The Christmas Shake

...and no, this isn't a new dance to rival "Jingle Bell Rock," but rather a white oak roof shake.  In December, I visited Old Salem, where my friend, Chet Tomlinson, historic gardener and director of the Miksch House site, gave me a quick tutorial in riving (splitting) roof shakes (shingles). We began by sawing off about a 2 foot long piece of a white oak trunk (about 2 feet in diameter) with a cross cut saw.  This task, in particular, was in homage to my grandmother, who was notorious for being a bull at cross-cut sawing.  Of course, she probably would have told me that I didn't get to have my picture taken until I had cut up the WHOLE tree!  After we had our big chunk of trunk, we rolled it into the shed where we split it into 16ths with a metal wedge and sledgehammer.  We then used a froe and a wooden mallet to remove the outer bark and sapwood and the inner heartwood.  The remaining pieces were split again--always in halves for oak--with the froe and mallet to make the shakes.  Chet set up a shingle break (made from a thick forked branch of the white oak tree) to assist with the splitting process.  Finally, we smoothed out the shakes on the shaving horse with a drawknife.  Hopefully my new skills will be put to good use this year at Exchange Place, where I hope to build a log pig pen and make all the shingles on site (with help obviously).

Posing with the crosscut saw

Chet demonstrating the shingle break

Using the froe and mallet

Using the shingle break

Using the shaving horse

I am so excited to have the opportunity to work at the Miksch site with Chet and his co-worker, Cindy, who runs the house.  Back in the fall, I worked with Cindy for a day baking bread in the outdoor bread oven, and this winter, I will return for a tallow candle dipping lesson.  Of course, the weather must be below freezing to make tallow candles.  It is 5 degrees as I am writing this post. That's a little excessive, don't you think, Old Man Winter?