Doug Llewelyn: It 
is a fact that many homeowners, given the
opportunity, would love to have a home like
this, that actually resembles a mansion built
in Europe hundreds of years ago, out of stone.
And as you know, most of those homes are still
standing today, which means this home should
be around for quite a while.
This home, by the way, was built out of manmade
limestone, which differs from natural limestone
in that it is more durable, more cost effective,
and it's easier to work with.
This is actually cast stone, and the work
is the responsibility and the product of a
Dallas based company called Stone Legends.
And although the company is based in Texas,
their handy work can be found in states all
across the country.
Their clients include Fortune 500 giants,
and a wide range of celebrity people like
Garth Brooks, Thomas Kinkade, Rusty Wallace,
and Dale Jarrett, among many, many others.
The company is an unbelievably impressive
operation, as is the founder of the company,
Richard Carey.
Richard Carey: Cast stone was a dead art.
It's been around for about 2,500 years, but
for some reason, it didn't make the cut somewhere
along the way.
Illiteracy, other factors, but there are no
books on the subject, and the last time I
saw a resurgence of it historically was from
the 1910s to the 1930s.
And then it seemed to fall off the map again.
Today it's considered one of the primary design
products, it's elements of the building, columns,
balustraudes, staircases, moldings, entablatures
on the building, entries, fireplaces, it's
on the floor, it's on the walls.
What I saw was a consuming market that was
hungry for something that would personalize
and make their homes look special; their own
added touch to it.
And so the cast stone made it possible for
say, the average person, to have a little
piece of a castle all his own.
DL: Explain to me what cast stone really is.
RC: We forge the stone, just like a blacksmith
hammers steel, and hammers it hard, and pounds
the molecules together.
We're doing the same thing with silica sands
and cementuous materials, we're putting them
in a form and hammering them in there.
The process involves a lot of talent and skills.
Everything is hand made.
There is little, if any automation that can
be accomplished because we don't make enough
of one piece and it's our versatility to move
from one shape to another shape that offers
us the greatest advantage over other materials.
Cast stone's more economical; simply because
we get to put a lot of time into one form
and then use the form again and again and
again.
Therefore we don't have to shape each piece
individually, but we can actually use the
form to help us do the shaping.
We're using very small, thumb nail size implements
to tool the material when we bring it out
of the forms.
That way any molding lines, or anything, are
taken out and we're able to get a product
that looks as close to cut as you can possibly
make it look.
And the fact is that in many cases cast stone
will outlast limestone because limestone is
a calcium based glue and it erodes over time
with acid rains and so forth.
And the cast stone seems to hold up.
There are examples of it that are over 1,000
years old.
Jeff Peterson, Architectural Digest: Richard
saw that there was an opportunity in this
country for architectural elements in stone.
And he built the company around the notion
that as homes for affluent people became more
elaborate, that they're going to want more
stone pieces in their homes, and established
a business to address that market.
He needed to sell his products outside of
just his region of Texas and recognized that
Architectural Digest was the most prominent
voice in reaching interior designers, architects
who are working on magnificent homes, who
have the need for high quality cast stone
product, both inside and outside the house.
Jose Ramirez, Architect: They manufacture
pre-cast stone material.
And we do a lot of ocean front homes.
And because we design stone into these houses,
you'll find that naturally limestone is not
handled very well in that environment, especially
in a salt air environment.
So their stone actually handles very well.
And what's great about the Stone Legends material
is that if we need replacement pieces, we
can order replacement pieces because it's
a manmade material.
Versus having to find a natural stone in the
same color.
RC: We're about to choose a windows surround,
and once we choose the window surround, we're
going to choose profiles that go with it.
And then we're going to automatically draw
a 3D model of it, so that we're certain it
fits.
We're going to piece out each piece, and put
it out on a cut ticket.
And we're also going to search a database,
where we have some 25,000 molds and make a
determination if we can leverage those molds
or use those molds on the customer's behalf.
We're going to choose the shape of the windows
first, in this case we're choosing the circle
top window.
And once he chooses the circle top, then we're
going to go through and we're going to choose
profiles for the sill.
We got a profile that goes to the surround.
Then we've selected a keystone that we're
going to put in there.
The next thing that we're going to do is determine
the control dimensions.
Often in a window, there are only two control
dimensions, sometimes three.
Once we have those from the field, then we're
able to apply those and come up with all the
part dimensions and the assembly drawings
through this program.
Not only is it sizing each piece, but it's
marking each piece in its respective position
in the assembly.
Now it's made a bill of materials, that's
what's in red at the bottom, and at the same
time it made that bill of materials, it also
queried a database to see if those molds were
available to us.
And so there's the 3D model, there's the assembly
drawing with each of the pieces marked and
labeled.
Two man hours in 100 seconds.
DL: This is a program that you developed?
RC: Yes, we have a patent on it.
This is where we make our molds.
We have over 1,200 profiles hanging on the
wall that we use in catalog that we keep up
with.
And then we make extrusions, or components,
that we assemble down here and make the different
parts that we're going to make to carry off
the project.
This is an example of one of the 1,200 profiles
that we extrude.
In this particular case, he's making a straight
section.
We're going to cut it and fit it, so that
we can make parts out of it that fit into
one of our units.
So this would be, making a positive and going
to a negative.
This is a positive model, we've cast around
that, and we've made removable parts in the
mold.
They'll actually take the mold apart while
the material is still fresh.
The best way I could describe it to you is
that when you were a child playing on the
beach, and you packed that bucket full of
sand, and you flipped it over, I bet you can
remember seeing the patent numbers on the
bottom of the bucket.
That's what kind of detail you can pull.
We're going to use this form multiple times
today.
So we're going to do a casting and while it's
in the sand castle phase, we're not going
to leave it in this form.
We are going to very carefully with delicate
hands, disassemble the form and when we pull
everything away, the sand castle remains.
Here is an example of a negative form.
And what we've done here, is we've made this
mold in reverse.
Instead of putting the model together first,
we've gone straight for the mold itself.
So we've built the mold from scratch in reverse,
so we made it hollow.
We're in the art shop, and art by definition,
is very broad.
What I want to bring to your attention is
that we work for architects that believe in
classics.
So there's certain disciplines here that reach
far beyond art.
This is a customer's design, not my own.
And what happens is the artist interacts with
the customer directly, and he actually becomes
part of the creative process.
This is a classical design but keep in mind,
this column has four sides.
So what we've done is we're going to make
a mold to make a mold.
So art is, to my way of thinking, sits in
two camps.
One is we are replicating a discipline that's
already been done.
And the other is we are innovative, like we
were on the fish.
We brought that together for the customer.
We keep 25,000 forms ready to go.
What that does is that converts to speed.
It allows to get to production much sooner
than we would have otherwise.
It also allows us to do cost savings and pass
those onto our customers.
So the longer we're here, the more forms we
catalog and keep up with, the stronger we
are, and the easier we can represent our customers'
wallet while we are in production.
Makes us more competitive and because we've
done it before, it keeps out mistakes down,
so we've got every advantage in keeping these
forms.
Michelle Dalton, Stone Legends Shipping Manager:
They start producing what it is that they
need go first.
What side of the house, what part of the building,
or which building if it's a series of shopping
centers, or hotels or what have you.
We want to make sure that we get on the truck
what needs to be there first.
And we want to make sure we're not starting
with the parts on the top instead of the parts
they need to start with on the bottom.
A lot of times, I'll have guys out on the
job site, and they have such a big project,
and they're like I can't find this one piece.
Well I can go into the computer and tell them
which palette that's on.
I have made all of my trucking companies liable.
We go through all this effort to make these
deadlines and to get the material there.
If a carrier is not going to get it there
on time, then we don't use them.
RC: When we do national deliveries, we have
to make sure every product gets there in good
order.
After we've done the pre-wrap, that's to keep
the stone pristine and tight, keep it from
having any damage.
Now we're going to take Excelsior, which is
a wood fiber, and we're going to wrap the
corners.
Part of the stacking process, we have a technique,
where we tear away labels, and we stack the
stone, and we staple the stone.
What that allows us to do is keep a good quality
inventory control coming up on the palette.
It also gives us an order of the stack of
the stone.
This is the last step in the production process.
We weigh each palette.
That way we get the trucks maximum load and
keep cost efficiencies as low as possible.
You want to pay attention to all the details
and make sure every step of the way you're
very systematic in what you do.
And that when you deliver the product, it
goes all the way across the United States.
He doesn't want to have to call in and say,
can you send me one more stone because this
one doesn't fit.
And you can't make a profit doing that either.
So what that means is that we as a company,
have to see problems before they happen, and
anticipate field conditions before we get
there, so that when we get there, our stuff
fits, it's a onetime shot.
We want to do it right the first time, and
that makes the labor on the job flow smoothly.
It makes our factory profitable, and it gives
the customer a very good taste in his mouth.
DL: You know what you do is so interesting,
I can't help but wonder, do you consider that
you have competition in this field.
RC: I have an artist on staff, mold makers,
pattern makers.
I have a complete architectural drafting department.
We actually even innovate software to help
us do what we do, better, faster, and quicker.
So competition, I'll tell you like I tell
my customers, I can't put talent on a piece
of paper and call it a bid.
But once you settle on the price, the talent
is there.
DL: A behind the scenes look at the magic
of what can be created in cast stone as carried
out by the artists at Stone Legends.
I'm Doug Llewelyn, reporting from Dallas.
