Finishing a Masterpiece

A raw, hand-carved fireplace surround receives a deep ebony finish

by Roe A. Osborn

After the majority of the carving and shaping was completed in his Cape Cod, Mass.-based shop, stone carver Tim Dibble brought the 60-some pieces of this massive fierplace surround to the jobsite and began the meticulous process of assembly. Tim fastened the soapstone pieces to the original brick-faced fireplace with epoxy, and wedges held the pieces in place until the epoxy set.

The sea-turtle keystone began as three layers of 1 1/2-in. thick soapstone laminated together. The rest of the relief sculpture was shaped from a single layer of the stone. After installing the major pieces of the fireplace surround, Dibble did some fine tuning in places with hand chisels. The slabs that form the mantle were the last of the big pieces of soapstone to be installed. Tim carved the shaped edges of the mantle and the mantle trim by hand.

For the final tweaking of the carving, Dibble put up a floor-to-ceiling tarp for dust containment. Diamond embedded fabric in grits up to 400 brought the smooth areas of the carving such as the backs of the fish to a honed finish. To smooth the trim profile, Tim wrapped diamond cloth around a small cylinder.