Butch The Formstoner

Love it loathe it or despise it, Formstone has defined (or defiled)Baltimore architecture since the 1950's. Butch is one of last 'old timers', an aging breed of Baltimore artisans who apply cement that polarizes homeowners. See the hard work and craftsmanship that created Baltimore's 'little castles'.

Ping, Ping, Ping, I awoke to the measured sound of what I thought was a nail gun putting a new roof on a neighbor's house. When I looked outside I saw a large man on a makeshift scaffold of 2 ladders a 2 x 6 and some bungee cords high enough to make cats nervous. PING, PING the rotund but nimble sweat-banded man was nailing a wire mesh around the front door of the house 3 doors down. When I saw the design carefully taped out on the bricks, and the pick-up truck with a cement mixing pan on the tailgate I knew I was in for a treat. A great artist was plying his trade on my block, Butch the Formstone man was at work.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Butch is one of the last of a dying breed. He told me there are only three or four other guys, all in their 60's still applying cement and making faux stone in Baltimore.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
These are the weathered hands of an artist, you can hate the finished product, and even call it 'blight' but you can not deny the method and skill of the man who created it. I patched a hole in my sidewalk and barely kept from losing a shoe in the slurry. Creating something decorative from cement is undeniably an art.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Once the first coat of cement is applied it is scored horizontally and vertically with a steel comb, to ensure better adhesion of the second coat. Butch always knew exactly how much mud he would need on his pan, and came down only to mix up fresh.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Masonry is young man's work, cement is heavy, and the mix is back breaking. An entranceway only requires a small amount of material, and Butch keeps up pretty well.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
No instructions here, it needs a little more water, and you can bet your trowel the consistency is perfect.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Butch epitomized all that is Baltimore blue collar charm, jovial, friendly, and quick with a story, Butch could talk and work all day. He had plenty of stories about the glory days of Formstoning in the 50's and 60's. He always refered to the schemers and swindlers made famous by Barry Levinson's "Tinmen" as 'them', but readily admitted that they all had their schemes in the day. One of the most outrageous schemes he let me in on involved the salesman who sold a Formstone job finishing the sale and nailing a small piece of the metal sheathing used in preparation to the outside of the house. This meant that work had started, and that according to the contract the homeowner just signed, work could not be cancelled once started.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Butch slapped mud off of his pan with such speed and precision no sound was heard, and if you blinked, you missed it.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Once the second layer of mud is applied, the outline of the 'stones' is scored into the wet mix. Butch used a level for this, but only as a straight edge, he never looked at the bubble. The very precise geometric pattern of a keystone, and bricks appeared in minutes on the surface of the grey cement, wrought only by trained eyes, and skilled hands.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Here the house numbers are being impressed. Unlike lesser craftsman who leave the numbers in the cement to weather and fade, Butch impresses the numbers only for their outline and then painstakingly carves them out like the rest of the brick lines.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
White cement is applied over the grey to give the contrasting look of stone and mortar. This stage of the job is time critical as the cement begins to dry as soon as it is applied, and needs to be wet enough to be scraped out in the final steps.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Working along the lines scored into the grey cement Butch uses a small trowel to 'form' white cement into 3 dimensional 'bricks'. The process is similar to using a spatula to ice a cake, he could probably make the peaks much smoother, but this would detract from the illusion that these are irregular pieces of real stone.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
The characteristic colors of formstone are rarely seen in new jobs. Butch told me that lots of people ask, but when they find out how much more it will cost in materials and time, they settle for duotone. Each color has to be used all at once, so the formstoner has to leave spaces for other colors and make sure he alternates to keep the pattern random.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
A dusting of sand completes the finish. The shine seen in older formstone comes from the use of mica in this step, but as mica poses environmental and health risks sand is substituted.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
The first mortar line is etched through the white mix revealing the grey below.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
The etching is done with a wire tool shaped into an open chisel tip.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
Butch really is an awfully big guy to work up on a scaffold.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
With careful strokes of the etching tool the door starts to shape up.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
The outline tape is removed in one of the last steps.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
A careful brushing cleans up any rough edges.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson
The artist with his completed creation.
jason knauer baltimore formstone butch formstone little castles tinmen barry levinson