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Thread: LATE 1700'S APPRENTICE JOURNAL (revised 9/17/06)

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    LATE 1700'S APPRENTICE JOURNAL (revised 9/17/06)

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    http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=40499
    Last edited by harry strasil; 09-17-2006 at 1:15 PM.
    Jr.
    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
    By Hammer and Hand All Arts Do Stand

  2. #2
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    Page 1

    ONE MANS JOURNEY AS A WOODWORKER © by Jr. Strasil

    This is the fictional Personal Journal of a young mans Apprenticeship at an early age to learn the Woodworking trade based on some historical fact and what the author envisions it would have been like in a General Woodworking shop of the 1790's time period.


    - Part 1, The Leeper Family

    My parents are both immigrants to America and met on the Sailing Ship they came over on.

    My Father Thomas is a farmer as were the majority of his family in the Old Country, and he is very good at farming. My Mother Lottie keeps the house, does the cooking and washing and is an excellent Seamstress as she has made all our clothes. Mother also helps support the family by making dresses and such for the well to do women of the surrounding community.

    My name is Joshua, the third born of our family, I have 5 brothers and 4 sisters. I was never very good at farming and could never get along with the big Horses my father used to work his fields. I do however like to work with my hands with the few woodworking tools my father has. I have an older brother Robert that likes working with the few tools my father has for Smithing. All of my brothers and sisters help out on the farm in any way they can to help support our rather large family.

    My fathers farm ground was missused by the previous owner and he sold it cheaply as he called the soil worn out. My father is building the soil back by good farming he learned from his father but with such a large family it is hard to provide for all of us. Father and Mother sat all of us children down one Sunday after church and we discussed different ways the family could be made smaller so we would all have a better life.

    It was decided that my oldest brother Sean who liked farming would stay and help father and three of us older children who did not do but very little of the farming would be apprenticed out to craftsmen in the nearby town to learn a trade so that we could support ourselves and raise families of our own someday.

    When our family made the occasional trip to town, my brother Robert could always be found at the Smithy watching the Smiths every move. I would always go to the Woodshop and watch them work. My older sister Sarah could be found at the Dry Goods shop looking at all the newest bolts of cloth. My brother Charles a year younger than me could be found at the Wagon and Buggy shop watching them work.


    - Part 2 - The Apprenticeships -

    Two weeks after the family meeting, the family went to Church as usual and my father talked to the Blacksmith, Wainwright and Woodshop Owner while my mother talked with the Dry Goods shop owner.

    The Blacksmith agreed to accept my older brother as an apprentice. The Woodshop owner agreed to accept me as an apprentice. The Wainwright accepted my younger brother as an apprentice. And the Dry Goods Owner agreed to employ my sister Sarah as a Seamstress..

    The terms of us boys apprenticeships were, we would work in the shops to learn the trade for our room and board and recieve a small stipend. My sister would reciever room and board and a stipend of twenty cents a day as she was a good seamstress.


    -Part 3 - My Apprenticeship - Brooms and Windows

    I was only 10 years old when I started my apprenticeship and could read write and do my numbers very well as mother and father had taught all their children these things at home. We never did get to attend a formal school.

    I became very good friends with several brooms over the years, my mother had taught all of her children how to sweep without raising dust and I learned the lesson well. While cleaning up the huge amounts of saw dust, shavings and chips, I got to watch the other workers in the shop doing all kinds of things with wood. The woodworkers would always explain what they were doing while I swept up and watched them work.

    The work area had lots of very tall windows to let lots of light in for the workmen to see what they were doing and this was one of my jobs keeping the many windows clean. I was required to wash them once a week and after every rain. The shop was a little on the chilly side in the winter months because of all the windows. The windows had strange wavy patterns in them that were hard to see out of or into, but they let in a lot of light.

    The workday was from can see to can't see as we called it. There were no lanterns in the shop because of the danger of fire and they didn't put out that much light to work by anyway.

    At Christmas time I got new pair of pants from the shop owner, 2 new shirts from my mother, and one of the workmen gave me a nice coat his son had outgrown.


    -Part 4 - Glue and Saws

    My second month I was given more responsibility. I get up 2 hours before work starts and make sure all the glue pots are cleaned of debris, full of glue and filled with water in the outer pot that heats the glue. I also have to build a fire in the little heater that the glue pots set on and keep the fire replentished through out the day. The glue has to be kept at the right temperature and is sometimes real smelly stuff. I take a glue brush and put a drop on my finger and then touch another finger to it, upon seperating my fingers if there are one or more threads between my fingers when it is right. There are more glue pots than there are workmen and when one of them hollers "Glue" I will take a pot to their workbench and if they have one that is getting cold, I will take that one back to be reheated and refilled or water added.

    I am often called on to help with resawing boards or sawing thin pieces of veneer with the long two man frame saws.

    One of the older men in the shop who I really like is always having me help him with his numbers and marking and he is always very close to his work and squinting his eyes. I asked him about this a few days ago and he told me he had been having trouble seeing clearly for over a year. He came to work today wearing some spectacles and was promptly let go by the shop owner as the shop owner said he could not have any blind people working for him and making mistakes.

    To make the kindling for the glue stove, I am not allowed to just split up scraps with a hatchet like I did at home. I am required to use small ends and scrap pieces and mark them with a marking gauge from a list and rip them to the proper width and then cut them to length for kindling. I am not allowed to use any of the kindling till one of the workmen or the shop owner has checked the pieces for length and width against the list that had been given to me the day before. I really feel like I am accomplishing something by doing this even tho I know I am being taught how to saw properly. After the first week I have learned to make all the cuts square, and to use the whole saw length. I am also learning how to hold the saw properly and to let the saw blade do the work. I also have to clean all the workmans saws of any residue after we quit for the day and use a candle to rub on the saws to help keep them from binding. Some of the workmen have special ways they want the wax applied, and I can tell by looking which saw was used by which workman.

    The last several months I am allowed to mark out and saw lumber for some of the workmen to finish to the right size.

    At Christmas time, I got a new pair of shoes from my father, 2 new shirts from my mother, and 2 pair of pants from the workshop owner. OH YES, my monthly stipend has been raised to $1.00 a month, the owner says I was a quick learner and deserved it. I gave my self a treat and bought a small bag of horehound sweets.


    - Part 5 - Planing and Chiseling -

    My third year I am allowed to use a small workbench to work at and given my own saws, drawknife and spokeshave to use, where I cut the kindling to size and then work it to exact dimensions for kindling. I still do the sweeping, tend the glue pots and saw some lumber to size.

    I have to work all the sides so they are square to the face and each piece is checked for dimension and squareness by one of the workmen or the Master. I am even given some tapered pieces to cut and work to size.

    After 4 months of this with the drawknife and spokeshave, a small plane has been added, which I use to finish the edges with.

    After another 4 months I now have chisels and have to cut mortises in some of the kindling I prepare, and each of the mortises is checked with a short piece the right size. I have learned to pare the ends of the mortises and not pry with the chisels, and to make my own pieces to try the fit of the mortices.

    After 2 months of doing the kindling with the plane and chisels, my plane and chisels did not cut right anymore and I asked the Master about it. Master brought me 2 sharpening stones and a piece of leather and I was instructed how to sharpen my own tools.

    At Christmas I got a pair of second hand shoes from one of the workmans sons who had outgrown them, 2 new shirts from my mother, 2 pair of long pants from the shopowner as I was growing pretty tall and looked funny in short pants. And 8 pair of socks from my older sister. My stipend is now $2 a month and I bought myself another small sack of horehound sweets.


    - Part 6 - The Blizzard -

    BBBrrrrrr, I have never been this cold before. They say the biggest blizzard ever to hit this town started on New Years Eve. I sleep in the loft room of the Masters house and it is always warm up there. When I came down from the loft on New Years Day the house was still dark as I have to get up just at dawn to do my chores. The snow was almost to the top of the windows. The only warm place in the house was close to the big cooking hearth in the kitchen. The woodbox was almost empty and I had filled it after work last night.

    The Master's wife told me to get my coat on and go out and help the Master make a path to the wood shed for more firewood. She gave me an old coat of the masters to put on over my regular coat and gave me a pair of heavy woolen mittens to wear.

    I was really surprised when I opened the back door as there were 3 steps to the ground and there was a tunnel outside the door with hard packed snow level with the bottom of the door. The Master was making a tunnel and packing the snow down as there was no place to put it. The master had a shovel and was tromping the snow down as he worked his way toward the wood shed which is a little ways from the house.

    When we reached the woodshed, we were right at the door and had to dig down to make enough room to get the door open. I was surprised that it was kind of warm in the tunnel as you could hear the wind howling above. The Master and I made many trips from the wood shed to the kitchen and filled the wood box then stacked it along the wall as high as we could reach.

    After the first trip in with my arms full of wood, I got a coil of rope I had seen and asked the Master if I could cut two long lengths from it. He asked me why? I told him I wanted to make carriers like I did on the farm. He looked puzzled but said, Yes.

    I cut two pieces two spans long (finger tip to finger tip with your arms out stretched to your sides, about 6 feet for a normal man) and tied the ends together with a reef knot [square knot today]. The Master sure was curious as he watched me.

    He followed me to the wood shed where I laid out my carriers, with the center parts about a foot apart and started stacking wood in them. When they both were full I raised the loops at the end up over the top to use as handles and grabbed one in each hand and headed for the house. The Master followed me in with his arms full and after we had the wood stacked the Master made his own carriers while his wife just stood and smiled at him. He said something to her kind of grouchly like and she laughed.

    I am allowed to use a hatchet to make kindling from the firewood, but this morning the Master took the hatchet from me and said he would make kindling this morning, and he actually had a smile on his face.

    I had one of the biggest morning meals I have ever had that morning, and I sure was hungry. After we had eaten and the Master had his pipe, he asked me to help him extend the tunnel to the little house. So we did that chore. Afterward we rested and warmed up and had some sweet pastries the Mistress had baked in the brick oven Master had made her in the Big Hearth.

    I guess the snow stacked up outside was like putting a blanket around the house as it was nice and warm in the kitchen now that we had a roaring fire going in the hearth..

    All the work of making the tunnel in the cold really made me hungry and when I had eaten my fill of the pastries the Master said we should make a tunnel to the Workshop to check on it. The workers had instructions not to come in if it was like this as the shop would never get warm enough to work in anyway. The Master was very good to his workers and never asked them to do anything he would not do himself. He shared all the tasks even the meanial ones with his workers. I really liked him.

    After we made the tunnel to the Workshop and made sure no windows were broken and the shop was allright, we went back to the kitchen for the midday meal of potatoes. roast venison. beans and cornbread with dried apple pie for after.

    After the midday meal the Master and I moved a good bunch of firewood to the shop for the big heating stove he had found at an estate sale, and started a fire to take the chill off the Workshop a little. The heating stove still fascinates me as it is the first one I have ever seen. It is made of iron and is very ornate and must have cost a goodly sum. The Master informed me that this did not mean I could stop making kindling for the glue heater though.

    The master decided not to make a tunnel to the well as we could get clean snow from the sides of the tunnel and melt it in the hearth.

    It sure takes a lot of buckets of snow to make a bucket of water, I know as I brought many buckets of snow in to melt for the Saturday night baths.

    The shop was closed for one week after the 4 day blizzard but the shop was put to good use, I carried many a basket of clothes to the shop so the mistress could hang them to dry. A blizzard was no reason for her to skip wash days. Mistress had Master and I bring the big iron pot in and put it close to the Big Stone Hearth.

    The time was not wasted though. The Master and I went to the shop daily except Sunday and we sat near the stove with the shops Saw vice and the Master gave me instuctions on sharpening the shops many saw blades. At the end of one week the Master said I was doing as good a job as he could. We moved the grindstone over by the stove and i was given advanced instruction in grinding and honeing edged tools. Two hours a day I was given instruction by the Master on using the smooth, bench, fore and trying planes as well as the rebate and plow planes.

    I really enjoyed those two weeks as the Master did not have his usual gruff, grouchy attitude as their was no one there to impress, and he treated me like his own son. Master and Mistress had no children and I seemed to take to his teachings very well or so he told me.
    Last edited by harry strasil; 09-17-2006 at 11:33 AM.
    Jr.
    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
    By Hammer and Hand All Arts Do Stand

  3. #3
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    Page 2

    - Part 7 - Noah Yoder - A Tragedy

    What a begining to my fourth year with Master Dixon. On Monday morning two weeks after the blizzard hit, three of the workmen who lived in town returned to the shop as a strange warm wind had blown for a week and melted a lot of the snow. By the end of the third week even those who lived in the country had shown up to get back to work.

    I saw my parents and brothers and sisters at church on Sunday of the third week and was told the old milche cow Bessy had not survived the storm. But the rest of the family was ok as fathers old injuries had told him a very bad storm was coming and they were prepared. My older brother Robert who was apprenticed to the Blacksmith, my younger brother Charles and I had made a set of Bob Runners for the wagon and that's how the family came to church with some straw in the back and the younger kids and Mother all bundled up in blankets amid the straw. Mother had warmed the flat rocks she kept for bed warmers in some towels to help warm them on the trip.

    I like to split wood with the axe and usually do a bit of it when I go home to see my family several Sundays a month. The younger children do the stacking in the wood shed. My father shook my hand and gave me a big hug as the firewood I had split was really a help to the family during the blizzard.

    The only one missing was the older lead Journeyman Noah Yoder who lived a far piece out in the country. Master Dixon told me that by rights Noah should be a Master with his own shop as Master had learned so much from him. But he told Master that as he was getting on in years he was very happy working in such a clean and well organized shop with such skilled craftsmen.

    Master Dixon asked me if I would ride out to Noahs place and check on him and his wife that Sunday afternoon as he was worried about Noah, and I said I would as Noah was always taking time to help me and explain things I had trouble with, and I really liked Noah.

    When I got to Noah's place, No one was home and the latch string was out on the door to the Well Crafted Log cabin that Noah had built. I knocked several times but no one answered. I cautiously opened the well fitted door and hollered "Hello the House", but no one answered. I went inside to check and no one was there. The table was set with an untouched meal, and the water in the water bucket was frozen solid. I then looked the place over and there were no tracks of anykind in the snow.

    Noah had this beautiful team of matched black driving horses that were his pride and joy along with a beautifully crafted buggy he had built himself. I decided to check the log barn and see if they were still there. On my way to the barn I tripped over something in the snow and after clearing away some snow I found Noah and his wife. I continued to the barn and found the horses very glad to see me but rather gaunt from not being cared for for three weeks. The loving care that Noah took with the barns construction was evident in the fact that the horses survived the extreme cold. They had even eaten the straw used for bedding and had started chewing on the sawn lumber used for the stalls.

    I immediately went to the well and drew a bucket of water and let each one drink just a little, then climbed up in the mow and thru some hay down in the manger for them and put a little oats and corn in their feeders. I let them finish the bucket of water off equally and shut them in the barn and rode over to my families farm about 3 miles distant to get my father's assistance.

    We removed the rest of the snow and found that Noah had evidently fallen and broken his leg early in the blizzard coming back from checking on his team. There was only about 3 inches of snow under him. His wife must have gone out with no coat on to check on him as he didn't come in for the evening meal and evidently tried to get him back to the house. They had their arms wrapped around each other as they loved each other very much, and met their end together and froze to death. I had tears in my eyes all the while my father and I seperated them, wrapped them in blankets and placed them in the back of fathers wagon for the trip to town.

    We gave Noah's team each another bucket of water and I led them to my families farm so they could be taken care of till after the funeral.

    When I told Master and Mistress Dixon about Noah they both broke into tears and I joined them. Master Dixon left to talk to the Parson and the Undertaker and came back just before dark.

    When the other workmen came in Monday morning Master Dixon told them that all work would cease as we were going to make Coffins for Noah and his Wife out of some prized walnut the Master had been hoarding. Every one was taken by surprise and we all worked equally working the rough sawn walnut into the necessary parts to make the two caskets. Mrs Dixon went down to the Millener and tried to purchase some crushed velvet to line the coffins with, but the Millener would have none of it and said she would furnish the cloth and help with sewing. My Mother and Sister also helped.

    We cleaned the shop till there was not a speck of dust anywhere and the Wake for Noah and his Wife was held in the workshop with Noah's casket setting on his Saw Tables and Mrs. Noah on Masters Saw Tables side by side in front of Noahs work bench and tool chest. I had saved some of the walnut shaving from when I planed my pieces of Walnut and asked permission from Master Dixon to put them in Noah's coffin. Master Dixon said that was a fine thought. We also put a small plane, a saw and an extra chisel of Noah's in the coffin also.

    The Wake went very well. It seemed that all the people from everywhere came to pay respects to Noah and his Wife as they were well thought of by all. Noah's only son was very impressed with the Wake and he thanked all of us in the shop for our thoughfulness and shook each of our hands and thanked each of us in person.

    The Funeral was held at the Church and there were 3 times as many people as the church would hold that attended. All the men from the shop were the casket bearers and Noah and his Wife were laid to rest at there home with there four other children that were still born.

    The shop got almost back to normal the day after Noahs funeral, but it just wasn't the same without Noah being there.

    Sunday morning in Church at the end of the services, Noah's son John who lived some distance away in another town asked the Parson if he could say a few words.

    John thanked the people of the town for the kindness they had showed his Father and Mother while they were alive and especially at their deaths. Then he went on to say that he thought he was a real dissapointment to his Father as he never took up the trade of Woodworking as he was never interested in it and took up the trade of printer instead. He went on to say that he had found his Fathers Will and all was left to him except for his Woodworking tools which would go to a man his Father had great respect for, who was a good craftsman and would go far in the Woodworking field as he had a great appreciation for Wood. He went on to say that he really had no use for the family home, barn and most of the other possessions including the team his father was so proud of. The only things of his parents he wanted were a few keepsakes. He said he could not bear the thought of selling the property and goods and he felt they should go to the same man who his Father had had enough respect for to leave him his tools, his most prized possessions.

    I thought to myself he really thought a lot of Master Dixon. Then he stated that Master Dixon and Thomas Leeper should hold the property in trust for Joshua Leeper till he becomes a Journeyman Wood worker.

    I was already in tears thinking about my friend and mentor Noah, and John's words hit me like a tree falling on me. It shocked me so much, I fell off the end of the Church Pew where I was setting, into the aisle. Everyone was stunned at Johns Announcement and when I fell out of the Pew into the aisle there was so much laughter I barely remember hearing the Parson saying, 'Someone check and see if Joshua is still alive!"


    - Part 8 - Surprised

    It just isn't the same with Noah gone. Master Dixon has moved me to Noah's bench and I am using the tools Noah left me. Although I am only in the fourth year of my Apprenticeship and I am working at the bench where a very skilled man worked and with the tools of a Journeyman which seem better than the other workers, they seem to hold no ill will towards me and treat me as they always did.

    Master Dixon had me lay all of Noah's tools out on the bench and explained to me what each one was and how they were used. I was very curious about two pieces of thin wood that were in an oilcloth wrapping one was a light coloured wood and the other a very blackish colour and both were very shiny. Master told me the light coloured one was Boxwood and the dark one was Ebony, and that they were called Winding sticks and they were shiny from being Burnished and from being handled a lot.

    I told Master I had never seen them before and asked what type of winding you did with them. Master started laughing hard as did the workers close by who had heard my question. My face got hot and I knew it must be Very Red from embarrasement, I finally laughed with them but not knowing why. Master grasped my shoulder with a firm grip and and told me I was going to find out what you Unwound with them real soon. While he still had a grip on my shoulder he said, "Son, you are going to make a fine Master someday. Until now you have just observed and done what you were told, but now you are starting to asking questions. That a good sign of an inquiring mind." All of at once his words sank in and my face got Hot again. He had called me "Son".

    Master told me to put all Your Tools back in Your Tool Chest except for the Jack Plane, the Fore Plane, the Trying Plane, the Winding Sticks and a pencil. I did as I was told and got My Tools back in their proper places. I almost went to my knees and felt a little dizzy as I thought of what Master had just said. He had said YOUR TOOLS. MY TOOLS, I was beginning to wonder if I was really awake or just having a dream. MY TOOLS, that sounded nice. I must have been just standing there in a state of shock when one of the workman patted me on the back and told me to wake up boy. It scared me so bad I must have jumped aways off the floor.

    - Part 9 - Planing

    Master came back to my bench carrying a nasty looking board and laid it on my bench and with a smile on his face told me to tell him about the board. I guess I had a dumb look on my face and Master told me to study the board for a little while and he would be back. I though to myself that is the worst looking board I have ever seen, but I turned it over and studied both sides with care. When Master came back and asked me to tell him about the board. I told him it was the worst piece of lumber I had ever seen and should I cut it up for firewood. By the look of disgust on his face it must have been the wrong answer. Master told me to study it more and walked away. I was getting frustrated, maybe I could just put it some where and Master would forget about it. I got a piece of paper and decided to write down everything I could about the board. I got the bench brush and dusted it off, took careful measurements of its length, width and thickness, that it was terribly twisted, that it had probably been pitsawn by apprentices as the thickness and width varied thru its length, but it appeared to have a nice grain to it, but had several ugly knots in it.

    When Master came back again, I read from my paper and he smiled some. What species is it he asked? Walnut, I told him and he smiled again. Master proceeded to show me the difference between Slab sawn, Rift sawn and Quarter sawn as this board had all three as it evidently came from almost the center of a log.

    Master told me that I was going to see a lot of this nasty board and when I had finished making something for my mother out of it I would be almost a Journeyman. As the knots were almost exactly in the center of the long board, Master told me to make a cut on each side of the knots and scrap the piece with knots. Then as this board was almost two feet wide I was to rip it into 4 equal pieces otherwise when I worked the twist out of it I would end up with almost nothing.

    I cut and ripped the board as Master had told me. As I was finishing up Master walked up and told me he was going to teach me the way Noah had shown him to salvage a really twisted board like I had. Master then said to lay the board on the bench and then to meaure how high the highest sides on both ends were. After I had measured, Master told me to go get two piece of scrap a little narrower than the measurement and about 8 inches long and then rip them diagonally to make four wedges. My curiousity is going crazy, but I will find out in a little while what Master has in mind.

    When I had the wedges cut, Master told me to slip the 4 wedges under the edges of the board about a hands span from the ends, and to use a couple of battens on each end to gauge the ends so that the most material would be left after removing the high part. When this was done master said that was the way Noah had shown him to get the most out of a board. Master then told me to use four holdfasts over the wedges to hold the board lightly. I now understand why Noah's bench has so many holes in its top. Master then told me to look under the bench for a small box with some wooden bench stops in it and to select two of them to put in holes close to the far edge of the board and to put a couple of the wedges laying beside the tool chest between the edge of the board and the stops. Master then sent me after a glue pot and told me to mark each wedge where the edge of the board met the wedge and remove it gently and put some glue on the inside of the mark and then push it back in to the mark.

    After all the wedges were glued and pushed back in, Master had me tightened up the holdfasts with the mallet. I then was told to get two scraps while the glue was setting and to cut them a little longer than the board was wide and to plane both edges so they were parallel and just narrow enough so that you could just see some of the twisty board all the way across. When I was done making the two pieces master came over with 4 nails and had me mark the the pieces I had just planed up for two nails that would drive into the twisty board, Master then had me make two holes with a brad awl so they wouldn't split the pieces I had planed up and had me start a nail in each hole, making sure the bottom was flat on the bench and to drive the nails in most of the way. Master then told me to sweep up the shop as it was nearing can't see.

    After the evening meal and the woodbox was filled for the morning, Master and I sat and talked for awhile about what I had done and why. I went to my room and wrote down in my journal what I had learned before retiring for the night.

    I was up early as usual doing my morning chores of filling the glue pots with water and glue and starting the fire in the glue pot stove, and carrying in wood for the kitchen hearth woodbox. I went to the workshop with Master at cansee and Master told me to pick the Jack Plane and look at how the blade was sharpened in an arc, he called it convex and told me to set it a little ranker by tapping on the front of the plane with a small mallet. After this was done to Masters approval he told me to tighten the holdfasts and start planing crossways on the end that had the high side toward me and to scrub it down till the wood was an even thickness above the batten on the end. and as close to the holdfasts as I could. I found out what the wedged pegs were for, to keep the board from moving back as I planed.

    Then Master had me move the holdfasts to the scrubbed area and work towards the center of the board. Master warned me not to go too deep in the center. When this was done, Master had me loosen the holdfasts and pick the board un carefully and turn it around so the high side of the other end was towards me and work that end the same way I had done the other end.

    After both ends were done, Master had me remove the holdfasts on the near side and use the Foreplane full length to the center using a straight edge to check to see if it had the high lows out. Master also warned me about getting too low in the middle again and to use a small straight edge crossways to check for this. After I had the near side planed, Master had me turn the board around again so the off side was toward me and plane it level.

    After I was done with the foreplane, Master came and checked my work and had me use the pencil to mark the board crossways every 2 fingers the length of the board and told me to use the trying plane at a 45 degree angle and plane the whole surface of the board moving the plane over each stroke and as many times as it took to plane off all the marks. When all the marks were gone, I was to mark the board again and use the trying plane to plane lengthways till all the marks were gone. I was surprised that it only took one pass with the trying plane to remove the marks. Master said that I had done as good a job as a journeyman. I was so happy I almost cried. Several of the other workmen came over and shook my hand and said well done Joshua.

    Master had a smile on his face and told me to turn the board over, remove the wedges, the battens and to remove the glue from the board face with a rasp before starting to work with the planes. I was to use a marking gauge and put a mark all the way around as a reference line to plane to the proper thickness.

    I was glad for the break at high sun time to eat and then was back at it till can't see, As I was sweeping up I thought my arms were going to fall off. I think I will sleep well tonight. I wish it was Saturday so I could soak in the hot tub of bathwater.
    Last edited by harry strasil; 09-17-2006 at 12:50 PM.
    Jr.
    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
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    Page 3

    - Part 10 - Some Changes in the Workshop

    I woke up at my usual time. It was an effort to get out of my bed as my arms and shoulders ached and hurt worse than they did last evening. I moved them around some and grimaced from the pain. I told myself that working another of the boards today would surely do me in. And I wondered if Master and the workmen would make a casket for me as they did Noah, probably not as I was just an apprentice.

    I went out to the woodshed and using the hatchet I started to split some kindling for the cookstove. My arm didn't want to raise the hatchet, I didn't remember that hatchet being so heavy. The first stroke I almost did a childish thing, as the hatchet did not go where I had aimed it, and I trimmed the nail on the first finger on my left hand. It took me three or four times as long to make kindling this morning, but as Master always tells anyone who is working with a sharp tool, "Make sure you can still count to 10 when you are done." This morning I would have felt good if I could have counted to 8. Just to make sure I did a quick count and came up with 10.

    After I filled the wood box, I went to the workshop and started the gluepot heater and added water and glue to some of the pots so they would be ready for the day. After bring in some wood for the big shop stove and getting it going well from the coals left from the night stoking, I carried the ashes out to the ash shed were master had the lye runner where he used the ashes to make lye for coloring some of the wood, and for Mistress to make soap with. On the way back to the house I drew 2 buckets of fresh water for the Mistress and carried them in, they sure were heavy this morning. Mistress noticed I had taken longer than usual and asked me if I was all right. I told her I was still tired and sore from yesterdays work.

    Mistress had already started the morning meal and Master came in and sat down to table with a smile on his face and I thought I saw him sneak a wink at Mistress who just smiled. After the meal of porridge, biscuits with apple butter and eggs with ham and a cup of tea with honey, Master told me to help Mistress with the big iron pot as she needed to make soap today. Master said he had something to attend to before work. After I had built the fire and put the right amount of lye water in the kettle I was to clean out the lye runner and start a new batch.

    I had helped Mistress many times with the soap making but never understood it. So this morning I asked why she always boiled away some of the lye water first thing. Mistress informed me that the solution was not strong enough till it would float an uncooked hens egg, then she could put the lard in to stir together to make the soap. After she answered my question I brought more wood for the fire and then went to clean out the lye runner.

    The lye runner was a big wooden cask with hickory hoops and a large hole drilled in the bottom. I carefully tipped the cask over onto the wheel barrow and scooped the contents out so it was mostly clean on the inside and then tipped it back on its stand. I then took the scoop with me and spread the waste over the ground in the little orchard. On the way back I picked up a bunch of the small twigs that littered the ground under the trees and got some straw that was stored in lean to off the woodshed where the lye runner was. I carefully laid the twigs about 2 fingers thick in the bottom of the cask and then covered those with about 3 fingers of straw. I carefully covered the straw with some of the hardwood ashes and then filled the cask almost full with ashes leaving a nice funnel shaped depression in the center. I carefully placed the catch bucket under the cask. I took two buckets to the rainwater catch barrels and after breaking the ice on top carried two buckets of the water to the runner and poured the first one in and then after it was mostly gone I poured the second bucket in. Master had explained this process to me my second year of my apprenticeship. Well water would not work for this, it had to be rain water and as it soaked slowly thru the ashes it leached the lye out of the ashes, and trickled out the bottom as lye water. The straw kept the ashes from settling into the twigs and the twigs let the lye water move to the hole as the cask was canted toward the hole side so it could run into the catch bucket. After 3 buckets of water, the runner had to be emptied and refilled again. The lye water was kept in a small cask with a tight fitting lid for storage. Just as I returned with the third bucket of water to set near the runner Master came from the shop and told me to come to the shop as soon as I had put the third bucket in the runner.

    When I entered the shop I noticed a young lad standing with Master. I know I looked puzzled and Master just smiled and told me the lad was Henry the son of his second cousin. Henry was 9 years old and he had taken him on as an apprentice as I would be working at my own bench with my own tools and would not have time to do a lot of the things I used to do. Then Master shocked all in the shop by telling me I was responsible for training him as I had been. I immediately took a dislike to the lad as his eyes were very close together and looked strange. His face looked he had been eating sour apples.

    I showed him how to tend to the glue pot heater and not get it too hot and ruin the glue and how to tend the big shop stove. Also where the broom and shovel were kept. I told him to keep the shavings swept up the workmen made and put them in the box by the glue heater stove. To my surprise, he told me in a loud voice that he was not going to sweep the floor as that was a job for slaves and women and he was neither. Master came over and grabbed one of his large ears and drug Henry screaming and hollering over to a corner and had a stern talk with him. Master drug Henry back by the same ear and by the scowl on his face, I was sure he would curdle the glue if he got near the pots.

    I handed him a broom and he started sweeping but he made such a cloud of dust some of the workmen started coughing and had to go outside. I was at his side in two hops and grabbed the broom and told him to watch how I swept so as not to create a dust storm. After I had swept a small area I handed the broom back to him and he told me in a loud voice, "Your so smart, you do it." Master grabbed him by the ear again and drug him outside screaming and yelling. The yelling from outside sounded like Master was killing him and shortly they came back inside. Henry was holding his bottom and Master laid a nice thumb size switch on his bench and handed Henry the broom and pointed toward the floor. Henry's look now would have soured milk with just a glance, but he did an almost fair job of sweeping.

    One of the workmen walked over to Master with something all wrapped up in cloth and handed it to Master. Master unwrapped the article and it was a very nice saw that Master held like it was something precious. Master got the biggest smile on his face and asked the workman where he had gotten it. The workman told Master his Father had purchased it for him from a lady whose husband had died as a birthday gift for him. Master said it was a very fine 26 inch Kenyon carcase saw with 7 points per inch and that it needed sharpening. The workman said yes, he was planning on having Noah sharpen it right as he was not that good at sharpening and as Noah was gone, would Master sharpen it for him.

    Master called my name and then with a big smile on his face, handed the saw to me when I came over and told me to sharpen this saw please. All work stopped in the shop and everyone in the shop stared at me in disbelief. The workman started to protest and Master told him that during the big blizzard he had taught me how to sharpen saws and that I would do almost as good a job as Noah had and I had sharpened every saw in the shop as practice during the days the shop was closed. As I got the saw vice out, Henry scowling again, put two big shovels of shavings in the glue heater stove and it took off with a roar. Master yelled and grabbed Henry's ear in one hand and the switch in his other hand and they headed outside while another workman and I scooped ashes into the stove to to slow the fire and removed the glue pots from its top. It was high sun so after the stove was under control and the glue pots returned to the top, I went in for the midday meal.

    Poor Henry had the worst scowl yet and was standing up eating some biscuits and apple butter. Master had a very disgusted look on his face and so did Mistress. Master told Henry that as soon as he had finished his biscuits he was going back to his parents. Henry looked at the table and asked about the venison roast, potatoes and especially the fresh baked apple pie that had just come out of the oven and smelled so good he was drooling. Master told him he would eat what was given him and he had not even earned that.


    -Part 11 - After Henry

    After the midday meal Master and I went back to the shop and Master came over to where I was putting the saw in the vice. I was nervous and my hands were shaking some. Master told me in a low voice, everyone is nervous after the mess Henry had made of the morning, to just to take it slow and do it right. Master told me I would have to go out to the lye kettle and scrape some soot to make the black used on the saw to show which teeth had been filed, or use a candle.

    I think I surprised master when I told him Noah had told me that the soot and water would rust a saw blade if it was not all cleaned off afterwards and oiled and that Noah and I had discussed a different method that Noah was going to try on the next saw. Master just looked at me with a puzzled look on his face, I hope I did not make him mad, the memory of Henry and the switch crossed my mind.

    Master said, I didn't know Noah was teaching you. I told Master I was learning from everyone in the shop by watching and asking questions, and that Noah was always calling me over to explain something he was doing, and called me Son. Master got a big smile on his face and told me that explained a lot of things that had happened lately. Master said, carry on Son and walked away with the smile still on his face.

    I looked in the till where Noah kept the saw sharpening things and sure enough there were the two little copper wires we had talked about making, with very nicely formed bends in the middle and a nice eye formed on the ends to grab it with you fingers. I had no idea Noah had already made them. It took more than just a few strokes with the file and jointing block to even up the teeth as someone had evidently tried to sharpen it and had done a very poor job of it. It was very quiet in the shop and I heard someone sort of grumble and looked around and all the workmen were staring at me. I think because of all the jointing I was doing they wondered if I really knew what I was doing. Every one came about a foot off the floor when Master hit his bench loudly with a mallet and yelled, This is not a Church, and its not Sunday, if you want to take lessons from Joshua, do it on your own time. All the workmens faces turned red and I think mine was so red it glowed. Anyway it sure felt hot.

    When all the teeth showed at least a little shiny flat spot, I picked up a file and started to carefully refile the teeth so they were all uniform. When the retoothing was done, I jointed the teeth again to be sure they were all the same height and then one more light filing to remove all the flat spots. I remembered Noah showing me a small block of hardwood, that he had used when he was taught to file teeth. It had several notches cut at different angles in the center of one side. It was was used by placing on the saw at the proper angle with the teeth in one of the slots and slid along the saw as you did the final sharpening to use as a reference to keep the angle the same on all the teeth. It was in the sawfiling till and I got it out and placed it on the blade.

    I did the first couple of teeth remembering to use the same number of strokes on each tooth . Then put one of the little copper wires in the last tooth I filed and skipped a tooth and moved to the next tooth. After that tooth was done, I placed the second wire in its gullet and moved to the next tooth, leaving the first wire in the last tooth and moving the one behind ahead. Master came over to see how I was doing and watched me for a few minutes, then asked me about the angle block and the wires. I explained to him about Noah's angle block and that Noah and I had talked about the soot making rust and about using the wires because if you looked away for a minute it was easy to loose your place. Master said, Son I am proud of you, the Master has learned from the apprentice this day.

    After all the filing was done, I got Noahs hand made wrests out and chose the right one, Noah had made these himself and each had a number stamped into them for the tpi, and I carefully set the teeth. After all the setting was done I stoned the sides and removed the saw from the vise and put it away and then came back and tried the saw on a piece of oak, Noah called this proofing the saw.

    I was amazed how easily the saw went thru the piece of oak a handswidth wide and a thumb thick and with such ease in only 4 strokes. This indeed was a fine saw. As I turned around to take the saw to Master, I saw him standing behind me with the biggest Smile I have ever seen on his face. Master took the saw and handed it to the workman who owned it and told him if he ever wanted to sell it, he would gladly buy it. The workman just smiled and laid it on his work bench and came over and shook my hand and thanked me. Then all the other workmen came over shook my hand and patted me on the back and told me, Excellent Job Joshua. I had the feeling that I really was accepted as a member of the shop that day.

    Master brought me over a pattern for a butterfly flooring keys and instructed me to make 300 of them exactly the same, out of slab sawn beech with the grain running cross ways of the wedge.


    Part 12 - My Journal

    Master saw my candle burning and came up to my room last night to visit with me about the keys and I was writing in my Journal. He was very surprized to see me writing, and asked me where I had learned to write so well.

    I explained to him that both my Mother and Father had come from well to do families, but wanted the freedom the New World offered. They both had been educated in fine schools in the old country and my Father had been one of Washingtons Officers in the War. They had started all their children at am early age learning to read, write and do their sums. Master told me that I was very fortunate to have such loving and educated parents, and complimented me on my fine hand. Master asked me what I was putting in my Journal. I told him that my Parents had suggested I write the things I learned in the journal so I could look back on things if I forgot. Master told me that was a good idea.


    Part - 13 - Butterfly Keys

    Master had seen me paring some of the keys with a chisel to get them to exact size and told me to just to saw to the line as the workmen using them would pare them to fit the opening they chopped for them in the flooring. I asked Master how they worked as I had never seen them used before.

    Master explained that this was a well to do persons house and that they didn't want cracks opening between the boards so the workmen would cramp the boards together and cut a shallow dovetail in the edges of the boards and pound the keys in and plane them down to hold the boards together before they pegged the floor boards to the joists. The peg holes were drilled at an angle and the slightly larger pegs driven in and pared flush. I asked him why the pegs were at an angle and he told me that if the pegs were driven in at opposing angles the flooring would not pull up like if they were driven in straight down. The pegs, flooring and butterfly keys were all different woods to make the colors pleasing to the eye. It took lots of time to do it this way, but the owner could afford it and did not like nails which were expensive and turned the flooring black around them.

    The next morning the keyss went quickly I was finally getting used to using the small Veneer Frame saw to cut the keys to thickness and I paid more attention to sawing to the line for the tapers. I understand now why I did all the sawing and planing of the glue heater kindling now, being precise means less work.

    I finished all the keys today and after the evening meal Master and Mistress gave me a Whale oil lamp with a glass chimney to take to my room so that I could see better when writing in my journal.
    Last edited by harry strasil; 09-17-2006 at 11:38 AM.
    Jr.
    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
    By Hammer and Hand All Arts Do Stand

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    Page 4

    Part 14 - More Practice Sawing

    Master had me take the keys to the house where they would be used and told me to stop at the store and bring two containers of glue back with me as the shop needed more to replace what had been used. It would not be wise to run out of glue, and to make sure the glue cakes were solid and not mushy and rancid.

    When I returned from the errands, Master came over and told me to get the Dovetail saw, marking knife, small trying square and dovetail and marking gauges out. Master had to show me what the dovetail gauge looked like. There were several marked 10, 15 and 20. Master explained that hard tough woods like oak, maple and beech used 10 degree dovetails, intermediate hardwoods like walnut used 15 degree dovetails and deal or softwoods used 20 degree dovetails. When different woods were used, to use the one for the softer wood in both.

    Master left and came back with several scrap species of wood and showed me how to space the dovetails and use the marking gauge and dovetail gauge and trying square on a piece of deal. Master then sawed one of the dovetails and showed me how to chopped it out from both sides with a chisel, and told me to do one end of each scrap with the proper degree of dovetail. It took me most of the day to do all the dovetails as I was making sure I did them right. I swept the shop up just before can't see and went into to the evening meal.

    After the meal and the fire box was filled for the night, Master and I sat and talked for awhile and he told me he had looked at my work and that I had bruised the wood at the marking gauge line on some of them and that I should chop a little ways away from the line and finish by paring to the line.

    Mistress brought us a pastry she called a Kolache with some fruit filling in the center, I ate two and Mistress was pleased and gave me another to take to my room. Master reached for another and Mistress slapped his hand and told him one was enough for him, he wasn't a growing boy anymore. Master really scowled at Mistress who just smiled.

    I am now able to make kindling for the glue heater with a hatchet. I got two more Kolaches, but Mistress would only let Master have one. He started to say something and Mistress just waved her finger at him. I was eating my second Kolache as we walked to the shop and Master asked me if I was gonna share. I started to hand the rest to him and Mistress yelled from the door. You do and both of you will go hungry at high sun. Masters scowl would have curdled milk, then he smiled and laughed saying to me, I almost got us both in trouble. I stuck the rest of the Kolache in my mouth before we got to the door of the shop.

    Master brought me over some more scraps and showed me how to mark the mortices from the tails and then said with a smile on his face, You could have at least saved me a bite.

    Master warned me that to make a mistake sawing now would mean starting over with another scrap. I was very careful and took extra care with my marking and sawing and chisel work. It took me all day to finish the mortices and master came over and tried them together and they were all a light tap fit going together. Master was very surprized and so was I.

    Master told Mistress at evening meal how well I had done the dovetails and she smiled and gave each of us two Kolaches. Master smiled and Mistress gave each of us a kiss on the cheek and my face got hot.


    Part 15 - More Dovetails and a surprize for everyone.

    Monday morning Master Dixon had a surprise for all of us, a new Apprentice. His name was Benjamin and he looked to be a couple of years older than me. His parents had just moved to town and his Father was going to be working at the Grist Mill and he had an younger brother and a sister. Benjamin had worked in a Mill with his father before it burned down and the local mill did not need another worker and the mill owner knew Master Dixon was looking for another apprentice and had recommended him to Master. Benjamin looked a lot smarter than Henry and was used to working already. So Master had taken him on. Master asked Benjamin if he had a problem taking orders from a person younger than him and he shook his head no, and Master told him that he would be taking orders from all the workman in the shop including me.

    I explained to Benjamin what his duties were and showed him where the broom and shovel were and told him to start sweeping up. I watched him for a short time and he was good at sweeping, I guess from sweeping up all the dust around a mill. After he had swept up I showed him how to tend the gluepot heater and how to mix the glue so it was right. Master told me to get some drawers another workman was building and as I had done such a good job on my practice dovetails to cut the dovetails for the back of the drawers as they were ready. Master told me apprentices usually cut the dovetails for the backs of drawers. The morning went well and Benjamin was quick to learn. At high sun we went in for the midday meal and Master asked me if it was allright for Benjamin to stay in my room. I smiled and said yes.

    Shortly after we got back to the shop, we had visitors. They were the Master Housewright and John Tuttle the owner of the house I did the butterfly keys for. It seems they were impressed with the keys and wanted to thank the workman who had made them. Master Dixon brought them over to my bench where I was cutting the dovetails for drawer and introduced me. The Master Housewright just stared with his mouth open and said, But he is just a young Apprentice. My face got hot and Master Dixon just had a big smile on his face. The Master Housewright said that he was going to have the shop do some more work but if Master Dixon was letting an apprentice do the work he would look somewhere else. I immediately took a dislike to the Housewright and his opinion of the shop.

    You would have thought Henry was back by the scowl on Master Dixons face. Master was about to say something when Mr. Tuttle pushed past them and came over to me and inspected my work with the dovetails. He asked me how long I had been doing dovetails and I told him two days. Mr. Tuttle turned around and asked Master Dixon whose bench and tools I was using. Master told him the tools and bench were left to me by Noah Yoder when he passed on. Mr. Tuttle asked Master Dixon if Noah had helped train me. Master said yes he had. Mr. Tuttle said that's good enough for me and told the Master Housewright to give Master Dixon the order list and to deliver the material post haste whatever that means. The Housewright was not happy by the scowl on his face but handed Master Dixon the order, and Mr. Tuttle and the Housewright left.

    Master looked at the order after the visitors had left and immediately sat down on my saw table. The workmen all crowded around and finally Master told us what the order was. It was an order for all the BeadBoard, Cap Trim, Baseboard and shoe molding for all the Waiscoting in Mr. Tuttles new home. It was to be made of Chestnut, Walnut and Cherry and Ash, and it had been drying for 2 years in a small barn.

    Master told me to go fetch the Sawyer and went to his desk. When I returned with the Sawyer, Master motioned the Sawyer to come his desk and the two of them started writing on some paper. Just as they were done some sleds arrived pulled by oxen with the rough sawn timber from Mr. Tuttle and Master and the Sawyer went out to talk with them. The wagons left with the Sawyer on one of the sled seats.

    Master told us that it was much easier and quicker for the Sawyer to saw the material to dimensions than it would be for us to do it. Master said the Sawyer had some men out of work anyway and he had given him a good price as work was slow. The sawn material start arriving in two days and that I would have to make sure all the necessary moving fillister, rebate,beading and moulding planes were sharp,set and ready to work. Master then told the workmen what they would be doing. The lumber would be stacked inside the big doors and it would move down one side of the shop and then back up the other side of the shop with each workman doing his part and then the next man would do his part and so on. Each day the workmen would move up to the next station so that we would not get bored.

    Master said he would sketch out some aids to help with the work and that each one of us would make the aid for our starting work station. The rest of the day was spent finishing up the drawers and other assorted work and I stayed and showed Benjamin what chores needed to be done to finish out his day.

    Mistress put up a fine meal and even had made some more Kolaches with some strawberry jam this time. Benjamin's eyes got big as eggs when he saw them, and I think Master was drooling. After the evening meal I showed Benjamin what his chores were after the meal.


    Part 16 - Getting ready to do lots of Planing.
    Last edited by harry strasil; 09-17-2006 at 11:40 AM.
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    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
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    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
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    NORMAL is just a setting on the washing machine.
    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
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    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
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    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
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    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
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    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
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    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
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    Be who you are and say what you feel... because those that matter... don't mind...and those that mind...don't matter!
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