To get back to my original subject of historic or traditional hewing, many times over the last few years of chatting with various individuals, it seems that many admantly lay claim to the doctrin of hewing timber in an elevated position, or higher up than bed pieces on the ground.

I would like to pursue this line of thought for the next little while. I personally was taught to hew at or near ground level, and over the years I never was challenged by anyone that came by where I was working, and many thousands did.

As the years rolled by I was compelled to do extensive research on everything that I did, and proper hewing technique fell into this category. Many of the old texts that I had access to, described and in many cases were accompanied by descriptive plates on groups as they worked at their trades. From these various sources I could set up displays in woodworking as close to being historically accurate as I could make them.

Some of the older texts were of British origin,and \or of very early American settlement. I was portraying 1860, and I realize that techniques change in relation to the year, and the nationality of the peoples who arrived in waves of immigration from various countries. these founding people influenced these changes damatically but they in turn would adapt new ideas quickly.

Does anyone have portraits, or other knowledge of the techniques of historic hewing when it comes to the height that was used if not in this country then in other countries?. I believe that this one topic would be very interesting to those that wish to pursue hewing in their lives for whatever purpose.

NH