Skiffling is the preliminary dressing of quarried stone blocks. Masons or quarry workers use heavy hammers to knock off major knobs and projections, creating a roughly squared block before finer finishing work begins. This reduces the weight for transport and prepares the stone for detailed cutting.
Heard on the job
The blocks are still too irregular for the saw, so get the crew skiffling them down to a uniform shape.
Also heard as
- knobbing
- scabbling