How to turn a freshly-felled 200 year old pine tree into eight radial beams for your medieval church spire

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/07/how-to-turn-a-freshly-felled-2.html

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That was fascinating! Just these calm Swedes carefully discussing how to harvest a tree in a precise (yet unknown) manner. I’ll tell you one thing: my arms got tired just watching this.

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Awesome! (literal meaning)

The ending shot, with the 4 men carrying one perfectly straight and true rafter, was worth the wait.

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Chopping intensifies

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Somebody please invent a saw!

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I’m impressed by how smooth they’re able to get it with just an axe.

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Was it me, but I couldn’t understand a word he was saying…

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That’s the crazy thing, the saw had been invented, but the modern metallurgy (to get a saw that would remain sharp so you didn’t have to stop every few hours and sharpen the sucker) had not been invented. So what you see actually was the fastest way to do this up until, oh, I’d say the 16th century.

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That finishing axe is smoother and more accurate than one of those $100 jobsite table saws you can get at Home Depot or Harbor Freight.

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I’m no longer going to be using chalk lines. Only sooted string for my jobs now.

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Watching people do a job that they are good at, that looks simple on the surface, but in reality is anything but.

Competency porn at its finest!

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Uppfattat!

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So… that’s what Harly Quinn’s maul looks like when used in real life… :thinking:

Competency porn really is the best porn.

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I remember watching my father work w/ old school shipwrights in Belize in the '60s. An adz is the other tool you wanted for a good surface.

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It’s that amazing Swedish steel. This may not be the exact brand they’re using, but likely the same quality. Holding and using one of these after any other axe is a revelation.

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The adz is also a word you must know for crossword/scrabble playing :slight_smile:

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Also, adze. (I’ve never seen it spelt without an ‘e’ before, but apparently it is legit.)

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I’d be interested in knowing why they cut fresh pine instead of aged pine. Pine beams and planks warps when they dry out unless they’re firmly held in place. Is the spire built right away, and does the construction prevent the natural warping?

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I think that’s one of the advantages of the sapwood side.

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