Tooth irons
A toothed iron is a flat chisel with a serrated cutting edge with a different number of points.
It is primarily used by the stonemason or stone sculptor to work off the overhangs ( bosses ) in the edge area and for profile work, as the serrated cutting edge prevents tearing into the stone during processing. But it is also used to achieve a certain surface structure on surfaces.
The use of tooth irons is limited to soft rocks such as sedimentary rocks or certain metamorphic rocks . To drive the toothed iron, a stick is used for soft stone and a hammer for marble . The teeth are wide for working on sandstone and pointed for limestone and marble.
In addition to forged tooth irons, there are also tooth iron holders with exchangeable cutting edges, as well as those with widia teeth soldered into the metal shaft . The latter only need to be reground.
There is evidence that Greek stone sculptors of antiquity used not only pointed chisels but also tooth irons to make their marble sculptures. In Central Europe the tooth iron was lost as a tool in the course of history and was only reintroduced there in the time of Gothic stonemasons.
