleaned from the quarry back then, still in a corner of a storeroom.

Skids had only a limited useful life before, having been scored once too often by saw cuts, they became unstable supports for the slabs. By this time they had been impregnated by the solution of limestone dust created by the water that was used to cool the saw blades as they cut the stone.

I thought, and I still do, that they have a wonderful natural sculptural quality and in time, as the quarry became one of my favourite haunts and I had become more familiar with limestone, they inspired the design for a table that I exhibited at 'Showcase', an annual trade show for the craft industry run by the Crafts Council of Ireland. I think it was in 1990.

You will see that I used the skids, that had been used during the cutting of the slab, as described, to now provide the supports for the table-top. And, in the flutes around the edge of the table-top, I sought to pick-up the drill-holes that had been created during the extraction of the block from the quarry.

The table on the stand at Showcase

The skid supports and the fluted edge-detail

The table under construction

...and nearing completion

And this is a stylised version that I built for the NTMA

Note the fossils in the polished limestone.

(End of excerpt from Kilkenny Limestone, posted on 16.11.09. The full entry can be found by going to Archive.)

Kilkenny Corporation Chamber (excerpt from 'Another memory striired...' 03.04.10)