Smoke Signals

Jul/Aug 2012

 

 

https://nafsmokesignals.tripod.com/2012/jan-feb_issue/pictures/what.the.hell.jpg  

BUCK CONNER

Staff Writer

INTO THE WOODS

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I have always been interested in the tools and skill needed in building primitive structures like our forefather's would have lived in or helped in the construction of. Always looking when in a library, book store or on the Internet for such information pertaining to such matters. A while back I found a website and with further searching found the actual location in Canada of this work in process.

 

Black Creek Pioneer Village
1000 Murray Ross Parkway
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M3J 2P3
t: 416.736.1733

Hours: 11-4 seven days a week, from May 1st to Christmas.

The museum will be open for Spring Break 2012 from March 10-18. It will re-open again for the season starting May 1st.

http://www.dalzielbarn.com/home.html

A tool should do half the work. Here are some of the tools that were used to build the Dalziel Barn. Even a small axe can fell a big tree... or build a log barn to stand for 200 years.

Here's a few of the pictures of the hand tools needed in the making of building materials needed for your new home or out buildings. Like we all have heard as far back as one can remember "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Some of the tools used on the "Dalziel Barn".

American Felling Axe

Was more durable than the English axe but not as sharp. The American axe became the standard in because, when out in the bush, you could chop with a dull blade, but not a broken one.

English Felling Axe

Used for chopping trees, scoring logs, and splitting wood for the fire.

Hewing / Broad Axe

Used for hewing/squaring logs for the cabin or barn. The handle/helve was off-set so the hewer could stand over the log while shaving the appropriate side. To ensure the log edge would be as smooth as possible the blade of the hewing axe was flat on one side.

Adze

Used with the hewing axe to make the log faces as smooth as possible. Any divots, chunks, or "juggle marks" in the logs made by the hewing axe allow water to penetrate the wood, creating rot.

Beetle

This fat, heavy hammer was used for big jobs. Its diameter can range from 4 to 7 inches. The beetle was good for pounding joints into place when assembling a log structure, banging wooden dowels and pegs into place when constructing a post & beam structure.

Froe

The cutting edge was not swung but hammered. The flat edge could be struck with a mallet, maul, or a small beetle while the cutting edge split the wood.

Mortise Axe

This edge tool is also hammered but more like a chisel than a splitter. In this example the mortise axe is chiseling a tenon from the end of a hewn log. This tenon will fit into a mortise hole made with the tools.

Mortise Chisel

The farmer used the mortise chisel to make holes to match his tenon. To get a square corner to fit the tenon, a corner chisel was used.

 

My wife and I are always looking for places to visit that are off the beaten track and not the common tourist traps you run into today. We are doing further investigation on this location and will probably have it at the top of our places to visit when in Canada this fall. I wrote these folks at the address seen at the beginning of this information found on their fine website, we thank them for their efforts and good information provided.

http://www.dalzielbarn.com/home.html

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Good luck, take care.

 

 

 

Aux Aliments de Pays !

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