Hertfordshire, UK - There were impressive stone displays by Abacus Stone and Original Stone Paving, both of Yorkshire, and Steptoe's Yard of Lancashire, in the new Reclaimed Stone Park at Salvo Fair 2011.

Steptoe's stand had sections of built-up walling, a fine display of setts laid during the fair, feature stone and a range of architectural salvage. Abacus brought a finished section of wall showing four different stone samples with setts which had been pre-built on a roll-off flatbed pallet, as well as carved Victorian architectural stone window surrounds and items of salvage and statuary. The flatbed pallet is ideal for a display at the Salvo Fair because the display can be pre-built and then dropped at the fair to near-pedestrian level. Abacus intends to keep the display for use at fairs which it might attend in future.

Stephen 'Cookie' Cooke of Original Stone Paving demonstrated sett-laying using the traditional fan-laid setts as well as the increasingly popular interlocked bogens - both of which come from continental Europe.

Allan Pogson, boss of Abacus Stone, talked about the reclaimed stone trade. He said that he could not supply thousands of tonnes of batches of specific varieties of reclaimed stone because it was not available in his region in very large quantities. In his experience demolition contractors in his region were not crushing stone from demolitions because reclaimed stone was simply too valuable.

He started dealing in reclaiming walling stone, setts and flagstones a few years ago, having expanded from architectural salvage and antique fireplaces, and soon discovered that reclaimed walling stone needs to be processed so that it is more easily marketable. Abacus Stone does this by backing the stone off to 4.5ins-5ins thickness and sorting it into courses which it supplies as 'Secondary Face' stone.

Abacus now does fifty per cent of its turnover in reclaimed stone, and has bought around 2,000 tonnes this year, and has 10,000 tonnes in stock. Its punched face stone is sought after for projects in the Peak National Park. Mr. Pogson says that the stone sells as fast as it is processed, and one problem in the supply chain he has is in finding stone dressers to sort and cut. Everything has to be properly prepared, he says, and the days of the salvage junkyard are long gone.

Incidentally, Abacus Stone is situated in an old quarry in Holmfirth, home of the BBC series 'Last Of The Summer Wine'.

Abacus Stone Sales

Steptoe's Yard
Original Stone Paving Co

Story Type:  Fair Report

ID: 60575

Date Modified: July 13, 2011, 12:18 PM