What did stone masons do?

Answer 1

They often had to travel to find employment. Some could afford to rent a room in a local home or even the whole house for their family that traveled with them. Others would set up tents within reasonable walking distance from the site and live in them for the duration of the building project. This could mean years if it was a major building like a castle or church. They worked long hours in the day with regular breaks. Days off were often only when there was a break in construction. They assimilated into the local community and would often marry while on a job. Many would have a side-job like sculpting or making decorations out of scrap stone from the site that they would sell to the townspeople.

Answer 2

The short answer is that a stonemason worked with stone for buildings.

Masons were very highly skilled (and highly paid) craftsmen who travelled from one building project to another, sometimes spending many years on one project. They generally worked with "freestone" that was soft enough to be easily cut and carved, but sometimes much harder stone was used for a specific job.

They learned their craft by way of an apprenticeship; once he had passed his examination the mason would be given his own personal "mason's mark" that he would use to "sign" his work in future - many of these marks can still be seen on stone buildings from the medieval period.

Tools consisted of ladders, saws, mallets, hammers, chisels and punches, drills, simple dividers and compasses, trowels, plumblines, ropes and set squares. Abrasive stones were also used to create smooth outer faces on dressed stones.

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