The Art & Craft of Stonescaping - Setting & Stacking Stone By David Reed Stonework is one of the most important skills a trailbuilder can have. That's why IMBA is offering this unique book focused on working with rocks. We've checked out lots of books about stonework, and most of them have limited relevance to trailbuilding. They focus primarily on stone walls, landscaping projects, and using mortar to hold the stones in place. But Stonescaping focuses on dry-stacked stonework - no mortar here dude! This is a key difference and is a big reason why we recommend this book. Like other stonework books, the emphasis is on landscaping projects. However, most of the techniques in this book translate easily to trails. With a few basic tools, a pile of stone, and this book, anyone can create retaining walls, culverts, steps, drop offs, armoring, hardened water crossings, rock chokes, gateways, benches, and more. When building trail features that require more than just dirt, you have two basic materials to work with: rock and wood. In most cases, rock is better. Unlike wood, well-built rock structures will withstand decades of trail use, will ride the same day after day and rarely require maintenance. Nearly 200 how-to color photos and detailed illustrations depict every critical step, and a wealth of images from around the world offer plenty of inspiration. |