I think it was more about starving the indians than using the hides.

Hello everyone tonite
Another year has rolled around, Merry Christmas to everyone dropping in throughout the year
I hope it brings you good health and good fortune
Thanks for coming on board Gforce, don't quite understand your post
I also would like to thank the guild and all their hard working staff for just being there, and promoting all aspects of working with wood/timber in the old and new ways. I always enjoyed the old near forgotten methods of construction,
I would like to hear from some of the old posters,there has been many up and downs but here we aren't!
Bye for now from the northern hewerp

Well Mother Nature is knocking again, so I will be. Busy for a while going back and forth to. The hospital
In the mean time I wold like to thank everyone who has dropped by my blog it's been great getting to chat with everyone, I hope you have enjoyed my ramblings, it has been enjoyable , and I feel fortunate that I could have worked at , experienced, and passed along things that I feel are important and unfortunately dissapearing may each and everyone of you can carry on historical technology, be what ever it is! Bye for now

The northern hewer
Richard casselman

Hello everyone out there tonite

It's the northern hewer
I've spent all fall and winter having an operation and then radiation from Jan to March , just finished that now recovery is next on. The list
Spent some down time remembering the times gone by seeing many of the old houses , barns , outbuildings bitting the dust
These buildings carried the unmistaken bit of the broadaxe,I photographed and documented as many as I could

Hi Richard,

I hope that your treatment is successful.

Re timber-frame related health issues I wonder if your hewing activities have caused any physical deterioration of your hand / wrist joints, e.g. athritis ?

Ken

Hello everyone one tonite

Nice to hear from you Ken

No I don't think my hewing relates to my problem,,it certainly kept me in shape
I have skin cancer that is situated on the side of my head and down the side of my neck
I had it removed and just finished 33 radiation treatments this has been on going since last
November now I am,recovering
I never smoked even 1 cigarette, cancer caught me by surprise
I,hope you and your son stay healthy and watch all signs, I thought I just had an ingrown hair which was miss diagnosed and gave it a chance to spread
I I hope to have a few more years to be friends with people like you and yours and many others I've run across on my chatS
Thanks again for dropping by

Richard
The northern hewer

Regarding the old barns in Ontario, it is an endless fascination to me how the barns all have thier own character,
only rarely can I say that I've been able to know that the barn down the road was built by the same person as the barn I'm currently working on.

This character is sometimes only in the shaping and joinery, with standard patterns of framing.
However, there are also times when I repair barns that have unique framing patterns, unseen before.

My area of Ontario currently has a shortage of people willing to repair the old barns,
I highly recommend if there are young or old framers out there that you consider making this part of your business.
You will learn a lot and you will have a chance to make steady money when the economy is down.
Also, you will meet the old builders as you meet their work.

If you are somehow reading this and interested to enter this line of repair work,
please don't hesitate to email me with questions as I know it can be a bit overwhelming to get started.
(wpltree.ca@gmail.com)

The old barns are disapearing fast these days, and I know that in a few more generations these buildings will become more and more valuable.
Save a barn today, someone will thank you in future.

Hello Ken! I hope you are well these days, I still remember our brief collaborations.
I hope your health can improve Richard, take care of yourself
m

Hi Mark & Richard,

For a long time I thought that Richard would be "the last man standing" on this forum and so I am sure that all the old forum lags are hopeful that his treatment will help him to recover.

I have posed the question quite a few times as to why traffic on this forum has dramatically declined ? It does exist elsewhere.

For a few years I didn't renew by membership with the Guild but currently I am a fully paid up member however maybe once again for how long ?

I'm in the woodland today measuring growth on our Douglas Fir trees with one of these having now reached over 150ft tall in 65 years.

Last year we raised a single bay box timber frame made form just one of these trees

Ken

Hi everyone tonite

A winter nite here in the seaway valley.
When I think of the seaway construction, I think of the ruination of some of the oldest farms,orchards, resorts,and towns that was along the St Lawrence river, and I might add islands too, shame,

What we received in returns was a large lake with slow moving water, ruined fish spawning grounds, I could go on, but no one. Listens, soon no one will be left that remembers anyway

In the process we lost thousands of early houses, barns and drive sheds

Well we were promised cheap power, I can't really remember that happening

Thanks to a few individuals we rescued enough period buildings for UCV

Anyway sorry for my ramblings, but it is a real Shame what happened, yes I forgot something real impt in my book,all the cemeteries inundated imagine along with the old gas stations polluted land, still there just a few feet down, now they worry about trivial things

Bye for now
Richard