Masons
used stone tools such as hammerstones, to begin with, which were partially
superseded by copper and later bronze chisels and during the Late Period
by iron implements. According to the traces and marks left on limestone
blocks, they also used copper saws and drills. It was probably the grit
that got embedded in the soft metal which did the cutting. Such tools may
have been suitable for soft rock like limestone, but they were less so for
harder materials.Igneous rock like granite is especially difficult to work. The builders seem to have shaped it with the help of diabase (dolerite) hammerstones, as metal, even early iron tools were mostly inadequate and expensive. Many of these rounded hammerstones with diameters of about 15 cm have been found in abandoned quarries. But according to the evidence, hard rock was seemingly also sawed and drilled.
On the whole many questions regarding the working of hard stone such as granite or diorite have not been answered satisfactorily and research is still needed.
Not
all mason's tools were made of metal or stone. Mallets and floats for
applying plaster were carved from a single piece of wood. Wooden cramps
were found at Kahun and signs of their use were left in the pavement at
Hawara. A simple tool of three pegs of equal length, two of which were
tied together with a string was instrumental in achieving flat rock faces.
The edges of the stone block were given their final flat draft, the
connected pegs stood on end on opposite edges with the string taut between
them. The amount of stone to be trimmed could then be measured with the
third peg.
Information provided by: http://www.reshafim.org.il