These days few stone companies break out the stone with the feather and wedge, which is the only way it can have a natural look and include the fossils. Instead of sand blasting the Vonada's carve over the natural stone by free hand. Another rarity is that almost all the tools are antique.

The Vonada Stone Company was founded in 1986 by Damon, Janet, Duane and Donna Vonada. Not only is the Vonada Stone Company located in the heart of Post Rock Country in the Smoky Hills, it is also on a third-generation working family farm.

At the beginning of this niche business, the Vonada's started engraving names on the 100-year- old-fence post. Soon they added many other signs, monuments, and garden fixtures, such as birdbaths, sundial mounts and stone benches.

The projects are sketched on the stone free hand using a die grinder, roughed, carved out, and then hand finished. The mill work on the sundials and birdbaths is preformed on a 100-year-old vertical mill that was rescued from the salvage crew when the Sylvan Machine shop closed its doors.

The raw material used is the Greenhorn Limestone. It is found in the Smoky Hills of central Kansas and was used in the past as building material and for the famous stone posts now called Post Rock. The Greenhorn layer is the only workable layer and it varies in thickness from 8 to 12 inches.