Not all masons are stonemasons, but all stonemasons are masons. Often to get to the heart of a stone job, all kinds of other masonry is required for the setup. A stonemason must know how to do it all.

Loyal readers will recall Brian Van Kleeck, noted local carpenter and a project manager for Consigli Construction Company, agreed to help me finish building the Gothic high tunnel greenhouse. He wants me to build a nice Rumford stone fireplace in his new house, his wife, Tammy, hopes, their last new house. She’s moved her stuff through five new houses so far! The cobbler’s kids have no shoes sort of thing. Brian knew I would not do any outside work until my greenhouse was ready for plants. So, he helped whenever he had time over the summer, and greenhouse is nicely sealed and waiting for the stronger rays of spring. I put the screws to him and now the tables have turned. I’ve come out of retirement to build him his dream fireplace, in his dream house, with his view like a dream of Gertrude’s Nose, the famous side cliff on Shawangunk Mountain.

I visited his building site. He has the house closed in and an ice and snow roof on and I measured things up and we held a discussion, which some people find reassuring; and over a snowstorm, I drew up the plans, made drawings and figured out a materials list. I drove to Montfort Brothers in Fishkill to place the order. Everything but the stones. Well, not everything, but more on that later. On the appointed day I met the delivery truck at the job and orchestrated the unloading: firebrick pallet on the front porch, easy to get in; 8 inch block also on the porch as that will be used first and must come in and nothing can be frozen; sand totes next to the mixer; bags of Portland lime Type N and white Portland on the porch – in case the tarp blows off, the shelter of the porch roof will remain.

On Brian’s first day off, I rummaged through half a dozen buckets in my tool shed to pull out the tools I would need for the job and organized myself a bit and threw some mortar pans in the back of the Tacoma and I was on my way.

Brian had all the eight-inch block in the house right where we needed it and I taught him how to do the mix I wanted. If he insists on being my mason’s helper then that is just how he will be treated, and when I pointed out he didn’t wash out the mortar bucket properly and now the mortar is sticking to the inside of the bucket, all his friends laughed at him, but, hey, it’s a work zone!

Before we do any fancy stonework we have to get the structure up to the living room floor, and that means working down in the pit. Because the house sits on a high-water table (like the Houtman Hill seeps I discussed a few columns back), the cellar space is only four feet floor to ceiling, a most awkward space to work in; so, I decided to do everything from above, to work inside the structure we were building. No matter what, it’s a tough job – cramped, bad lighting. Years ago, I had the good fortune of working with white-haired Dick Degon, many remember, and wild man that he was, he had a heart of gold and he taught me a lot about laying block. I don’t mind it, blockwork, but it is something you must get done and we had our nose to the grindstone. Brian wants an ash pit built under the hearth with a trap built into the brick of the hearth cove in the fireplace so he can just brush the cold ashes down into the cellar, and that is just a pain in the ashpit. But we have it worked out and should be able to pour the slab for the fireplace this coming weekend.

Friday another craftsman is slated to stop by; Jonathan Nedbor, blacksmith, and he’s going to design a nice fireplace crane for cooking over the fire, and maybe our damper and other incidentals people rarely think of, and these constitute some of the material items not available in a conventional mason supply store. If interested, you can see Jonathan forging pintles on YouTube. Just Google.

More later. Hard work for an old man. My legs are as stiff as rigor mortis, but I sleep real well and we are almost out of the cellar.