General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: NAACP wants Confederate carving removed from Georgia's Stone Mountain [View all]A HERETIC I AM
(24,875 posts)Look...I am not an expert on carving granite, but I do know how it is cut.
Say you want to remove Lee's head or the hindquarters of his horse. You can drill a series of small holes that parallel the face of the relief and another series perpendicular to those, such that it resembles, for lack of a better way of putting it, a slice of cake. Wedges are inserted into the holes to instigate a controlled crack between them. Advanced hydraulic controls exist that can facilitate this very carefully and even over the course of many hours so as to ensure it is done properly.
The other method is use of a diamond saw like this one;

The piece being removed is supported by crane or similar so that when it is free it is held safely.
The 10% material lost is that which is drilled away or lost to inadvertent cracking and breakage.
Would it be easy? No, of course not. But I do honestly think the technology exists that it could be done.
But again, as I said in my edit above.......The carving should stay right where it is.