Working with Hammer & Chisel
Means Working with Heart and Soul: Marc Archambault of Hammerhead Stoneworks
by Stacy B. Williams
Photos provided by M. Archambault (hover over photos for descriptions)
Hammerhead Stoneworks creates beautifully strong natural stone spaces that are personal and durable. Through the creation of such structures the company strives to instill a philosophy of craftsmanship and sustainability that lingers in the space and is shared by its environment.
Marc Archambault is a young craftsman with an old soul. He is an artist and stonemason, and is partial to the traditional drystone construction without mortar.
Although a native of Rhode Island, his relationship with drystone work began when he came to North Carolina about ten years ago.
His first job was drystone construction and he’s been doing it ever since.
He likes to consider himself a part of a creative mason lineage, and two masons in particular have left a lasting impression on his craft.
“Fred Lashley has been incredibly influential,”
Archambault says, “not necessarily because of instruction but more by osmosis.”
Archambault worked for Lashley as a mason in her company, Unturned Stone, for six years and clearly learned a lot. And Lashley spent time with Charles McRaven, a famed stone mason and writer on pioneer skills and building techniques.
Marc feels fortunate to have learned drystone concepts and gained quality experience with these artists. Meanwhile, he continues to carve his own glowing reputation.
In 2009 he founded Hammerhead Stoneworks, for which he builds flagstone patios and paths, steps, retaining walls, benches and other outdoor stone features.
Hammerhead has served Western North Carolina consistently with creative attention to detail from large stone slabs to the tiniest marble. (Marble pockets are a Hammerhead trademark often found in small gaps of drystone.)
Most of Hammerhead’s flatwork uses Tennessee Sandstone from the Crossville area.
This stone is great for patios and flooring because it generally has a clean, flat surfaces and cuts easily. Pennsylvania Bluestone is also found in much of Archambault’s work, and its smooth facade is great for flooring. The Blue Spiral, commissioned and owned by the City of Gainesville, Florida, features this bluestone and his attention to detail.
His exceptional creativity and craftsmanship are trademarks in all of his work. For example, Hammerhead’s Invisible Fire Pit showcases Marc’s aesthetic ingenuity.
He wanted to preserve space on the small stone patio while keeping the fire pit easily accessible.
“My big worry was that the fire might be starved for oxygen, but it seems to burn quite well. It’s not especially deep, for that reason,”
Archambault says, “A blacksmith friend made a couple of handles that are recessed into the stone, so that there’s no trip hazard.”
Archambault has worked on several joint public projects with other local artists, including a neighborhood entry sign with blacksmith, Lynda Metcalf.
Not surprisingly, Archambault attributes some of his inspiration to community.
Asheville’s cultural climate embraces and engages artists. Its commerce and social environment promote handmade and local goods and services, which benefits Hammerhead Stoneworks.
Archambault’s experience, which is shared by much of the Asheville community, is that natural handmade items are good for the environment and the human experience.
“Asheville has a strong culture of craftsmen and sustainability,” says Archambault.
Hammerhead Stoneworks has sustained a thriving business, also in small part due to its natural environment.
The geography of North Carolina, especially around Asheville, is full of tilts and slopes.
On a topographic map of the state, the Southwestern corner “is like a crazy patchwork quilt of minerals and stone.” In the Blue Ridge Mountains, everything is sloping.
“It’s deceiving how much the land slopes,” Archambault says.
He builds a one percent grade into his flatwork to ensure proper drainage away from foundations and doors.
The landscape dynamic can be a challenge in Hammerhead’s patio and path work, but that’s what Marc loves about it.
The tilt of ground, old tree roots and the edge of the house all act as puzzle parameters for Hammerhead’s signature flatwork.
“Each project is different and that’s the fun part,” Archambault says.
He is earnestly moved by the beauty of stone structures in the way a writer is touched by poetic prose.
Archambault shares his work and love of natural stone structures through hands-on classes to a diverse audience. In the past, his students have been landscapers, architects and homeowners, and interestingly enough more women than men.
The day-long course in flatwork construction is called Amazing Paving: DIY Flagstone Paths and Patios.
Archambault first reviews the concepts and uses diagrams and images of flatwork projects.
The second part of the day is spent outside where students watch Archambault demonstrate cutting and laying stones.
Then the students get to work on their own or in pairs to pave a small area. Archambault hopes to teach students the best techniques for building strong and durable structures, but he also cautions that nature impacts everything.
“Weather always wins. There’s nothing in this material world that can resist the ceaseless forces of water, sun, wind, and gravity,” he says.
The structural integrity of drystone building is the result of compressional forces of interlocking stones.
Most walls are built to retain land and water. The common problem with mortar stone walls is that they do not drain properly.
However, in a drystone retaining wall the hydrostatic pressure created by water is never allowed to build up, as it drains through the wall. In fact, one of Hammerhead’s upcoming projects will be replacing a block and mortar retaining wall with a drystone wall.
“When I have my favorite gear on, the world is gone. Wearing my dust mask, my goggles and my earphones with the grinder going is the best feeling. I love that, because it’s really about what the tool and the material will do.” said Archambault.
While he uses traditional drystone masonry techniques, he is not a purist about his tools and often uses a variety of grinders and diamond blades. However, most of his time is spent working with his hammers and chisels.
The tools and gear are brought to every job site because Hammerhead does not currently have a workshop. One of Archambault’s dream projects is to build a drystone shop building capable of maintaining a warm temperature where he can complete more small projects.
Hammerhead Stoneworks is also hoping to create more mosaic flatwork in the near future. “The Hiker” memorial, featured in the October Issue of Slippery Rock Gazette, is an example of the direction Marc would like to take his work. Additionally, his sights are set on more vertical projects.
“I’m looking to work with natural stone and wall space,” he says, and is already seeking out city space for a potential mural mosaic. The interplay of natural stone textures and the glassy smoothness of granite or marbles along with the puzzle aspect of piecing it all together excites Archambault. Marbles, in particular, often find their way into the tiniest cracks in the drystone projects.
“Making things by hand is making things with heart and soul too,” Archambault says. With this notion of nurturing attention and unparalleled masonry expertise, Hammerhead Stoneworks is paving this appreciation for handmade crafts one stone at a time, and sometimes a marble.
For more information about Hammerhead Stoneworks, visit www.hammerheadstoneworks.com or contact Marc Archambault at (828) 337-7582 or hammerheadstone@gmail.com .