Shakes/shingles

[Rough Hewn]

I bet.
The new cafe / shop etc buildings down there are very nice.

I've been meaning to visit for a while.
How's the new roof looking?
[emoji106]

[lux]

I think they have done a lovely job on the new buildings there. A mix of modern / contemporary with traditional materials and elements which personally I like.

[openspaceman]

3 hours ago, Rough Hewn said:

This was back in 2016,
He needed 50,000 for the new roof on the open air museum for buildings.
They were high spec too,
Got 1 for every 5 cut on average.

I used to sell timber to Ron Mould at Astolat in Guildford, not much because his prices were behind the times. Anyway he was probably a bit older than I am now and when he started for his grandfather at the firm there were a dozen or so oak cleavers on the firm. In those days they would select 12" QG oak thinnings which would have gone on to make veneer grade butts if they hadn't been taken as thinnings ( which illustrates how poor the resource had become by the time I started).

 

They would cleave out 6ft pales, any that failed 6ft would make 4ft and that failed 4ft would be used for 16" shingles.

 

Even later two brothers cleft oak shingles  out for Newdigate church and used bigger butts than Ron had described.

 

I never saw sweet chestnut used till a chap called George Marshman was working next to me at a Singleton building conservation exhibition.

Edited February 4, 2019 by openspaceman

[Rough Hewn]

Chestnut is much easier to split than oak.
And finding grade oak in this country is difficult.
It's a lot heavier too.
Serious work.
[emoji106]

[lux]

Wow. Astolats at Guildford. There’s a trip down memory lane [emoji106] I remember that place.

[openspaceman]

11 hours ago, lux said:

Wow. Astolats at Guildford. There’s a trip down memory lane I remember that place.

That Scotch Derrick was a local landmark on the way to Honey Bros.