How to hold tools The book “ Contemporary Stone Sculpture” by Dona Z Meilach mentions the technique of holding the tool, which I wanted to document for it to be accessible to other people. The point is the first tool usually used for general roughing out of the shape and removing large and small masses of stone, although each artist insists his way of holding the tool is best, there are basically four different positions. These positions apply to all tools held that are to be driven by the hammer. Tools you work without a hammer, such as rasps, bush hammers, files, and so on, should be held in any way comfortable. Hammer driven points and chisels should be held firmly but not clutched too tightly. This allows enough freedom so the point can bite into the stone accepting the full impact of the hammer blows. Never force point into a stone or it may wedge, break off the tip, and fracture the stone. At first, the point is held at about a 75-degree angle to the stone, but after the block has been roughed out, the angle becomes more oblique. They avoid working on 90-degree angle. Besides possibly breaking the point, such an impact “stuns” the sandstone, that is, it causes a serious disruption of the crystalline structure around the chisel stroke. This is seen as a frosty, opaque area radiating from the point of impact. This “stunning” can go an inch or so into the stone and will always be evident on the surface even if the stunned areas does not flake out.
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