My first post (and my first question)

["WEAVER, TROY" <TWEAVER@zzzzzzzzzzz>]

Heh all,

I am fairly new to stone carving/sculpting.  Over the last few years, I
have created a few alabaster pieces less than a cubic foot in size.
Carving brings me peace and contentment, and I truly enjoy and respect
'the stone.'  I have a M.S. in Geology and work as a geologist for
Indiana's environmental agency.  Also, my brother and I are beekeeper's
and have partnered up in this field to produce some tasty, chemical
free, pure, sweet, Indiana nectar.

Anyway, over the last 10 months I have been working on my first Indiana
limestone sculpture.  The original block was approximately 7 foot x 2.5
foot x 2.5 foot.  Besides an angle grinder, I am using hammer and
chisels.  I consider myself still at the beginning of learning the
process and discovering my capabilities.....working the stone by hand is
appropriate because, for myself, I am still learning to "see" and to
"remove" in three dimensions.  One thing I've learned about myself is
that the more I do hands-on, the more thorough I truly learn.  It
doesn't get much more involved than using hand tools.....   I have quite
a bit of work done on the limestone, but quite a bit left to do.  It is
a Memorial.   It does not do it justice to say that this piece holds
great significance and importance to me.  Yes, in case you're wondering
I've checked w/ the cemetery and have been given the OK on a limestone
memorial (the big granite movement has not taken over this cemetery.).

The biggest question I have is this....I am coming up on the winter
months here in IN.  Due to the size of the piece, it is an outside job
(although, it does rest on a wood base I built just a couple of feet
 from my garage door (the North wind/rain is blocked beautifully).  I'm
worried how the stone will react to carving during and following the
winter and all the freeze/thaw activities.   I'm aware that IN limestone
hardens over time with exposure to the four seasons of Mother Nature.  I
consider this a great attribute of IN limestone for finalized projects.
However, I'm concerned the portions of the memorial that are at/near
final stage will "carve" differently after (and during??) exposure to
winter weather.  Does anyone have experience or input on this concern?
If my concerns are valid...what depth will this change in its reaction
to carving go to???   Maybe I'm just paranoid...the original block was
exposed to at least one winter season (more?) after it was removed from
its 'in situ', or depositional environment, in the quarry.

Thanks in advance to any input.

Troy W.