It turns out that granite can be cut with a torch. An example of how it is done in quarries

It is known that granite is one of the most durable rocks. Both ancient buildings and modern elements (mainly cladding and road surfaces, curbs) were built from it. In most cases, saws are used for processing granite, and in quarries they can be chipped off. Granite is a polycrystalline rock and is brittle to rupture.

But few people know that granite can be easily processed by heating its surface with a special gas burner:

The burner head is a carriage with holes through which gas escapes under pressure. The high temperature (up to 2500 gr.) Heats up the surface of the granite. And since granite consists of grains (crystals) of various minerals, which have different melting points and volumetric expansion when heated, quartz grains peel off the surface. The surface of granite begins to crumble under the influence of high temperatures. There is, one might say, artificial aging of the surface.

It will not work to apply this processing technology to other breeds. The rock must be composed of different minerals with a quartz content.

Why is such a heat treatment of the granite surface necessary? To create irregularities, chipped granite texture. After cutting large blocks with water, the edges of the granite products have an almost polished surface. Tiles made from such products will be slippery. And after processing rough. An example of a surface can be seen on the second slide.

After processing, the granite surface becomes more frost-resistant (all weak points are peeled off). In this way, you can also clean granite from dirt and graffiti. Nowadays, blocks are also cut out in quarries by heat treatment of granite:

Extraction of granite at the Mansurovsky quarry (South Urals).

A gas burner cuts grooves in the granite and the blocks are easier to separate from the massif. No need to drill holes and cut blocks with cable saws. Although, these technologies are used there, but by other teams.

In addition to gas burners, thermojet burners are used, which operate on a mixture of kerosene and compressed air. An example is the "FLAME-5" thermal protectors. This technology has been known since the 60s of the last century.

An example of how the surface of granite changes under the torch of a burner - in this video:

In the United States, on Stone Mountain, 10 miles from Atlanta, a bas-relief "Confederate Memorial" was made:

This bas-relief was also made with similar gas burners. At least finishing. This can be seen from the footprints on the stone. It was finished not so long ago, in 1972. The most interesting thing is that in the Aswan ancient granite quarry in Egypt, the same traces were left on the surface:

The official explanation is that this was done with diorite stones. But the heat treatment of granite is more logical here. Paradoxically, this career is thousands of years old. There are still disputes among researchers.

There is another technology that allows you to create a rough surface on granite - called bush hammering of granite. Another tool is used there.But we'll talk about it in the next article.

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