February 2005
A big wind storm took most of this tree down. It is an English maple, or plane tree, probably planted in 1907 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Pemaquid colony.
White rot!
You can see the figure in the wood at the break. You can also see that the trunk is mostly filled with white rot. It doesn't look like a good candidate. Besides, the limb on the ground is too small.
The story continues...
May 2005
Son Caleb is home from Califormia. As a professional raft guide he has developed a powerful physique. Handy for splitting logs!
Take this hammer...
I helped a little bit.
This is a BIG trunk
I could watch this kind of work for hours.
Ten minutes later
About ten minutes into the job. This is easy!
REJECT!
The tree has two hearts. It was a double trunk that grew together, so this first split was on a natural fault line. Half the tree is totally decayed - full of grubs and rootlets.
Maybe this one
This piece looks like it might be OK. It's still too big to move.
Here we go again
We'll start with this crack.
Tough going
It's a start.
When John Henry was a bitty baby...
Go, Caleb!
I'll take a turn
More wedges and gluts!
Let me show you how it's done
It's still hanging tough.
At last a crack!
The grain around that big limb doesn't want to let go.
Do we have enough wedges?
Let's open that crack some more
Improvise!
Our oak gluts are not holding up well
Still not apart
It just doesnt want to give up!
At last!
This split took over two hours.
A week later
The truck and crew from the Carpenter's Boatshop. Daughter Harmony is speaking with Bob Ives on the left.
The tractor can't pick it up...
But it can drag it!
How do we do this?
Note the location.
Need help?
Can anybody else get involved here?
Fort Frederick
There have been three forts on this site on John's Bay, named by John Smith of Jamestown (VA) fame. This area has been an important meeting place for several thousand years. The Wawanoc people used this peninsula as a hunting ground and there were plenty of oysters, lobster and other resources here.
The site was abandoned twice due to various wars. It was rebuilt for the final time in 1729 by David Dunbar and several Scots-Irish families.
We'll just slide it in there
One end is up.
How good are the springs?
700 lbs of plane tree
Don't get under it!
There's the ticket!
Easy does it...
Watch you fingers!
Ready to go
The Carpenter's Boatshop is available for people from the larger community (like me) as well. I often avail myself of the thickness planer, jointer and ocasionally the ship saw. (Nobody knows how old this saw is: the company that made it went out of business in 1854!)
At the mill
The boatshop has a Woodmizer bandsaw mill. They are good friends to have!
Leg Power!
Jonathan Ives and I are pushing the log with our legs.
Watch your toes!
One, two, three...
It's going to make a big thump.
There she goes!
On the Bed
...and it didn't fall off the other side!
View from the back
Pretty knarly piece.
What a monster!
We were concerned that the building frame wasn't strong enough to use a lift.
Will this fit?
Oops! Had to roll over
The log was too wide for the saw frame. We had to roll it 90° for the first cut.
Better than a pit saw!
First cut
This one is a throw away.
Off cuts
We brought home all the planks generated in squaring up the billet. They are wedge shaped and I don't have a clue what I will do with them.
This one for the soundbox
This block is still pretty heavy - all I want to move
The result
Seems like a small pile considering how we started.
Curved piece for the pillar
I found a curved limb in the pile of wood where the rangers cut up the top hamper of the tree.
A crotch for the neck
This crotch is big enough for the neck - if it doesn't warp or split. All the wood is still wringing wet.
Still soaking wet and heavy
Another view
I had planned on hollowing out the soundbox during the summer but didn't find the time. By the time I got to it in September there was a large crack on one side of the box near the top. I drilled lengthwise down the crack and pinned it with a dowel, then filled the crack with fiber-reinforced WEST epoxy.
Carving the Soundbox
I took the block back over to the Carpenter's Boatshop and rough cut the box on the ship saw. I followed the curve that was shown in the drawings. This was a mistake. I found out later that the harp was built flat and the curve had developed over the 200 years or so that the instrument was strung
More Carving
I got some practice with the adze, just the same
Carving the soundbox top
Here I am after sawing off the curved top. The string rib is carved into the soundbox. I was advised by David Kortier to thin the top until I could flex it and then stop. (I didn't make it that thin.)
Hollowing out
I started hollowing out the soundbox with a gouge, in the old fashioned way.
A Faster Method
Notice the flat ledges inside the box. I dug out my Rotoplaner and hogged out as much wood as I could on the drill press.
More Chips
The longer I worked on this, the harder the wood became. When it was wet, it cut like cheese. By the time I was done hollowing out it was getting so hard that files were about all that would cut it.