Two young craftsmen, Martin Tyler and Luke De Garis, are making a bid to save the dying craft of building stone walls, or “dry stane diking” as it’s called in Scotland. Speaking to The Scotsman, 34-year-old Martin Tyler, who owns Dry Stone Walling Perthshire, said that “the skill is technical and complex to learn, but it provides walls that will last hundreds of years.” Luke De Garis, also 34, from Perthshire, was granted an apprenticeship through The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust and Allchurches Trust, to train under Tyler. De Garis explains that the pair of craftsmen plan to continue working together after his training, adding that they hope their work will lay a strong foundation for future generations of dry stone wallers to build upon. Dry stone walling involves either stripping and rebuilding existing walls that have fallen into disrepair, or gapping – repairing gaps where the wall has collapsed. Fewer new walls are built, although foundations sometimes have to be relaid. The 3 lb. Mason’s Hammerfrom Kraft is a basic stone shaping hammer, a great first stone hammer for utilitarian stone shaping. The high quality steel head will need more frequent sharpening than carbide tipped hammers, but this hammer is still favored by many professional wallers and Master Craftsmen. The 3lb weight is comfortable to swing one handed and heavy enough to do some real work. Then you lay large, flat stones on the top, and stand upright cope (or coping, cap or capping) stones along it: bigger, heavier ones at regular intervals, with smaller, lighter ones wedged in between. Finally, pebbles are hammered down between the cap stones, setting everything solidly in place.

Demonstrate all new work techniques as you come to them. This will save mistakes and avoid accidents. The second set of tools is of shovels. It is to dig the ground for preparing the dry-stone wall foundation.Try to avoid holding a stone with one hand while pounding on it with a hammer. The vibrations going up your wrist often eventually cause problems. Instead prop the stone under your boot, or in such a way that you don’t have to hold it at all. There are many types of coping, so follow the local style as far as possible. Keep the top of the coping even by using a line. Avoid wedging the stones to keep them steady. Wallheads Footings (commonly called Foundation Stones): The footings are the stones that make up the bottom layer, or course, of stone upon which the rest of the wall sits. The Foundation Stones are usually the largest stones in the wall, and may be partly or entirely below ground depending on the conditions in which the wall is being built.

A basic understanding of stone is important to be able to wall efficiently. Some stone is easy to work with, and other stone can be very challenging.The 3 lb. Mason’s Hammer from Kraft is a basic stone shaping hammer, a great first stone hammer for utilitarian stone shaping. The high quality steel head will need more frequent sharpening than carbide tipped hammers, but this hammer is still favored by many professional wallers and Master Craftsmen. The 3lb weight is comfortable to swing one handed and heavy enough to do some real work. The leg is a horizontal component in batter, indicating the height of the wall below throughs. In typical cases, it is 18.”

It has a horizontal and vertical component to give it a battered shape and help in running threads of strings on each side at different levels as the work progresses.

Coping stones straddle the wall in the same way as throughstones, holding the sides together and holding down and protecting the upper courses. The qualifications currently available are delivered under the auspices of Lantra Awards and DSWA. Lantra is a sector skills council which has many years’ experience in the land-based and environmental sector. Lantra gave the DSWA’s existing certification system nationally accredited status in 2003. Over 250 students take one or more of these qualifications each year. There are currently 29 Mastercraftsmen and women who are qualified to be examiners, most of them based in the UK. IS THERE A SHORTAGE OF SKILLED WALLERS?