Well the day has arrived I am going to try and explain and show the technique of hewing to a brand new candidate--he doesn't have any prior training--this is good--the old saying--"can't learn an old dog new tricks"--well I like to think that I won't have to fight and correct old thinking processes--can start with a clean slate
I saved out a nice 12 foot ash log from the firewood pile--it is about 12 inches on the small end and fairly straight and relatively free of knots for demonstration purposes
I thought that a little tour through our old timber framed barn would be in order to impress on him the finish I am looking for on the finished surface. I will be pointing out a few other things like the tell tale marks of the rough hewing pass --(the notches placed about 16" apart as you start the hewing process) You might ask what tell tale marks would you see, well the old timers would rough hew as close to the line as possible at times a little too close, leaving a bit of the notch visible in the finished surface--then you would see the finished scoring marks about 4" apart still visible after the final pass.
As we are standing there, I will point out a few facts like the barn frame needed roughly (6)-- 45' timbers of varying sizes along with (8)--36 foot timbers also of varying sizes, (6)--purlin posts, (12)--exterior and central posts, along with a network of timbers for the barn floor structure
I will also point out all the rafters, which need to have one flat side, each one roughly 24 feet long--and roughly (24) in total
This might get his attention to the fact concerning the amount of hewing required to prepare the timber prior to the carpentry (timber framing) that would start at this point
I will also point out that the 45 foot timbers especially would be quite large prior to hewing even though they look small in their finished state--24 to 30" on the large ends and 14 " on the small ends--just moving them to the hewing area would be a struggle for sure--hewing them another story----
Well now back to the teaching area hopefully with his mind set focused in the right direction
by the way all the timbers are a hard wood (white ash)
