Tapering limestone setts - Am i insane?

[matthewmoore3]

Hi!

I am making a small (160cm diameter) round patio with 100mm limestone setts around 3cm thick

I am tapering every other sett to get the curve without triangular joints, which i dont like the look of.

I am now aware cutting small amounts from the edge of limestone setts isnt easy due to the fineness of the amount and how brittle the matefial is.

First I tried block splitter and the results were pretty terrible.. it tended to crack the sett in some undesirable way or other.

Then i tried a chisel and hammer. It works better than the block splitter, but is pretty labourious and slow progress, and the hit rate of success isnt high.. ive wasted quite a few.

I dont know if its the quality of my chisel work, but it occured to me what im trying to do is pretty darn difficult.

Now I think a saw or angle grinder would be my best bet...

Any thoughts and suggestions?

Would this perhaps be easier with sandstone? Limestone seems pretty brittle for such small cuts

[lutonlagerlout]

I think most would maybe taper the inner 5-6 rows but then as the radii increases ,use full sets
disc cutter and you must tape both sides
cheers LLL

[matthewmoore3]

Cool.. thanks LLL

[Tony McC]

Here's a setting-out sketch for creating a circle using 100mm setts showing by how much the setts in each successive ring need to be trimmed to maintain consistent (ish) joint width (10-14mm)....



....For the ideal circle, the centre stone and the first 12 rings need trimming, as shown, but by the time you reach the 13th ring, it's p[ossible to use full, untrimmed setts and still achieve reasonable joint widths: 13mm on the outer edhge but a tight 6mm on the inside edge. From the 14th ring on, it just gets easier and easier.