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The logs were delivered to us from Eric Starbard, a sawyer in Sterling, Ma. White oak timbers were used to replace the sill of the north wall and white pine for the plate sections. He cuts and delivers timber from his lot using a 100 year old sawmill. His band sawn material will match the historically appropriate "up & down" marks the older mills left on timber. We matched the same species of wood used in the frame and where appropriate used similar existing joinery. Once the repairs on the ground are complete, we begin the task of rigging and raising each piece into place. For cribbing up logs without a machine, block and tackle rigged to a tripod does the job pretty quick. We then snap chalk lines to layout our straight and square timber within the log. When squaring up larger logs, a technique called "juggling" is used. Juggling involves cutting v-shaped grooves down to the chalk lines with a felling axe and following behind with a broad axe to finish the timber. A broad axe is an ancient tool with a heavy wide head made specifically for this purpose. |
