How to Shape Granite With Hand Tools
- 1). Place the granite you want to shape on a solid surface, up high enough where you can get to it easily. Preferably, you should be able to stand for most of the shaping process.
- 2). Shape the initial outline (rough outline), using a carbide-tipped point chisel. This is the roughing-out phase. Hold the point chisel against the granite at a 45-degree angle and hit it with a hammer. This will remove large chunks of the granite at a time. Remove the big pieces of granite that you will not need in this fashion.
- 3). Refine the rough shape, using a tooth chisel to go over the initial roughing-out lines. The tooth chisel will help remove the peaks and valleys left behind by the point chisel. To effectively refine the shape, angle the edge of the tooth chisel so it lies almost flat against he roughed-out lines and tap the end with your hammer, removing small stretches of granite at a time.
- 4). Shape precise lines with a tracing tool. This is a thin-edged chisel used at a 45-degree angle to remove the marks left behind by the tooth chisel. Tap gently to remove the tooth marks and create the precise lines of your final shape.
- 5). Smooth your finished granite piece, using a rasp. This is a metal file used to remove excess stone. Go over rough edges and gently move the rasp back and forth to file them down.