The Ogyu Diamond Wire Saws
Once the quarry blocks have been brought down the hill, they are placed on large reinforced metal decks that can be swung onto the saw platforms with a 45 ton Badger crane.
The saws are then programmed to make a series of vertical cuts of desired thickness. We do not cut completely through the stone for reasons of stability. If we leave the base intact, it will support the entire stone throughout the series of cuts. This allows us to offload the stone as one piece again for breakdown at a different location.
Ogyu #1 has an optical tracing capability which follows a 1:4 scaled pattern with a laser eye beam. It can cut 2 dimensional patterns in the stone, allowing for some pretty interesting shapes, like this solid staircase.