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Day 10 Report

Another brilliant humid day bracketed by great meals. The deck components are fully installed, and now require a day of tweaking and shimming. Do you suppose that when the next crew dismantles this frame in 2107 and discovers all the joist shims (in 1/16" increments) they will conclude that we were first-order craftsmen, or just foolishly fussy?

The Park Crew moved and staged and stickered all the flooring proximate to the deck, a sure sign that we are moving forward at some speed. Tom Hannen of Hilti has devised some mysterious and loud machine to drive the beautifully galvanized but period-appropriate cut nails through the 2" oak flooring in the threshing/drive bay. That's an experiment we are all interested in succeeding.

We are completely transitioned from new work to repair now, and a different skill set begins to emerge. The Heartwood Apprentice crew should arrive on Sunday, so we are saving some especially fascinating specimens for their educational benefit.

No dancing tonight, but we couldn't have; the Shepherd's Pie and seconds on the pie transported us to a somnolent and delighted place, leveraged by the sudden and welcome drop in humidity, perhaps caused by the persistent C5A flyovers - who knows? Our day ended with a pleasant evening around the Tormek sharpening station, accompanied by Tom Cundiff's remarkably extensive and diverse music collection. You really should be here.

Captions: Photos 1-3: Why we are here. Issac Henry at one end ... ... and Tom Hannen on the other, working to take the wind out of a trouble piece. Three-quarters of the field leadership: Dane, Tom and Kevin are trying to stay ahead of the crew by preparing rafter math, while Brian Beals toils in the hot sun on the deck, shimming, shimming, shimming. Staying hydrated is hard in this weather. Our support team is doing their part, with a well-stocked fridge only steps away from the work stations. Our patron, George Rogers Clark, oversees an impromptu morning meeting. A raising session looks to stand up both purlin walls with a single lift, if we can find enough rigging and safe places to stand.