Journal
Factory Visit: Vienna, VA
Last winter we produced over 200 sets of Daniel Emma's iconic granite bookends for the soon-to-open Line Hotel in the Adam's Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. Easy Stone Center in Vienna, VA was tasked with the stone fabrication and they delivered a flawless product. Below are some images of the bookends in process.
Daniel Emma's iconic stone bookends begin their life in Elberton, Georgia, also known as the "Granite Capital of the World." Granite has been quarried in Elberton since 1889. Slabs cut from the surrounding hills are processed for use in everything from monuments to countertops.
Upon arrival in Vienna, the bookends are cut from a thick slab of Elberton Gray granite that has been milled to a uniform thickness. A CNC bridge saw then rough cuts the "stock" to achieve its signature triangular profile.
Because of a slight amount of blade drift and tool marks, the next step is to mill the "stock" to ensure a uniform and precise triangular profile. The tooling is a water cooled diamond cutter mounted to a multi-axis overarm CNC router.
The dimensioned stock is then cut into individual bookends using the same overarm CNC machine. For this operation, it is outfitted with a 30" diameter water cooled diamond saw blade.
The final and most laborious step, is honing and edge breaking. This is time consuming hand work done by the skilled craftspeople at Easy Stone Center.
The end result. Purchase your bookends here.