Today I present something a little different. But first, a question. Have you ever toured a huge stone fabrication plant? No? Well, most people haven’t. So the closest you may get is to scroll down and take a good, long look at the actual workings that go into all of that lovely finished stonework that you see (increasingly, these days) in fine architectural buildings across the country, and indeed the world. Because no matter where stone is fabricated it is worked in the manner you are about to witness, and believe me, it’s an impressive sight indeed. So, 47 pictures later, you should have a good idea of just what’s involved in the almost entirely unseen world of 21st-Century stone fabrication. You may even not be able to see stone quite the same way again, who knows?
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Anyway, here we go. The tour involved myself, Martin Cooney, my wife Kris Cooney, and Kelley Judd. His wife, Jill unfortunately could not attend the tour, but the four of us are business parteners who put the Martin Cooney STONEWORKS together at the beginning of this year, 2025 – of which much is written and cataloged here at martincooney.com. Our tour guide was Kyle, who works in sales management for US Stone, and was extremely generous with his time and attention. The tour took place at ten in the morning of Tuesday, November the 4th, 2025. The location of the plant is slightly east of Herrington, and a little further west from Council Grove, Kansas. So without further ado, let’s begin.
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1. Big New Wheel Saw Blade.
These pictures are arranged in the order they were photographed, and this giant circular saw greeted us at the entrance of the US Stone plant, and served to transmit something of the scale of the operation we were about to tour. Just look at it – this thing means business. I just can’t imagine what something like this must cost, and how long it lasts before it has to be replaced. But Kyle informed me that they had just acquired a new saw, so I imagine this – or more correctly, these – will be part of the deal. We’ll actually see blades like these in action on their existing saws, so bear the precision and engineering that went into the blade, and imagine the sheer power with which those tungsten tips will saw through the stone.
2. Big New Wheel Saw Blade, detail.
3. Radial Arm Rounter.
Stepping through the door we first entered the office area where we were fitted with the required hard hats, then with no further ado, we stepped straight into the thick of things, for on the other side of the second door lay this huge thing – a massive radial arm router that Kyle told us ‘could do pretty much anything’, ‘in any plane’ to any depth or angle … it does it all.
4. Kris, Kelley and Kyle discus the Radial Arm Router.
5. The Radial Arm Router, detail.
Obviously, the machine was not operating, but from the pecision of the semi-circular recess I could easily imagine just what such a cunning piece of equipment could get up to, given the right tools and programming. But from the details presented by the idle machine you get a good view of the router bit’s design.
6. Radial Arm Router, close detail.
7. Kelley Judd inspects the bins in the packing area.
A little further along from the router machine, and on the other side of the walkway, this little packing area was filling crates with finished tiles and assorted cladding. It all looked very efficient and tidy.
8. First glimpse of the big shed and a large band saw.
And then, all of a sudden, we turned a corner and were immediately confronted by the massive ‘inner workings’ of the plant; and the size and scale of it quiet took us by surprize. I don’t know what we expected, but none of us expected this … and this is just a small corner of the place. Wait until you see the full extent of the place. It truly is massive.
9. Kyle – our tour guide – and Kelley Judd discuss matters during the tour.
10. First glimpse of the massive stone yard.
It was at this point that the vast spectacle of US Stone’s exterior operation presented itself, as we peered out of the slabbing portal and onto the sprawling stone yard and across to the incredible bone yard – of which we will see more of shortly.
11. Rough Slabs enter the Slabbing Area.
But in continuation of the tour, Kyle took us around the slabbing operation. And in the picture above you can easily see for yourself the before and after reality of slicing such huge blocks into the almost wafer thin sheets leaning up against one another to the right of the rough, craggy and fresh from the quarry limestone blocks.
12. The Slabbing Zone.
13. Slab Turner.
My attention was caught by this rather odd looking and captivating contraption. Kyle, who is after all in sales management, not a fabrication, readily confessed his lack of knowledge as to what it actually does – but I immediately imagined that it could be used to turn those giant blocks into the right plane, or completely upside down, in order to be slabbed. But, what do you think? I’m going with the slab turner, until otherwise informed.
14. Closed Band Saw.
15. View of the vast former WW2 Military Hanger.
By now we were clearly near the center point of the old World War Two military aircraft hanger, and what a spendid sight it made. Such a vast building, formerly housing huge winged bomber and fighter planes now accomodated this mind-boggling assortment of stone fabrication machines; it was a perfect match, and an ideal use for such a grand and majestic piece of history. Everyone involved with this apt transformation should be duly proud of their achievement. So, well done everybody. Good work !
16. Former WW2 Military Hanger Ceiling.
Just look at the workmanship and design of that ceiling. The mind boggles. To my mind, this is a true work of art – such sweeping curves and intricate construction. I can easily see the men up there, with war raging around the world, and this ambitious contribution to the war effort adding one more asset to America’s arsenal. They must have been very proud of their work, as we are proud of them. A beautiful sight, indeed, and a real piece of history still very much in use today as not just a museum, but an actual state of the art stone fabrication plant.
17. Very, very Expensive Machinery At Work.
18. Workers tend to the workings of some very expensive machinery.
On and on the tour went, and all along the way workers were working and machines machining. The noise was not quite as loud as you perhaps expect. Water, though, was practically everywhere, which I suspect causes the place to feel rather cold in the depth of winter. But all the workers I spied were well equipped and attired for the job, and all seemed to know exactly what they were doing, with a calm effeciency permeating the air, and no raised voices at all. It all seemed to be going like clockwork, to be honest. I was very impessed.
19. Very expensive wet saw at work.
20. Very expensive wet saw in motion, returning to start another run.
21. Huge Wet Saw with blade stopped as it returns for another run.
Now we can see the machine that the massive saw, resting on a pallet as we came in, will end up. Or more likely in the new saw that according to Kyle was to be installed ‘in the next couple of weeks’. But here you can see the application of such ginormous blades. It makes my little seven inchers look laughable in comparison. When asked about the cost of such saws Kyle replied ‘about a million, I think, maybe two’. But what an investment. I can only imagine just how fast and clean these things cut.
22. Huge Band Saw.
23. Workers discuss procedure during the packing process.
As mentioned, there was an air of calm competence around the place that spoke of a well organized workforce that seemed very confident and assured as they went about their business.
24. Workers control the situation.
25. Freshly routered plinth bases.
26. Freshly routered plinth bases.
I was impressed with the way all of these bases were cut from the same block, in the same plane, so that they would all look the same and compatible when installed. Very smart. And as a stone carver myself – a banker mason, as we are called – this is one area where I could not compete with this application … whatsoever. In other fields yes, but this, no way.
27. Block Saw rejects are dispensed with as they pop out of the machine.
28. Intense concentration consumes diligent worker.
29. Hand carving is performed in the ‘banker shop’,as we call it in England.
30. Worker takes a quick pose for us in the banker shop.
I’ve spent a fair time myself doing what these men are doing, although an English Banker Shop is arranged very differently. But this is an impressive settup, all the same. I still work to this day at a height they are working at, and with an array of tools similar to those grinders hanging on a rail in the picture. But there all similarities end. In esscence though, we are accomplishing the same thing – Brothers in Arms, as are all professional stone carvers, all over the world.
31. Trim is finished in the Banker Shop
32. Pieces are sorted in The Banker Shop
33. Pallets of finished stonework are sorted in the Banker Shop
And then, just like that, without warning, out we popped into what has to be one of the largest ‘bone yards’ the world has ever seen. It really was like stepping out into another world, and really served to impress on Kelley, Kris and I just what a colossal operation US Stone have built upon the remains of an old abandoned World War Two military aircraft station. For not only was the building chock-a-block with state of the art stone fabrication equipment, the surround area was covered with an assortment of huge blocks of stone … and these virtual moutains of waste material. Which, by the way, Kyle assured us would all be repurposed in some way or another – into road bed, or crushed into powder. Nothing would go to waste – which I thought was most commendable. We all thought that, and who wouldn’t?
34. The Truly Huge Bone Yard is loaded onto trucks
35. John Deere Country.
36. The Biggest Dust Extractors I’ve Ever Seen
37. Kris Cooney takes in the highest Jagged Peaks in Kansas.
The scale and scope of those strangely exotic looking ‘slag piles’ take some time to come to terms with. Just how many blocks and blocks of stone went into their making? The sheer height alone is something else, but … there are just so many of them! Impressive, indeed.
38. Kyle, Kris and Kelley discus matters during our US STONE Fabrication Plant Tour.
38. Kyle, Kris and Kelley discus matters during our US STONE Fabrication Plant Tour.
40. Kelley takes pictures as Kyle and Kris look on.
41. The Vast Panorama of the Stone Yard defies photography.
It is difficult to exagerate just how enormous the stoneyard is – stretching off into the distance and taking up all of what was presumably at one point the aircraft taxiing area. Huge flatbeds, that I have seen many times rolling down Council Grove Main Street, were hauling off ton after ton of finished product with conveyor belt efficiency. I’ll never look at one of these flat beds quite the same way again.
42. A Stream of trucks haul away vast amounts of finished stonework.
43. The Tumbling and Chopping Shop.
44. Workers go about their business in the very wet environment of the Tumbling and Chopping Shop.
Our tour was rapidly drawing to a close now, as we entered perhaps the roughest, toughest and in winter almost certainly the coldest shed …. Kansas? I mean, all that water. The noise. The crashing of giant splitters and mean-looking machines chomping down on cold, hard stone. And all the while, the constant tumbling, grumbling clatter of the tumbling machine in the background, made this a challenging environment in which to work. So, well done to those who face up to the challenges and get the job done, day in, day out. Think about that the next time you see a tumbled rock, a split-faced paver or ‘rusticated’ block of stone.
45. A worker carefully manouvers his forks under a delicate slab.
46. One of man huge bucket loaders and giant machines.
47. Kelley’s broad smile was reflected by myself and Kris as we head out after our US STONE Fabrication Plant Tour.
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And with that, the tour was over. What a great tour it was, too. Kyle was a super tour guide and kept us informed and interested throughout the 90 minutes or so that we estimated we were there. But in a way, it all went so quickly. It was fascinating to see such a sleek operation performed on such a vast scale. Nothing prepared me for the size and scope of US Stone’s fabrication plant, and I’ve seen a few in my time. But this one is surely bound for great things and the company prepares to expand and increase their reach into the national, and international, dimension stone business.
Kelley, Kris and I wish them all the success that will surely come their way.
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Discover more at https://usstoneindustries.com/
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US Stone Fabrication Plant Tour: In 47 Pictures
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Thank you for visiting martincooney.com
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