Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Rating: 5
Page 49 of 136 1 2 47 48 49 50 51 135 136
Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: northern hewer] #20551 07/03/09 12:49 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,197
N
northern hewer Offline OP
Member
OP Offline
Member
N
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,197
HI everyone this rainy night:

Well to address another queston posed by Our barns on why the dutch built those rather large open ailed barns with the massive anchor beams, well I am no authority but I was always told that those large open floor spaces were well used for many different chores which needed really open spaces, one being the hand thrashing and wind cleaning of grain after it had been separated from the straw.

Even after the advent of the threshing mill powered by a tread mill the whole operation took place in these areas.

NH

Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: northern hewer] #20552 07/03/09 01:27 AM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 167
T
toivo Offline
Member
Offline
Member
T
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 167
elusive triple post. NH you are an internets geniush.

interesting to hear of axes being passed on with buildings. makes sense.


Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: northern hewer] #20554 07/03/09 02:11 AM
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 570
OurBarns1 Offline
Member
Offline
Member
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 570
Originally Posted By: northern hewer
Hello everyone tonight:


I guess that I am taken back alittle that it seems that in New England the English barns predated the "New England Barns" whereas in our area the reverse seems to be true.

Maybe we need alittle bit more clarification on this issue,

Thanks all for coming on board

NH


Hi NH:

The English Barn is the older style around these parts. I think design drivers depends on what one needed in a barn at the time. New England is not great farmland, pretty rocky, but it is great grazing land. As I've studied, once the midwest opened up after the civil war and railroads really got things connected, New England farms were not able to compete w/ the "bread basket" of the midwest, some of the most productive land in the world as far as grain and vegetables.

New Englanders switched to livestock and put that grazing land to good use. Dairy (and to a lesser extent, beef) really took off as the new farming trend.

A farmer needs a big barn to do dairy to any scale. The long aisle of a New England barn proved efficent for cow tie-ups, and for the hay fork typically mounted at the ridge... hay could be carried to the many mows all along one side (typically the north side, which kept it cooler in summer), while the cows were lined along the south side (keeping them warmer in winter).

Expansion comes up in many readings as a shortcomming of the English barn design. The English barn was typically a smaller barn for a homesteader/ subsistence farm and worked well for early New Englanders. But as America grew after the Civil War, so did the dairy industry.

I can reference some books if you're interested.

I'm interested to hear that the English Barn became the style of choice in your area. Maybe smaller operations drove this. Was livestock big business in those parts??


Don Perkins
Member, TFG


to know the trees...


Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: OurBarns1] #20579 07/07/09 02:20 AM
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 120
B
Bruce Chrustie Offline
Member
Offline
Member
B
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 120
holy crap! when you see blood you have scored too far wink

Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: Bruce Chrustie] #20593 07/09/09 12:50 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,197
N
northern hewer Offline OP
Member
OP Offline
Member
N
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,197
Well Hello again everyone tonight:

Hi Our barns--

Thanks for the deep look back into times gone by especially in your area --your conclusion in the progression of barn styles seems well put, and I must say well thought out indeed!!

It makes great sense at least to me that the smaller barns came first and then the larger barns later to fill the nitch needed to develop the large dairy herds that grew quickly across the midwest US

Here where I live the smaller family operated dairy farms were the backbone of the agricultural dairy industry for nearly 250 years, and to some extent is just now being swollowed up by larger operations. My son still operates a 36 cow dairy herd but pressure is being applied from alot of different areas for expansion\change, this usually comes from the environmentalists and gov't agencies, and I must say that it is not for the best in my books.

Hi Bruce:--want to elaborate on who is seeing blood--any way it is nice that you dropped in

NH

Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: northern hewer] #20600 07/09/09 02:49 PM
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 235
Thane O'Dell Offline
Member
Offline
Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 235
NH
I have a proper felling axe, a broad axe head and an adze head. Other then needing some handles for my tools, what would be the best way or suitable why to learn this craft. Obviously a one on one lesson would be ideal but if there was a video available would that be enough to get started?
Thane


Life is short so put your heart into something that will last a long time.
Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: Thane O'Dell] #20601 07/09/09 07:54 PM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,685
J
Jim Rogers Online Confused
Member
Online Confused
Member
J
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,685
Thane:
Northern Hewer has a video about hewing for sale.....



Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: Jim Rogers] #20604 07/10/09 02:08 AM
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 235
Thane O'Dell Offline
Member
Offline
Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 235
Thanks Jim. I will message him.


Life is short so put your heart into something that will last a long time.
Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: Thane O'Dell] #20624 07/14/09 01:01 AM
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,197
N
northern hewer Offline OP
Member
OP Offline
Member
N
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,197
Hello everyone tonight:

Hello Jim and Thane:

Thanks Jim for the offering Thane directions to My training videos posted on the "Tools for sale" Forum I appreciate it, and Thane thanks for the interest, I have sent you a reply.

It would be nice Shane to describe the broadaxe, and adze heads that you have, maybe we can offer you some tips on maintenance.

There are many very experienced people that drop by this site each day and you can benefit from their experiences and advice I am sure.

As well there probably are many as well as yourself that may benefit from a good discussion

NH






Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: northern hewer] #20650 07/16/09 12:15 AM
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 235
Thane O'Dell Offline
Member
Offline
Member
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 235
Hi guys and thanks for the support. I have recieved your message NH and will consider which dvds I would want to order from you.(cost being the issue) As my wife took the camera to work with her I can't post pictures of the Broad axe or adze and will have to describe them as best as possible. The adze looks new although it has some rust. There are no signs it has ever been used. It even has an edge. The Broad axe head is 11", flat on one side except at the ends where it comes out a bit. There is appx. half inch of hard steel on cutting edge with some small rust pits(nothing major). The handle can be fitted either way. I have made many handle for hammers and axes but I know what they look like so it's not hard. I've never held a adze or broad axe in my hands before. Things like this need to be made properly or you just make things harder for yourself. I believe the first axe used in hewing is the felling axe(correct me if I'm wrong) which is used to remove most of the stock in the scoring process.
This axe I bought from Lee Valley and believe was made in Germany and cost me $100. It has a thin wide blade and a 36" handle. Thats it! Now I just need me some learnin!
Thane
Thane


Life is short so put your heart into something that will last a long time.
Page 49 of 136 1 2 47 48 49 50 51 135 136

Moderated by  Jim Rogers, mdfinc 

Newest Members
HFT, Wrongthinker, kaymaxi, RLTJohn, fendrishi
5134 Registered Users
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.3
(Release build 20190728)
PHP: 5.4.45 Page Time: 0.088s Queries: 16 (0.065s) Memory: 3.2332 MB (Peak: 3.3984 MB) Data Comp: Off Server Time: 2024-03-28 18:51:07 UTC
Valid HTML 5 and Valid CSS