Stone Engraving with a Diamond Wire Saw

I'm working on a writing project for a favorite customer of mine who begins our conversations like this:

"Hey, I need a genius and I instantly thought of you..."

"I've got an incredibly fun project coming up that I thought you might want to be involved in...." 

"I need someone who can bring a story to life...."

Oh, he's good.

So I'm working on another project for him and thought you, too, might enjoy seeing how something works.

When master stone carver Ron Clamp first mentioned his diamond saw, I perked up of course.  Diamonds?  Diamonds are used to cut hard rock?  You betcha:

Watch the video.....
 below to see it in operation, but basically the diamond wire saw contains a wire with notches like thorns on a rose with the "thorns" being diamonds.  As the wire goes through the rock, it heats up.  The diamonds will burn out faster when it's hot, so water sprays continuously to cool things down.

The wooden blocks under the piece create space to slide straps under the granite for the crane to lift the granite up to be transported.  The engravers will stick little pieces of wood in the cut lines as well to keep the granite from collapsing in on itself.  The piece shown is Georgia gray granite being cut in the shop in Elberton, GA.  It has since been moved up to Ron's shop in SC.  Memorial Designs  Sandblast Training

Watch the video below to see how it's done.  Other posts on stonework:  Walking Through a Stonecarving Project,   SC First Responders 9/11 Monument , A Visit to the Memorial Designs shop, Hootie and the Blowfish Monument,  SC Remembers 9/11.