Best selling wood projects - Timbertown An 1800s Experience

Best selling wood projects

Our Hastings Woodworkers Guild Workshops and Clubrooms are situated in Timbertown - the historic 1800s theme village at Wauchope NSW.
 
While we are not busy with club projects or clubroom duties, it is a joy to wander the village and encounter the characters who enliven the day to day.

Bullocky

an extract

Beside his heavy-shouldered team 

thirsty with drought and chilled with rain, 

he weathered all the striding years 

till they ran widdershins in his brain: 

Till the long solitary tracks 
etched deeper with each lurching load 
were populous before his eyes, 
and fiends and angels used his road.

All the long straining journey grew 

a mad apocalyptic dream, 

and he old Moses, and the slaves 

his suffering and stubborn team. 

Then in his evening camp beneath 

the half-light pillars of the trees

he filled the steepled cone of night 

with shouted prayers and prophecies.

While past the campfires crimson ring 

the star struck darkness cupped him round.

and centuries of cattle-bells 

rang with their sweet uneasy sound. 

From Judith Wright http://www.poemhunter.com/best-poems/judith-wright/bullocky-2/

The Village Blacksmith
an extract

Under a spreading chestnut tree
The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands;
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long,
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whateer he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

Toiling,--rejoicing,--sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a nights repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of lifeOur fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought!

 From Henry Wadsworth Longfellow http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/1218/

With special thanks to Craig the Bullocky and Doug the Smithy from Timbertown

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Best selling wood projects - The Little Carport That Could

Best selling wood projects

Turning A Carport Into A Multi Use Room

Years ago when we first bought our old cabin in the woods, we had all of our five teenage children at home, and not enough rooms to give them all some privacy.
The old home had a carport off the end of the house, where the car barely fitted because of what else was stored under there.

 At the other end from the family chariot, was some space that we used to store boxes (and other stuff) before they were unpacked, and a place found for the contents.

We had inherited another old shed - of sorts - that defied gravity and the best attempts of mother nature to bring it down.

So, after we had found a home for all the goods and chattels that occupied the carport, it was time to turn it into a live-able room.   I built this in my spare time, and was lucky to already have the roof in place.

Once the supporting framework of the stud walls was added, the steel posts that had supported the roof were removed.  They were re-used for a back verandah on the northern side of the house.  I built it later.

The two windows shown here were taken out, and became a double window along the short side of the room, while I sourced some other timber-frame windows for the long wall.
The first window space became a door between the rooms, and the second was covered completely when the interior was lined.

All the exterior log linings were re-used on the new exterior walls.

An access ramp was added a little later, and this was covered with a narrow verandah roof.

Being in a hurry to get the room ready for occupation, it was lined inside, but the ceiling - of tongue and groove boards - was never ever painted.
Until now.

Years of exposure outside had darkened and weathered the timber.  In our advancing years, with our eyesight not what it was, the LOML suggested that a coat of paint might not only brighten things up, but also help us to see better when we use this room.
Did I say - we - you all know what I mean though, dont you.

Because  of the immutable law that says that we will fill whatever space is available to us, and the fact that we are expecting family guests this weekend, the furniture etc has to stay in the room while I paint around it.

It is being done in two halves.
It doesnt look like it because of the wide angle lens used for the picture........ but.......
The far end (half the room) is finished, while the half nearest is 3/4 undercoated, with one panel left to do.
This is all brush work, and involves lots of looking up with a bent neck.
You can see what the original timber lining boards looked like before undercoating.
And the finished colour at the far end isnt too shabby.

Hope shes happy..................
................... I know I am.

Happy woodworking to all.

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