While I was watching a documentary on our local PBS, an interesting bit of historical information was presented. The location of the travelogue was in Carrara, Italy, where they have carved slabs of that fabulous Carrara Marble out of mountainsides for thousands of years. Michaelangelo went there to select the stone for his "David", so the guide said. The tour guide showed the method used by the Romans to split the stone. The Romans bore holes in the marble, inserted wood (perhaps oak) pegs and then wet them. The force of the expanding wood split the marble as needed. So there you have it. Water and Wood, a force that can "move" mountains.

I want to know what they used to bore holes in it!!!


Nothing will hold back a piece of wood from swelling when it gains moisture. Ain't gonna happen!

As I understand it, the Romans used iron chisels and mallets. Some stone masons today still use a similar technique although they use wedges instead of water and wood. The holes and wood pegs used by the Romans were about 6" in diameter and however long they needed, about 1'. As you may know, Carrara Marble is not a hard stone like granite. This is one of the reasons it has always been chosen by sculpters. Therefore, boring a hole by hand wasn't as difficult as it sounds. However, don't think I'd want to do it.

My mentor who taught me gymnasium floor refinishing told me an interesting story.
One of his competitors in New Jersey installed a gymnasium floor WITHOUT expansion joints. The next day the whole floor had literally exploded and the flooring was in heaved rows and in splinters.
People power, flower power, . . . wood power!
Charlie

I once went to a hardwood seminar where the person in charge spoke of a flooded gym floor he went to inspect. In his story he talks of there being little light because the power was off due to the water. As he is walking and inspecting (to the best he can) the heaved floor, he bangs his head on something. When he shines a light on it, to his surprise he finds that it's the hoop for the basket ball net.

Now I'm skeptical that the floor could've heaved that much, and be that strong, but he swore it was true.