Limestone Peace Poles
Since the beginning of time people have set stones
upright as monuments
There is more than one way to count the number of continents on the earth. The
Olympic Committee considers there to be five, the number that is accepted in the
west, and so I make metal peace poles with five sides, one for each continent by
the western count. But the way the continents are counted in Europe and China
produces the number seven. For one thing they consider Europe and Asia to be two
separate continents even though they are one contiguous landmass. There are
historical and cultural reasons for their way of counting continents. So I have
designed this limestone peace pole to defer peacefully to the way half of the
people on earth count the number of continents.
In a stone peace pole, there are aesthetic and structural reasons for seven sides as well. One of which is that it works better visually than six sides.
Stone Stone might be the best thing out of which to make a peace pole. It lasts centuries making it a legacy. It feels regal. And it has a stateliness and a solidity that serve the message well.
Commemorations and Dedications If this peace pole is to be in commemoration of someone or dedicated to someone, rather than applying a plaque to the pole I can carve the dedication into the pole as in the photo below (shot in the rain as it laid on my trailer).
Things applied to peace poles eventually come off - caps, plaques, etc. This is one solid piece of stone into which everything is carved.
Printout If you
would like to print a photo of this peace pole to show to other people, click
the photo at right for the means to do that. I also will be happy to mail prints
to you if you need.
Planting When planting it, 3 feet belong underground (I seal the bottom for you). There is no need to meet the frost line since it is not load bearing. And it is not necessary to set it in cement. Just use a posthole digger to dig a narrow hole. Then tamp the earth around it (see installation). Since it will settle some in the beginning, the hole should be a little shallower than you want it to be five years from now (add gravel to raise the bottom of the hole if you dig too deep). It is not just the earth beneath it that keeps a post from sliding deeper. Once the earth has compacted around it, the friction on the sides of the pole becomes as important as the footing under it, but it takes a few years to get compacted that well.
If you prefer setting it in cement, if you'd like to see a drawing for the cement foundation for a much larger stone pole, click here. That is the plan we used for installing a multi-ton stone peace pole.
Size and Cost This seven-sided peace pole is 7.5 inches in diameter. The faces are roughly 3.5 inches wide. Its height is 10 feet. It comes with 7 translations (more can be added for $100 each) and has a cap carved into it. Its cost is $2500.
Shipping
At left is a pole with 14 translations being prepared for shipping to UCLA.
These can be shipped to almost anywhere in the lower 48 United States for
between $500 and $700. Some people save that by picking these up themselves
since these peace poles can be hauled in any pickup truck. It is okay for it to
hang over the end of the bed a few feet. It also will fit in many vans or
trailers.
If we ship it to you and you do not have a loading dock, it can be shipped to a truck service center near you where they will load it into your van or pickup for you. To unload it at your site, a team can carry it by hand from your vehicle. Eight people is a good size team for the project. It is 600 pounds, but with 8 people that is only 75 pounds per person. One person said they moved it with 3 people.
The trucking company also can bring it to you on a truck with a lift gate that will enable them to set it on the ground for you, but there is an additional charge for that. So far everyone has opted to lift it themselves.
It comes on a special skid that has two runners, like a sled, to enable you to slide it out of a vehicle and along the ground. It is a skid that is 10.5 feet long and 2 feet wide.
Below is a photo of one on a standard pallet that I used when hauling one myself.
Click this image to see a cross section
The quarry cuts these limestone peace poles to shape for me. Then I take them to a stone engraver with whom I have worked at getting good at creating the delicate languages common on peace poles. This is the one peace pole on which I function more as a contractor and designer than as the person holding the hammer.
Home
Translations of Peace Prayer for Peace Poles
Testimonial | Dedication Ceremonies for Peace Poles
Planting (installing) Peace Poles
History of Peace Poles | Why Peace Poles
Underwater Peace Pole | Invisible Peace Pole
The Artist
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