<![CDATA[History in the Making - Blog]]>Tue, 30 Jul 2024 18:45:40 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[Mid-September Already!]]>Fri, 18 Sep 2015 13:52:22 GMThttp://www.historyinthemaking.jimlorrimanwoodturner.com/blog/mid-september-alreadyThe show opened on schedule and has undergone some tweaking since then.  I was at the WCMA this past week for for a video walk-through of the show and took two additional pieces with me.  
The platter on the left, "A Sign of the Times", was made from wood from the old A-frame at the House of Industry and Refuge which is now the Wellington County Museum and Archives (WCMA).  You can find out more about the A-frame here.

The platter on the right, "Historical Elegance", is from one of the original window frames from Langdon Hall.  It is replacing another piece from langdon Hall that was sold recently.  For the story on these pieces, click here.

I received an email yesterday that informed me that the A-frame platter has now been sold also.  I have to get working on a replacement piece!
]]><![CDATA[Working on Wellington]]>Sat, 18 Jul 2015 01:59:44 GMThttp://www.historyinthemaking.jimlorrimanwoodturner.com/blog/working-on-wellingtonJust finishing up the last pieces for the Ojibway Art Show and have started serious work on completing the new pieces for the History in the Making Show, opening at the Wellington County Museum and Archives next month.



I have turned a platter from the section of beam that was removed from the upper part of the barn to make way for the mechanical hay delivery system that was installed.
Today we started to work on the old flooring from the Palmerston Library.  All the nails had to be pulled and then the wood cut as part of the process of preparing the wood for laminating.
Picture
Gap created by removing the top cross member.
I have also turned a platter from an old wooden landroller that was part of the museums collection but had deteriorated beyond repair.
Until next time...
]]><![CDATA[Too Busy To Blog]]>Sat, 27 Jun 2015 02:42:37 GMThttp://www.historyinthemaking.jimlorrimanwoodturner.com/blog/too-busy-to-blogThis has been a phenomenal spring and now someone tells me it is already summer!  Where did the time go?

Update on the cedar from the barn

I have made two pieces from this wood, one shown above "If You Could Speak to Me" and the other one below "The Tales You Could Tell":
Picture
With further research into this wood, I have decided that it was introduced to the barn during the final renovations in  1937.  The residents of the House of Industry & Refuge were highly resourceful and would have used anything that came their way.  They certainly would not have let such a prime piece of wood slip through their fingers.

The tightness of the year rings suggest that the original tree was probably 1st growth.  Working with the wood has been a pleasure.  The rich cedar smell on the one hand and the way the wood cut, sanded and finished on the other tell me that this was part of a prime and valuable piece of timber.

In terms of the lumber businesses in Ontario, the last of the readily accessible great stands of timber had been cut by 1937 and western wood was starting to find its way here.  This piece of cedar may have been one of the early arrivals.

More on the wood from Wellington

Since I last wrote, I have brought back to the studio part of a barn beam from the House of Industry Barn, a section of the A-frame that was used for the manure removal system at the barn, part of an old log roller and some flooring from the library in Palmerston.


More to come...
]]><![CDATA[Continuing On...]]>Sat, 27 Jun 2015 02:41:58 GMThttp://www.historyinthemaking.jimlorrimanwoodturner.com/blog/continuing-onSome notes from May...

I turned chuck holes (these indentations allow me to mount the blanks securely on the lathe) in the two blanks and proceeded to turn the first one.  I was particularly concerned about some cracks in the wood so I designed the piece to minimize the effects from these splits.
The blue tape is holding in a knot that had popped out during the turning.  Ultimately, I was not able to retain the pieces of the knot.  The gap in the rim added some character to the piece.

Continuing on with the history of this wood, I have pretty well decided that the date is 1937.  First growth cedar was still being cut in the 1930's so this is the most likely date.  The fact that it is wood from western Canada also points to this later date as in the late 1800's Ontario had no need to import western wood.
More to come...
]]><![CDATA[In the Beginning...]]>Sat, 02 May 2015 14:42:26 GMThttp://www.historyinthemaking.jimlorrimanwoodturner.com/blog/in-the-beginningSome of the information noted here may be incorrect.  I will make notes here and will update the info as my research continues.
 
This piece of wood was found in the loft of the barn at the WCMA site.  We are doing some research to try to nail down the dates for this piece.  The nails indicate that the earliest is around 1910 to 1920.  This is when 'wire' nails came into common use.
 
However, further research is needed as the wood appears to be western red cedar.  It is hard to believe that Ontario would be importing wood from the west when there was such an abundant supply locally.  The fact that this piece was used in a barn may suggest that it was used at a much later date than 1910.

From these images of the cross-section of the cedar plank Jim has made a rough determination of the diameter of the original tree.  He thinks that it must have been about 18 to 20 inches in diameter. The tree was slow growing which is indicated by the tightness of the year rings in the lower picture.
There are about 2.5 year rings per 1/16 inch which means that the tree was between 720 and 800 years old when cut.  This suggests that the earlier dates are accurate as this was the time when they were still cutting first growth trees out west.

Meanwhile, as research continues, I have made two bowl blanks from the wood.  I will be preparing them for turning.

More to come...
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