Quarrying by hand

It is essential to have the right rocks for any job. Often almost every type of stone can be utilised for standard walls but when it comes to steps one really requires relatively large flat pieces. Recently I was able to quarry out by hand the perfect slabs for a set of 12 steps in the South of France. Luckily the local bedrock is a flat bedded limestone which can be detached fairly easily. We used iron bars and what is called a trump pick to loosen the required pieces. A small half ton trailer was all that was needed to move the slabs down to the job site. With the aid of a hessian sack two of us were able to load and unload all that we excavated.
Many places now do not allow the removal of bedrock ,so make sure that you seek permission before attempting an exercise like this.
The photo show the result of around 15 minutes of hard work to obtain three useful specimens.