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Traditional Mallorcan object

Stonemason's tools (eines de picapedrer)

At a glance

In Mallorca stonecutter has two meanings. The general: who cuts and carves the stone. And the Balearic: bricklayer, who builds houses (DCVB: "El quité per…

Objects and tools
Traditional Mallorcan object
Words
cantó, escoda / escodra, gaveta, mall, mall de cap i pena, obrer de vila / mestre de cases
Events
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shield
shield — National Museum of Anthropology, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, National Museum of Anthropology (vía Europeana/CER.ES)

What is

In Mallorca stonecutter has two meanings. The general: who cuts and carves the stone. And the Balearic: bricklayer, who builds houses (DCVB: "El quité per ofici to build cases (bal.)"; synonyms mestre de cases, oberr de vila). That's why his toolbox brings together those for quarrying (uprooting and working marès) and those for construction (raising walls with lime mortar).

How is

Of stone (quarry and work):

  • Escoda / escodra — hammer with two points or edges for chopping and roughing.
  • Tascó — iron or wooden wedge, with a triangular section, to separate the block.
  • Mall — large, long-handled hammer. Mall de cap i pena: an ax head and an adze head (DCVB).
  • Picassa — sledgehammer for cutting stone (Mall.).
  • Perpal / parpal — pry bar.
  • Buixarda and Tallant — for texturing and cutting (see trade).

Of work:

  • Trowel — triangular steel blade with an angled handle to pick up and apply the mortar. In Mallorca, a trowel is also the trowel for laying the plaster.
  • Drawer — wooden box with sloping walls for kneading the mortar (DCVB, bal.).
  • Pot - small and robust hammer, "mainly on the paddle" (DCVB).
  • Plom, regle (ruler) and levell — verticality, line and horizontal.
  • Senalla de picapedrer — coarse work palm carrycot, from Capdepera (BIC file on palm work).

How is fa

  • The iron (escodes, tascons, malls) was forged and reinforced by the ferrer: the edges are worn and forged again. Today: Eines Mallorquines (Sineu) manufactures the “stone-cutting martell”.
  • Handles, rulers and drawers: the work of the fuster or the stonecutter himself.
  • The senalla: work of thick palm (see work-of-palma-llata ).

Com s'usa

  • In the quarry: the grid of corners is marked, channels are opened with a nook or pic and the block is separated with tascons.
  • In the workshop: roughing with a saw, finishing with tallant and buixarda, template moldings.
  • On site: lime mortar kneaded in the drawer, applied with a trowel; plumb and ruler for each row of corners.

Vocabulary

  • picapedrer: stonecutter; in the Balearic Islands, also a bricklayer.
  • obrer de vila / mestre de cases: bricklayer (synonyms of the Balearic sense).
  • escoda / escodra: hammer for breaking stone.
  • tascó: wedge.
  • mall: long-handled mallet.
  • mall de cap i pena: mallet with ax and adze.
  • picassa: sledgehammer (Mall.).
  • paleta: mason's trowel; in Mallorca also flat.
  • gaveta: mortar kneading drawer; in Mallorca, also the hole left by a song torn out in the quarry.
  • plom: plumb line.
  • cantó: marès standard block.

History

  • 1388: "duas pales opperandi" in an inventory published in the BSAL (DCVB, sv pallet).
  • 1405: "the cistern that the stonecutters of Mallorca have there", document from the BSAL (DCVB).
  • 1406: Martí I requests stone from Santanyí for his palace in Barcelona (see official letter).
  • 1714: revised work "per stonemason", BSAL (DCVB).
  • 20th century: concrete, brick and disc saw move the work by hand.

On veure'n

Why is it design

  • Modularity: the cantó de marès and the palette form a system; The block fixes the measurement of the wall.
  • Tool according to the stone: soft marès, esda; Hard Santanyí, fine chisel.
  • Repairability: edges that are highlighted in the forge; wooden handles and drawers that are redone.
  • One job, two steps: the same person removed the stone and built the house.

For the project

Frequently asked questions

What is Stonemason's tools (eines de picapedrer)?

In Mallorca stonecutter has two meanings. The general: who cuts and carves the stone. And the Balearic: bricklayer, who builds houses (DCVB: "El quité per…

What are the traditional words for Stonemason's tools (eines de picapedrer)?

Some words: cantó, escoda / escodra, gaveta, mall, mall de cap i pena, obrer de vila / mestre de cases, paleta, picapedrer.

Sources

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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