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Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: Ken Hume] #24283 08/24/10 03:21 PM
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Cecile en Don Wa Offline
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Hello,
I made some pine tar there, with Leif Karlson a few summers ago while in Sweden. He does it every year just to keep the tradition going. We hauled, I'd say, around 3 quarts from this burning and since that is not so much I'm using it sparingly, mostly to dip nails. On the other hand we just covered the barn this summer with a mixture of Swedish pine tar, linseed oil, grown and pressed right up the road here, and lamp black pigment. In Finland, they eat tar.

Ken Hume, probably your article was one of the first times I came across such a focus on this Finish style, or technique, or method of hewing. I don't even remember it standing out when I visited the open air museum there near Helsinki some years back. These Finish axes are also real peculiar. I found one on the ground up there once and brought it home, put a handle on and it has been one of my favorite axes since. Though mine is not equivalent to a broad axe (PIILUKIRVEET), and not good for surfacing. But are you aware of any such categorization or do you have plans to make one up? I sure would like to see something giving the characteristics of let's say cross-grain hewing or along-the-grain hewing or this wavy Finish pattern. Just to compare and contrast, you know, and then choose.

This cleaving shown in the film could only be reliably done with Danish oak. The way they manage to the point of excess their oak stands, and all. It should have its own species designation, it's not normal, this oak.

I thought the videos were a bit weak on details and digital animation does nothing for me but the intent was clear and the project mighty.

Don Wagstaff - (not Cecile, to whom I am married)

Last edited by Cecile en Don Wa; 08/24/10 03:23 PM.
Re: historic hewing questionnaire #24286 08/24/10 04:00 PM
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D L Bahler Offline
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->DON<-
I myself have made that same mistake in the past! (calling you by your wife's name)

I have never heard of any naming of the hewing styles in my study. Perhaps we should come up with a way of naming them.
Perhaps a good method would be to classify them according to tools used and region of origin and/or usage.

I wold think that these classifications would have to be pretty general, because every hewer will have his own spin on things.

You might have names like American Felling-Pennsylvania Axe or Germanic Bundaxt-Breitbeil or Central European Bradvil

Then on top of that, you might also tell if the hewer works cross grain, long grain, or in a sweeping motion, or whatever other direction you might can think of...

Also, I want pine tar! Too bad we don't have pine in Indiana


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Re: historic hewing questionnaire #24289 08/24/10 08:10 PM
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Hi Don,

I saw the pine tar pit at Turkansari Outdoor Museum near Oulu in Finland and was taken aback by the diameter of pine tar burn pit. They make pine tar sweets from this gunk which are apparently good for sore or stripped throats. This pine tar was imported into England and used to coat wooden ships plus I have also seen it used on the lower parts of timber framed buildings (brick & sills). Part of the front door of our granary is coated with this tar with later planks simply being covered in creosote.

The Danes and Vikings occupied large parts of England (Danelaw) long before the Normans came calling and so its quite possible that a significant transfer of carpentry know how arrived in England from this source.

Regards

Ken Hume


Looking back to see the way ahead !
Re: historic hewing questionnaire #24291 08/24/10 08:31 PM
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D L Bahler Offline
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Ken, English shipbuilding and Naval tradition owes a tremendous debt to the Danes and Norwegians who occupied half of Britain at one point. Many of the naval terms in the English language (and about 1/3 of the most common everyday words) are derived from Old Norse, such as starboard, bulkhead, Bulwark, and others. Even the word boat is apparently of ON origin. In addition, the Normans are descendants of Viking invaders who were bribed by a French king to settle in Normandy. As can be seen on the Bayeux Tapestry they preserved their Viking carpentry skills at least until the invasion.

As far as carpentry goes, Scarf, butt, window, scant, possibly rafter (ON raptr), and other terms are derived from or influenced by Old Norse.

I read once that the Norwegian Stave Churches are all coated in tar, and are re-coated periodically. This is perhaps key to their longevity in such excellent condition, such as ornate carvings retaining all of their details that date to around 1050 on Urnes Stave Church


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Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: D L Bahler] #24292 08/25/10 06:49 AM
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Cecile en Don Wa Offline
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Hi, Just thought I would include this US government produced film , also because it is not from off of youtube. Other interesting films to be found here on early logging in the US etc...

I think this double scoring technique he uses is an interesting alternative to notching.

Don Wagstaff

Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: Cecile en Don Wa] #24347 09/03/10 12:38 PM
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Hi,
any thoughts on how you get this from this?

Don

Re: historic hewing questionnaire #24357 09/05/10 01:27 AM
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D L Bahler Offline
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Don, what are the dimensions of your timber there, and of the original log?

Today I cut down a hard sugar maple tree and I am hewing a 25' section of it right now. The log has an average diameter of about 10 1/2 to 11" at one end and about 8 to 8 1/2" at the other end, I am hewing a 6x6 timber out of it, with one end just a little bit wany.

Part of the reason is I wanted to see how well maple does. I want to see how easily it hews and how stable it is afterward. How much it checks and cracks as it dries, etc.

My experience with hard maple tells me that it is a dimensionally stable wood, meaning it does not check, twist, bend, bow, cup, or warp excessively. But it does expand and contract a bit from season to season which is a disadvantage in some situations. As I am writing this I am sitting at my desk that I built a few years ago entirely out of solid hard maple with a solid 27" top that has not had a bit of trouble not being in a climate controlled environment.

This wood is very stiff (similar to black cherry, which has been used in framing), has a very high crushing strength, is straight grained (it is an excellent wood to make arrows out of because it is very easy to find perfectly straight grain), and around here we happen to have an over abundance of it (to the point where it is advisable to remove some of the smaller trees to allow the neighboring and much more valuable cherry and walnut trees to grow)

As far as hewing, I found it to be surprisingly easy. A good heavy axe swims through it easily, and the straight grain makes a fine partner in the process. It notches very easily, which is surprising because it is very hard and very tight-grained, both properties that make wood resistant to cutting.

What opinions do you all have about maple for use in structural applications? I know I have heard that hard maple is particularly well suited to use as bracing because of its high crushing strength and low bending. I am wondering how it can handle larger spans


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Re: historic hewing questionnaire [Re: D L Bahler] #24360 09/05/10 06:39 PM
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Hi D L,
I didn't really take note of what the diameters of this stem were beyond determining that I could get a balk 8 X 15 X 9001 cm out of it. I try to limit how many numbers there are floating around in my head. Sorry for you about that. I am going, though, into a lot more detail over this particular piece of wood just here with the full unedited photographic accounting to be seen at this location.

I imagine that fresh maple does hew nicely. That comes mostly because the fibers making up maple wood are short ones and no matter what you are cutting/carving with, maple responds well to a sharp blade.

Not to worry about structural applications. Any such concerns come again from these short fibers and the regular dispersion of poors - known to many as DIFUSE POROSITY - throughout the wood but are really only relevant to the furniture maker, in particular the chair maker. You wouldn't want to make tenons out of maple in a chair construction. Better to use floating tenons of another suitable wood.

Maple must not be exposed to the outside climate or moisture from the ground though. It is susceptible to fungus attack.

Greetings,

Don

Re: historic hewing questionnaire #24361 09/05/10 08:00 PM
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D L Bahler Offline
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Thanks Don, as usual you are a wealth of helpful information.

Unfortunately for me, the two tree species I have most abundantly are pignut hickory and maple, both of which are very susceptible to rot. That is one of the reasons I have decided to seal all timbers on outside walls with wood tar, and to seal the boarding gaps as well (makes the whole things kind of like a Klinker built boat). The other reasons being it is authentic, and it looks and smells wonderful.


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Re: historic hewing questionnaire #24434 09/21/10 12:12 AM
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northern hewer Offline OP
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Well hello everyone tonight:

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful and informative threads that you all have put forward, I know that I have really enjoyed reading and catching up the last page in particular.

This is alittle off line but maybe someone might have an answer for me--my son bought a older home that has a slate roof which is not in bad shape, but the flashing in the valleys needs replacing--does anyone out there have any ideas how this might be done.

I have looked it over and really can't come up with a possible solution without spoiling the whole roof

NH

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