The Riven Word

We are Plimoth Plantation’s Interpretive Artisans Department, and we are the people who research, build, maintain, and interpret all the structures in the 17th Century English (Pilgrim) Village.

Picked up pieces 3.0*

January 22nd, 2013 by Rick McKee

…of The Riven Word while wondering what our beloved NE Patriots ever did to Bernard Pollard…

Run of the Mill

Lubing the wheel.

Plimoth Plantation is running a grist mill!

The Plimoth Grist Mill is a working mill reconstructed on the original 17th century site along Plymouth’s Town Brook.  The mill stones have been tuned and the various moving parts have been tweaked. Join us in welcoming the wonderful, talented, and intrepid Kim Van Wormer as she manages the mill and prepares to grind organic stone-ground corn meal and grits (samp) while interpreting the history and technology of an operational grist mill. Kim will be blogging about her grist and grind and we’ll post a link to her blog once it’s up and running. There are some intriguing stories which have already come out of this venture and this promises to be a fascinating experience. The Riven Word will keep you posted. Grind on, Kim–Harry Hornblower would be proud!

Nailed it!

Our own Mark Atchison has been published in the September issue of The Chronicle of the Early American Industries Association magazine. His article: “William Palmer–An English Nailmaker in New England” is richly detailed, researched, and illustrated. It’s a perfect representation of the seamless blending of traditional and experiential research we strive to achieve here. For information on how to join EAIA and read Mark’s article, visit their website: http://www.earlyamericanindustries.org/

New Guy

Mark and Matt working on a hammerhead.

And while we’re the subject of blacksmiths, The Riven Word welcomes new blacksmith apprentice Matthew “Mateo” Brault to the artisans. Matt comes to us from Bay End Farm where he’s been toiling organically for the last couple of years. Welcome aboard, Matt! We’d like to put in an order for 500 free-range, organic nails please…

The Saw Wright

This saw, sold by A.J. Wilkinson Hardware in Boston, resonated with Peter F.

Peter Follansbee brought around a special guest the other day: Matt Cianci, aka The Saw Wright. Matt is a true saw doctor who sharpens and repairs vintage saws. As Matt explained the provenance, value, and general condition the saw pictured above, Peter and I felt as though we were in an episode of Antiques Roadshow. Peter has had several of his own saws worked on by Matt. You can learn more about Matt and his great work by checking out his web site: http://www.thesawwright.com/

 

Thanks for making a house call, doctor!

A Dutch rick of wood?

Winter Scene at Yselmuiden by Hendrick Avercamp c.1613

Thanks to the keen observation of the fabulous Kelley Araujo, we may have found another image of a rick of firewood. Our posts on this method of storing and seasoning firewood brought us to many places, and maybe this is another log to throw on the fire. Behind the coal being unladen, after the Providence Bruins warming up on ice, there’s a circular mound between two buildings in the center of the blue circle. Could this be a wood rick? Is it associated with either of the two buildings? It looks proportionately plausible. Thanks Hendrick and Kelley!

Corrections

Back in September, we took a little stroll through some of the building history at Plimoth Plantation in Letting The Days Go By. In that post, we said that our cratchet-framed forge was the first large-scale building made in that style. We were wrong! Rob Tarule set me straight:

“…in ’84 or so we made the cowhouse behind Billington. Not only was it cratchet, but we made the roof on the ground and lifted it onto the cratchets one morning before opening with a bunch of hands. The exercise was based on an article in Vernacular Architecture by Freddie Charles, an architect who specialized in saving things like tithe barns.”


Thanks Rob. It’s always good to hear from you and we are looking forward to more collaboration with you.

 

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*Dan Shaughnessy, longtime sportswriter for The Boston Globe, periodically writes a column full of random sports observations called, Picked Up Pieces. It’s a series of pithy vignettes which, taken as a whole, present a larger picture of the local sports and cultural scene. The title is taken from John Updike’s 1975 book of the same name. In that spirit, The Riven Word presents its own version of random moments and events which have occupied our figurative desktops recently.


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Posted in blacksmith, firewood, Peter Follansbee, tools | No Comments

platitudinous

December 17th, 2012 by Rick McKee

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments

A Day at the Raising

December 12th, 2012 by Rick McKee

The Francis Cooke House frame went up last week!

Or part of it, anyway. We consider ourselves lucky to have had so many friends come out on a fair December day and help us raise a couple of bents. It’s important to set our earthfast posts before the ground freezes, and it’s a kick to see that puppy go up.

Marie Pelletier, Peter Follansbee, and Sally Rothemich took outstanding photos and La Bottine Souriante provided the music.



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Posted in The Francis Cooke House, timber frame, video | 7 Comments

EquipoisE

December 11th, 2012 by Rick McKee

“The essential processes by which the house took shape, so far as we can determine, were perpetuated in the New World with very few modifications…The timbers once felled were shaped with the axe and trimmed with the adz or sawn with the pit saw. Tenons were cut with a hand saw, mortices were made with an auger and squared with a mallet and chisel, and [trenail] holes were bored with the auger. The timbers were used soon after they were felled and were allowed to dry in situ, as is well attested by the character of the wood itself.”

Abbott Lowell Cummings, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1725

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Posted in timber frame, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

If you give the artisans an oak tree…

December 8th, 2012 by Rick McKee

…they’ll want to build a house with it.

And if they build a new house, they’ll need to take the old one down first.

Making a new house reminds them that they’ll need a plan.

So they’ll meet with old friends, and they’ll open books and make drawings.

Once they have a plan, they’ll want to hew round logs square.

And to hew round logs into timbers for building, they’ll need the right ax.

So their blacksmith will make them one.

They’ll need charcoal to bring iron and steel to a great heat.

For that they’ll build a collier’s pit and burn the earth and the wood inside.

And if they build a coal-pit in a field, they’ll need to mow tall hay with a scythe.

Once they have the field, the pit, the charcoal, and the ax, they can hew the oak.

When they’re finished hewing one, they’ll want to hew another.

And another.

And another.

And when they’ve squared enough timber,

they’ll pit-saw some of the big pieces into smaller ones.

They’ll start pit-sawing.

The work will remind them of old friends they used to saw with.

Some will even come to saw with them.

Soon, they’ll have enough timber to frame a cottage.

And if they build a house, they’ll probably want to put a roof on it.

So they’ll put down their axes and go to the marsh to gather thatch.

And after they go to the marsh for thatch, they’ll need a place to dry all of it.

When the thatch has seasoned and been put away, they’ll want to return to the frame.

They’ll scratch their heads and pull their beards & carefully lay out the oak timbers.

To cut the joints, they’ll need sharp chisels and saws.

When they start joining parts together, they’ll want to share their labors

with people who are interested in what they do.

When enough timbers are ready, they’ll need to clear the lot,

and dig holes for the corner posts.

They’ll join the squared oak pieces together on the ground.

And because the oak is heavy, they’ll invite some friends to come help them raise the frame.

After two posts are put in, they’ll all want to put in two more,

and set them firmly in the ground.

And having so many friends there to help, they’ll want to carry over big timbers

to put on top of the posts and beams.

And chances are, if they build a house where the old one once stood…


…they’ll want an oak tree to help finish it.

 

photos by Marie Pelletier, Peter Follansbee, and Sally Rothemich

 

 

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Posted in blacksmith, building materials, charcoal making, hewing, oak, pit-sawing, The Francis Cooke House, timber frame | 19 Comments

Cooke House–Groundbreaking

December 4th, 2012 by Rick McKee

We’re putting our new timber frame into the ground before everything freezes. These are the first post-holes for The Francis Cooke House at Plimoth Plantation. Early houses in Plimoth Colony didn’t have foundations and were part of a long tradition of earthfast architecture where upright posts and sometimes studs were put directly into the ground. Cooke’s posts will be raised in pairs, connected by a beam. We spent some time before digging to establish precise post-hole location and depth. Moving 3 joined oak timbers–each weighing several hundred pounds–after they’ve been dropped into a hole is nobody’s idea of fun.

How to make a video about digging holes compelling? Start with some decent music…

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Posted in oak, The Francis Cooke House, timber frame | 6 Comments

Last kerf

November 24th, 2012 by Rick McKee

Well, another interpretive season is in the books. Time to lose the beards and drop the regional English dialects. Time to exchange our pipkins for coffee cups and our canvas for carhartts.

If we may say it, we finished the year in fine fashion, introducing thousands of museum guests to the unmitigated joy that is Plimoth Plantation’s saw-pit. Each Thanksgiving, we wrap up the year with a bonanza of pit-sawing–it’s our version of Thanksgiving football.

'tis like unto x-box, only different.

Several notable guests took turns joining us in the pit, including Mark’s son, who shows some promise as a pitman. Old friend and former artisan Rick C. happily took a turn below and he didn’t miss a beat. Bob Reimel, who’s runs a portable saw mill and does some amazing work, stopped by because, we assume, he wanted to see some “real” sawing. He had never pit-sawn before, so we convinced him to give it a try. Bob rocked the pit with an unorthodox but effective full-body technique. He even did a little steering on his own accord when we started trending off the line. Very impressive! This man understands sawing and wood-grain in any century and with any saw.

Some enthusiastic young people helped us carry the newly quartered oak away from the saw-pit, much to the delight of their parents. I’ve never seen a 4 x 4 x 8′ walking  to its destination with so many shuffling feet. Many hands make light the labor. It was a fitting way to conclude our public season.

Prognosticators say the coming winter will be snowier and more “winter-like” than last, whose mild temperatures led to dandelions in January. Que sera sera–our off-season checklist is extensive, and includes standing up the Cooke house frame in addition to much-needed maintenance of existing houses. Through it all, we’ll keep you posted.

We haven’t said it in a while: Thanks for your readership and support of The Riven Word! Thanks for subscribing and commenting on our posts and for keeping us honest and on-point. It’s a journey of discovery and we’re tickled to have you along for the ride!

Send us off with a flourish, Keegan!

 

 

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Posted in building materials, maintenance, pit-sawing, The Francis Cooke House | 7 Comments

November 22, 2012

November 21st, 2012 by Rick McKee

There are many different stories to tell each Thanksgiving.

For many indigenous peoples, especially Wampanoags, the holiday represents something very different from what is generally accepted.

Brian, Phillip and Darius are no less thankful for daily blessings than we are.

But there are many different stories to tell on Thanksgiving.

And there is room at the table for all of us.

 

 

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Posted in Wampanoag | 16 Comments

A feat of clay

November 16th, 2012 by Rick McKee

Serendipity, thy name is clay.

It just so happens that our recent daub damage has coincided with a local excavator’s discovery of clay.

Mike Mulligan hello?

Jim Halunen Brush Cutting and Mowing and Cheney Trucking and Materials have been digging a septic pit in the White Horse Beach area of Plymouth, about 10 miles south of Plimoth’s original settlement.  To find the right ”percolation rate” they’ve had to dig deep on this particular lot.  Several feet down, they came upon a nice deposit of clay. We gratefully received a delivery of several yards of this material yesterday:

Gumby Origin Story.

What’s the big dilly you ask?

Well, we love Gumby and Pokey as much as the next guy, but we’re not going to daub our walls with em. For one thing, they’re not found locally.

And their vivid colors might betray their other-worldly origins.

For more than a decade, we’ve been mixing mortar from clay which came from the bottom of Boston Harbor during The Big Dig. It’s called Boston Blue clay, and it’s a medium shade of gray in color, with a slight tinge of blue in places. The mortar made out of this clay seasons to a light gray color. Because the clay is very pure and “plastic”, it needs a fair amount of earth and binder in the mix to be useful as a mortar for our walls and chimneys. Unlike the vivid green and orange of Gumby and Pokey, the overall effect in our houses’ interior is a light gray color. Call it, Pilgrim Humours, if you’re looking for the correct shade at the paint store.

The White Horse Beach clay is much browner in hue, almost ruddy in places, with some flecks of gray.

It's so exfoliating!

It’s also more local and perhaps closer to what might have been used in pilgrim walls as a mortar. The primary sources speak of digging clay out of the side of Town Brook which we think is closer in appearance to the brown and ruddy color than the Boston Blue variety. We also have some anecdotal evidence of deposits of brown-colored clay in earthen basements of houses in downtown Plymouth today.

The overall appearance of the interior of our houses will subtly change over time, as we work more of the new clay into our walls and chimneys. We’ll also need to adapt our mortar recipes to this clay, which feels more silty and “crumbly” than the more dense Boston Harbor clay. We may need more binders like dung and straw, and less earth in the mix.

"Trodding Mortar" anagrams: Grand Dirt Motor and Daring Do Mr Trot!

Come the summer, we’ll be all feet on deck daubing The Francis Cooke House. We’ll use mostly mortar which has been reclaimed from the former house’s walls, but we’ll also be mixing in some of the new clay. It’s an opportunity to experiment with different varieties of clay mortar in the same house. If you’re local, come on in the mortar’s fine!

 

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Co-worker Eva Lipton remains in our hearts and thoughts and prayers as we approach Thanksgiving. Team Eva has set up a wonderful series of events and support pages for Eva and her family on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-EVA/223963567711425?fref=ts

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Posted in building materials, maintenance, mortar, The Francis Cooke House | 18 Comments

Athena comes to Plimoth

November 10th, 2012 by Rick McKee

“Sunday, the 4th of February, was very wet and rainy; with the greatest gusts of wind that ever we had, since we came forth…And it caused much daubing of our houses to fall down.”

1621, Mourt’s Relation

 

For millions of people up and down the east coast of the US, nature has asserted itself in a very elemental way these past couple of weeks. Sandy wreaked havoc in NY/NJ and the mid-Atlantic states, and folks are still struggling with its aftermath. A few days ago, a nor’easter some are calling “Athena” blew through with sustained winds and lashing rains. While we are very fortunate to have received only minor damage locally, we think of those less fortunate than us as we place such elemental forces in an historic context.

This is what “daubing of our houses” falling down might have looked like almost 400 years ago:

Justin crawled underneath the panel for scale. "It's wicked cozy", he said.

The post on the right had rotted away to almost nothing, and the wall’s horizontal splints were loosened. While the compromised post was the biggest reason the wall fell, we think it no coincidence that this daubed panel of mortar gave way overnight during the teeth of the storm.

Athena’s northeast gales found many of our weak points:

Pale flocking to Phoenix for the winter.

Dozens of palisade pales and a few old posts met their match during the storm. We’ll stand up and re-use most of the pale but we’ll need to replace several posts in the frame.

Garden fences were not immune to Athena’s fury. Here, John Howland takes stock of an impending repair.

I'm going to need nails, posts, and spearmint gum.

Several pines lost branches in the storm, and a couple of less-healthy specimens came down altogether. Athena knew what she was doing.

Future rick of wood.

Our saw-pit became a leaf repository. Leaf-peeping tours begin at sunrise. Bring your saw.

Is this the beginning of an Andy Goldsworthy project?

Some thatch caps had “hat head” after the storm, but otherwise fared quite well. Phew.

Browbeaten.

So while Athena raged outside our doors all day Thursday…

Rage Against the...Hand tools?

Our plucky co-workers made the most of it and hunkered down…

 

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Posted in mortar, thatch | 10 Comments

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