Hope this is not a duplicate - just lost one to the ether.
Please advise -
Is slate or brunstone better?
Presumably Brunstone is harder, and can't be cut with steel edge tools like slate can be?
It rather seems on the face of it that Brunstone could be less apt to sag than slate?
Does anyone know where?
This is also curious: Brunswick found it cheaper to mine a harder, more brittle rock and manufacture it into beds for pool tables, rather than re-open VT slate quarries they already owned?
I recall going to the slate mines (quarries) in Pen Argyl with a table maker during the 80's. IIRC, a set of 1" slates for an 8' table (the size he mostly built) was under $200 at the time. That was diamond honed, cut to 3 pieces, and then if he had them cut the pockets (instead of taking them back to the shop to do himself) it was a set price like a few more $$ per pocket. They had wooden templates on the wall for various size & styles, but the work was marked out with a pencil and sawn with a heavy blade fretsaw. I think he might have changed blades every couple or few pockets, though.
Does anyone know where the Brunswick quarries are in VT and does Brunswick actually still own them?
Thanks!
smt
Please advise -
Is slate or brunstone better?
Presumably Brunstone is harder, and can't be cut with steel edge tools like slate can be?
It rather seems on the face of it that Brunstone could be less apt to sag than slate?
PS, there is NO resins in the makeup of the Brunstone in the OLDER GC'S, it's sandstone mined from sandstone rock quarries and Brunswick named it Brunstone.
Does anyone know where?
This is also curious: Brunswick found it cheaper to mine a harder, more brittle rock and manufacture it into beds for pool tables, rather than re-open VT slate quarries they already owned?
I recall going to the slate mines (quarries) in Pen Argyl with a table maker during the 80's. IIRC, a set of 1" slates for an 8' table (the size he mostly built) was under $200 at the time. That was diamond honed, cut to 3 pieces, and then if he had them cut the pockets (instead of taking them back to the shop to do himself) it was a set price like a few more $$ per pocket. They had wooden templates on the wall for various size & styles, but the work was marked out with a pencil and sawn with a heavy blade fretsaw. I think he might have changed blades every couple or few pockets, though.
Does anyone know where the Brunswick quarries are in VT and does Brunswick actually still own them?
Thanks!
smt