Yorkshire Stone Dresser: How craftsman James Robinson became a viral social media sensation as he shares the secrets of his trade

Stone dressing is working with reclaimed stone, from old mills or buildings, to meet modern regulations. Cutting and shaping, to square nice tidy edges. There’s also the dressing of new stone, putting on a fresh face to newly quarried works. Angling the chisel to chip away, oh so neatly, any odd bits or protrusions. It’s incredibly satisfying to watch.

To Mr Robinson, aka The Yorkshire Stone Dresser, he is happy to be sharing the secrets of his trade, breathing new life into raw stones so they can serve in turn as architectural wonders.

“People don’t think about it, about how it’s done,” he said. “We just see the stone finished. It is niche, a bit different, I suppose. It is an old school craft.”

For each block of stone, there is the ‘face’ or the ‘bedside’ for mortar. With a punch wailing hammer, and a Riley Riley Tungsten pitching tool, Mr Robinson shapes and then ‘throws’.

He left school at 15, and started with a local stone merchant four days later. Matched with an older dresser to learn the craft, it took him a full decade.

“It’s not just dressing the stone, it’s understanding the stone,” he said. “And the value that’s in it. You have to understand the product you’re working with. That takes a lot of years.”

Then came Covid. Having worked his way up to yard foreman, before sitting his leadership qualifications and eventually a stint in health and safety, he was suddenly furloughed.

It was to change everything. Suddenly, spending a lot more time at home with wife Harriet and his two daughters Annabelle and Poppy, he knew something had to give. After 16 years, with the support of his family and mum Ruth in Mirfield, he went freelance.

He thought there might be a market. Now, with order books booming, he can pick and choose. And most curious of all, is his social media standing.

It started with a friend filming for Instagram. He thought he might give it a go. The first month, he didn’t have much success, but soon it began to spiral. Then one day a video topped 10m views. “’Have I gone viral?’,” he asked.

Soon, brands were reaching out; he’s now an ambassador with Tom Sparks of Scan Safety Product, and Nicola and Jimmy Walsh of Ct1 Sealant & Adhesive.

On average, he processes around 50 tonnes of stone each week, talking subscribers through the process as he shares his top tips. There’s three main merchants, Willmow Reclamation at Shaw, Grahams Quarries in Huddersfield and Stone Services at Wetherby.

Robinson set up on YouTube last summer. Within three weeks he had 20,000 subscribers, and by January he hit 100,000 and was awarded a ‘silver play button award’. Now, it’s around 250,000 followers across all his social media. He had seven million views last month.

“The good thing about my followers is they are local,” he said. “They’re tradespeople, many of them. I soon find out if I use the wrong tool, or call the tools by the wrong name.”

An average working week sees the father up at 4.30am to edit content and sort social queries. By 6.30am it’s on to the day job. Sticking to his post-Covid philosophy, he tries hard to finish before 3pm so he can be at the school gates. His phone never quite stops pinging.

With his youngest daughter, aged seven, it’s a flurry of extracurricular activities; dancing and acting and swimming and Brownies. With his eldest, who turns 13 this month (April 29), he feels he did miss out on some of that.

“Social media has allowed that change,” he said. “I didn’t think this journey was possible, for a lad who patches stone. I still don’t believe it now. I’m very grateful for it. It’s not only changed my life, it’s changing my chidlresn’ lives and hopefully inspiring people as well.”

Conscious of his platform, Mr Robinson is keen to raise campaigns such as men’s mental health. Last summer he did the Yorkshire Three Peaks with Men Walking and Talking. Now, he is backing a traders’ petition to ban the sale of power tools at car boot sales.

“So many of us are victims of tool thefts,” he said. All his own hammers and chisels are made by a third-generation forger from Brighouse, RHG Travis and sons by Steven Travis.

These trade crafts, and with the skills that go into them honed over years if not decades, are an important part of British heritage, he said. There’s no qualifications for stone dressing; certainly no funding to learn as, without a governing body, it’s not a recognised trade.

But with the interest online, and the millions of people watching what he does to learn, there must be something there, for the future, he said. One day he would love his own podcast or radio show.

“It is a skill and a talent,” he said. I’ve got so much pride in everything I do. Hopefully I can pass these skills on. There is a huge interest.

“It’s going to be replaced, if we’re not careful,” he added. “Folks have to look to machines and other methods to keep up with demand.”

For social, visit facebook.com/Stonedressingservices, linktr.ee/theyorkshirestonedresser

To back traders’ British tool theft petition visit: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/659019