President Bush and Europa Stone Celebrate Small Business Week
Europa Stone Distributors welcomed President Bush to their new facility in Sterling, Va., on April 17. The President's Tax Day visit was a great honor for the seven-year-old company. Parties representing the various segments of the stone industry were brought together under Europa's roof for a round-table discussion with the president.

Europa Stone is honored that Bush chose them as a small business to visit on Tax Day 2006. The president's high regard and unwavering support for the small businesses of America have been instrumental in Europa Stone's success. Europa is also grateful to its world-class staff, trusted suppliers and loyal clients for making every year in business more stellar than the last.

The 6th Annual Sax Stonecarving Workshops
The Sax Stonecarving Workshops are just that: opportunities to work side by side with highly accomplished stone sculptors in a supportive atmosphere, where sharing of knowledge is given the highest priority. Daily structured demonstrations are followed by one-on-one meetings to address individual technical and artistic problems. Attendance is limited to 25 participants in order to foster the personal interaction necessary between teacher and student.

Open to all levels of experience, the workshops consist of two sessions. The first session, "Historic Carving Techniques Applied to Contemporary Carving Imperatives," will be held in Rinconada, N.M., July 22-26. The instructor for this session is Allen Williams of Chester Granite in Blandford, Mass.

Williams, a granite quarrier, carver, sculptor and stonework historian, has been teaching since 1977. Through discussion and demonstrations, he will cover the topics of: tool selection, care and use; reading the grain in stone; quarrying; rigging; cutting with fire; lettering; carving; and surface finishing. Williams will explore the history of the trade and how stone was cut and moved in the days before motors and electricity, and workshop participants will have the opportunity to view his extensive antique tool collection. This five-day course is a must for those committed to the art and craft of stonework.

The second session, "East Meets West," will be held in Rinconada, N.M., Aug. 14-20. The instructor is Joseph Kincannon, and the guest artist is Kazutaka Uchida.

Teaming up for their third straight year are guest artist Kazutaka Uchida of Tokyo and guest instructor Joseph Kincannon of Austin, Texas. Returning for the fourth time, Uchida is an inspired sculptor and offers an inspiring presence. He brings his exquisite Japanese aesthetic and his 40 years of carving experience to bear as he unlocks the inner beauty of the stone.

Kincannon, a guild-certified master carver, was the lead stone carver at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City for 11 years. His carving vocabulary and ability to communicate and demonstrate the traditional carving techniques of European carvers are exceptional.

For more information, contact Mark Saxe at (505) 579-9179, or e-mail sax@cybermesa.com. Applications and information are also available at www.saxstonecarving.com.

Buechel Stone Unveils New NTV Value Product Line
Buechel Stone announces the launch of its new Natural Thin Veneer (NTV) value product line. The product line offers a fresh new range of colors, is aggressively priced to compete with manufactured stone, and is available in building, fireplace and accent stone.

The stone types included in the value product line include Chilton Country Squire, Chilton Webwall, Chilton Sedona Rustic, Chilton Heritage Blend, Fond du Lac Country Squire, Fond du Lac Heritage Blend, Fond du Lac Webwall, Pine Log, Whispering Pines Pioneer Blend, Whispering Pines Fieldstone, and Whispering Pines Ledgestone. All of the products are 100-percent natural, quarried stone. Color ranges include buffs, reds, grays, pines, mauves, browns, tans and charcoals.

Buechel Stone Corp. quarries and manufactures a full line of building and landscape stone, which are distributed nationally and internationally through an extensive dealer network. The company has offices in Fond du Lac and Chilton, Wis., and employs more than 300 people.

For more information on Buechel Stone and its products, visit www.buechelstone.com.

Valders Stone & Marble Quarry Marks 100 Years
Valders Stone and Marble Inc., a division of Eden Stone Company, held an event celebrating 100 years of the quarry operation in Valders, Wis. Scheduled for May 18 at the Valders manufacturing facility, it will include remarks from management and elected officials, including Gov. James Doyle. Tours of the quarry, plant and office facilities will follow.

The Valders Stone quarry began operations in 1906 as a lump lime operation. Today, it is operated as Valders Stone and Marble Inc., with the primary product of the operation being dimensional cut limestone building products.

The quarry also produces rip-rap stone for public and private projects that is used for shoreline and harbor protection primarily for projects located on the shores of local lakes and waterways, Lake Michigan and its tributaries. In addition, limestone aggregate is produced from the limestone overburden and limestone material not utilized for cut stone or riprap.

New England Stone's Work Featured in Better Homes and Gardens Magazine
A client of New England Stone was recently featured in the March/April 2006 Kitchen and Bath Ideas feature of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. New England Stone is extremely pleased to have its work featured in such a prestigious publication, and thanks all of those who made this possible.

The clients used a classic material of natural stone fabricators: 3CM Juparana Colombo Granite Polished. The edge detail is 1/4-inch round-standard.

To view the article in its entirety, visit www.newenglandstone.com/newsdetails.

Cold Spring Granite Introduces Kasota Valley Limestone^TM
Cold Spring Granite quarried its first blocks of Kasota Valley Limestone in Minnesota's premier dolomite limestone region in July 2005. The rich and warm golden cream stone — sought for its strength and beauty — is now available for manufacturing.

While granite and limestone each have individual appeal and strength, the combination of these complementary stones is prevalent in the construction industry. When used together, granite and limestone build upon the strength of each material to create an enduring combination of performance and beauty.

For more information about Cold Spring Granite and its products, visit www.coldspringgranite.com.

Global Granite Opens New Louisville Showroom
Global Granite & Marble recently celebrated the opening of its new 3,000-square-foot natural stone showroom in Louisville, Ky., with a three-day open house for custom homebuilders, architects, interior designers and guests.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Global Granite & Marble is an importer and distributor of natural stone slabs, tile and trim, and precision tools and supplies for fabricators and installers.

The showroom complemented Global Granite's 50,000-square-foot warehouse, with its more than 2,000 slabs of natural stone, including granite, marble, limestone and slate. Showroom visitors were surrounded by natural stone samples from Brazil, China, Greece, India, Italy, Mexico, Pakistan, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United States.

Global Granite & Marble, which sells to the trade, but welcomes the public to its showroom, also offers natural stone decorative borders, base moldings, granite sinks, countertops, fireplace surrounds and floor, kitchen and bath tiles and trim.

For more information, visit www.globalgranite.com.

"Green California" Site Backs Schwarzenegger's Environmentally Sound Plan
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration unveiled a sweeping new "Green California" website, based on his vision of an energy efficient and environmentally friendly California.

The new website is filled with ideas, guidelines, reference materials, engineering data and environmentally friendly purchasing information to assist state and local government agencies and California businesses with the shift toward environmental sustainability, energy conservation and the reduction of landfill waste.

State and Consumer Services Agency Secretary Rosario Marin said he thinks the website will become a "go-to" site for engineers, architects, building managers, contractors, purchasing agents and other business and government officials and environmentalists.

The site, www.green.ca.gov, is focused primarily on two broad areas. It provides, in a single location, vital reference materials for the design, construction, benchmarking and operation of "green buildings." It also provides government and business purchasing officials with detailed information on environmentally friendly products and services, such as office supplies, paper products, office machines, vehicle supplies, building materials and medical supplies.

In a December 2004 executive order, Governor Schwarzenegger launched an aggressive action plan to reduce California's energy purchases for the thousands of state-owned buildings by 20 percent by 2015, while conserving other scarce natural resources. The executive order also urged local governments, K-12 schools, universities, community colleges and business organizations to adopt the same ambitious goals. The new website provides vital reference material and "how-to-do-it" guidelines to implement that vision.

Visit www.green.ca.gov for more information.

Luck Stone Receives NSSGA Pinnacle Award
The National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (NSSGA) recently honored Luck Stone Corporation at its annual convention in Tampa, Fla. The company received the most prestigious award, the Pinnacle Award, in the Community Relations category for its extensive community relations program of five-plus years that encompassed the following areas: safety initiatives, community outreach, donations, government involvement, communications, education, media relations and plant appearance.

Rich Wright, president of Luck Stone Corporation's Construction Aggregates division, attributed the distinguished award to the diligence of employees and their dedication to supporting their local communities.

Luck Stone garnered the awardÊmainly for itsÊTruckÊSafety program, which emphasizes improved relationships with contract haulers and strives to promote safe driving practices. For 10 years, Luck Stone has conducted the Trucker Safety program annually at most of its plants, and Lewis Lee, the district customer coordinator for Luck Stone's Northern Division, has addressed trucker meetings on courteous driving, tarp laws, stopping for school busses, speeding through subdivisions and environmental issues.

Superior Stone Equipment partners with Keystone Tools
Superior Stone Equipment announced that it has formed a partnership with nationwide supplier, Keystone Tools, to be a distributor for its Force 5000 bridge saw. Keystone Tools is a supplier of products for the marble and granite industry with mobile warehouses, retail stores in California, Texas, and Illinois, and nationwide shipping of its products.

Weighing in at over 22,000 pounds, the Force 5000 features a cast iron, split bridge design, heavy-duty stands, direct drive, 25-hp motor, touch-screen controls and an oversized, tilting 7x12 foot concrete table with pneumatic brakes.

For more information, visit www.superiorstoneproducts.com.

Stone-Machinery.com Features World's First Mobile Slab Cutting Saw
Stone-machinery.com is now featuring the world's first mobile slab cutting saw, which is manufactured in the U.S. by Forza. Set-up time for the saw is 15 minutes, and the saw is easy to transport to the shop or a job site.

According to Stone-machinery.com, the saw is affordable for a small shop wanting to transition from a rail saw to bridge saw, with the advantage of no downtime and no costly foundation work if you outgrow your shop or change shop layout. It is also great for a large shop that does onsite work.

The mobile bridge saw features a self-contained water recycling system, integrated hydraulic tilt table, X-axis cutting length of 116 inches, Y-axis cutting width of 70 inches and a variable speed control joystick operation. Additionally, the saw is towable with a 1/2-ton vehicle, and contains a 220V single-phase 10-hp Italian cutting motor, laser alignment guide and more.

Eleventh Annual Southwest Stone Carving Workshop
The Southwest Stone Carving Association presents the 11th annual Southwest Stone Carving Workshop in Jamez Springs, N.M., Sept. 17-24. All experience levels, from beginner to novice, are welcome to attend.

The workshops will cover a variety of topics, from basic stone carving techniques to advanced carving and monumental sculpture. With a professional faculty on hand, the workshops provide individual attention and comprehensive training in stone and tool selection, safety issues, setting up work space, techniques for carving various types of stone and finishing a sculpture.

Classes include: Roughing Out, Stone Carving Techniques, Carving the Human Figure, Carving the Human Face, Sculpture Finishing Techniques, Mounting a Finished Sculpture and Gas-Powered Chainsaws.

Tuition for the seven-day event is $800, which includes workshops, two cubic feet of limestone or one cubic foot of alabaster, compressed air, hoses, electricity and workspace. Room and board is an additional $400 and includes three meals per day and on-site lodging.

For more information and to register, visit www.swstonecarving.org, e-mail info@swstonecarving.org, or call (877) 683-3097.

Vinci Stone Products Nears Completion of Historic Butler Stone Quarry
Vinci Stone Products Inc., a 48-year-old company based in Marriotsville, Md., is completing the renovation and restoration of the historic 25-acre Butler Quarry, which it acquired in 2005.

Mined since the early 1800s, architects, builders and homeowners select the quarry's gneiss stone for its warm and distinctive silver-grey-brown appearance. Traditional and modern commercial projects use the stone because it fulfills specification requirements for any project, or design and blends with natural landscapes and sceneries. Demand for the stone's strength and versatility has also enabled the company to increase its use.

According to A.J. Vinci, president of Vince Stone Products, the company has added several new state-of-the art machines and equipment at Butler Quarry to improve the stone's consistency, quality and production. Additionally, the new equipment enables the company to produce a natural thin stone veneer, which offers a more appealing and cost saving alternative to man-made veneers.

The acquisition of Butler Stone Quarry, complements the company's other quarries, the original Vinci Quarry in Randallstown, Maryland and the Piccirilli Quarry in Marriottsville, Maryland.

2006 Stonework Symposium
The sixth annual gathering of the Stone Foundation, a society of stonemasons and others involved with and interested in stone, stonework and stone art, will be held in Hood River, Ore., Sept. 28-Oct. 1. The symposium will feature informative presentations, active demonstrations and inspired discourse and camaraderie.

Symposium topics will include: stonemasonry, dry stone masonry, sculptural stonework, stone in the landscape, restoration masonry and architectural stonework.

For more information and to register, visit www.stonefoundation.org.

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