As industrial designers, most of us are keenly aware of how plastic, metal, wood and glass are manipulated into objects. But stone is a lesser-used and more mysterious material; how exactly does a quarry turn what's in the earth into a slab, and turn that slab into rectangular blocks?

In this video shot at a stone quarry in Malta, we see that it requires first surfacing the top of the slab and then performing a series of "rip cuts" (we don't get to see these two steps), then setting up a dolly track perpendicular to the initial cuts, something like the track of a tracksaw. Then a ride-able machine goes along the track making two cuts at once, while a trailing splitter separates the blocks and helps a second worker set them vertically:

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Replicants! I am sure that is off world somewhere...

My dad and uncle had limestone quarries in Mexico for most of my youth. Never seen a machine like this. I do appreciate the lack of protection on that bottom cutting blade, perfect for taking toes off.

Don't even mention that fact that you can get sand in your shoes! LOL

How much stone dust have those two inhaled while working?!?!

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