Shipwright school blog - hewing and sawing gets underway
March 24, 2014
At last we have started the hewing and sawing of the trees at Buckler’s Hard with expert tutor Henry Russell and a great group of keen students.
First lots of health and safety stuff to cover, a lesson in timber growth and then how to axe, firstly on softwood to get the hang of it.
The sound of all the axing on the logs was superb, just how the village would have sounded 200 years ago. It was like music as each axe blow resounded at a different pitch.
We also went to visit two old Beaulieu Estate barns to look at the construction of the roofs, some 16th, 17th and 18th century. Having learnt how to hew we could see the hewing marks on the beams and with the help of a torch, could see marks across the timbers showing scribed levelling marks and identifying numbers.
The hewing and sawing course continues through this week, with further activity next week including demonstrations to Buckler’s Hard visitors between 2 – 4 April.
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