A sharp dresser
Using tools of the trade, Gord Chisamore brings mill stones at Ball’s Falls up to snuff
Gord Chisamore has a unique job. He’s a stone dresser.
And he was in Vineland on Wednesday doing his thing at the grist mill at the Ball’s Falls Conservation Area. Stone dressing is a trade that dates back centuries. In this case, Chisamore was dressing the huge stones used in the milling process.
“I was always interested in history,” said Chisamore, who at one time was an industrial designer. “I got a job in the woollen mill at Upper Canada Village (In Morrisburg, Ont.). Part of the job was to learn about everything at the village. I ended up at the flour mill.”
Learning wasn’t necessarily easy, even for someone of his background.
“As an industrial designer, much the aspects of the mill are easy to understand,” he said. “But as for actually making flour, not so much.”
In the mill’s operation, the stones rotate at speeds reaching 100 r.p.m, Chisamore said.
Millers must be alert and put their nose to work as well, sniffing out any hint of a sulphur-like smell.
“There’s that saying, ‘put your nose to the grindstone;’ that’s where it comes from,” Chisamore said. “That sulphur smell will get into everything.”
Chisamore spent six years working under the tutelage of master miller Frank Deguire. Upon Deguire’s retirement four years ago, Chisamore took over and is now Upper Canada Village’s miller lead interpreter.
He has been working for the past few days at the mill. He used a red dye applied to the of the stones to highlight high points in the stone. Then, using a pick and various other tools, he relevels the surface and sharpens the edges of the veins etched into the stone to help grind grain.
It was the first time in 25 years the Balls Falls stones were being redressed. Ironically, the last person to do the work was Chisamore’s mentor, Deguire.
“They’re 209 years old. These are the original stones,” said Jill Walters-Klamer, programming assistant for the conservation area.
Under normal circumstances, the stones would be redressed annually but the Ball Falls grist mill only operates one weekend a year, during the annual Thanksgiving festival.
“This was the first of three mills on the site, Walters-Klamer said. “It was first completed in 1809. It closed in 1910.”
The stones are made from quartz and are used because of its low sand content, meaning whatever was being ground would not be contaminated, Walters-Klamer added.
“They’re from the Behr region in France,” she said. “They were brought over from Europe.”
The conservation authority could complete the maintenance work on the stones thanks to funding from the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority Foundation and Enbridge Gas.