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What are you referring to when you mention hydro cut stone? A quick google shows gemstone cutting, small subtractive milling of gargoyles and cutting/etching of thin decorative stone.

Are you talking about a quarrying process? I've got a little bit of knowledge about quarrying as there are many active limestone quarries in my area, but always interested to learn more.



My guess would be water-jet cut stone blocks. At the quarry you often cut stuff off in big slabs; once you’ve got the slabs at the water-jet, you could cut standard dimension blocks out of the slab and have a pretty modular building material.


Yeah that's what I meant. Why would one prefer concrete over that?


Imagine the scale of the gaping maw left behind after a century of quarrying for high quality stone to support modern city construction.


Concrete materials come from somewhere as well. But yes, if the material would cost more, it would be used more sparingly.

Maybe I come from a country that has plenty of solid rock to go around.


While not my field at all, I would imagine that given the relatively generic character of the source material required for concrete it might be easier to find suitable locations for extraction. Although I seem to recall reading about potential shortages for certain types of sand, so maybe I'm wrong about that.

Generally speaking, whenever specific qualities of a raw material become linked to its intended use, the market becomes more willing to accept negative externalities in its procurement.




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