Past Projects

Sunrise finds me befuddled, or at least becalmed, amid a sea of tents surrounding a farmhouse off a county road in northeastern Indiana. I arrived last night after an uneventful flight to Indianapolis and a pastoral drive through Kokomo, Peru (birthplace of Cole Porter and home of Mr. Wiener), Akron, Indiana, and a hundred other little towns between there and Kendallville.

I found a sea of familiar faces in the kitchen in the midst of a lavish meal of local produce and jalapeno-basted chicken, awash in refreshment and enthusiastic talk. Jeff and Leslie Zody received the highest marks for hospitality At right is the Zody family: Zackery, Navar, Jeff, Leslie.

It turns out that the crew was feeling so smug about accomplishments to date that most of them had actually taken the day off, to fish, tool hunt, do laundry and even play golf. This is unprecedented for a Guild adventure, which are traditionally operated under the lights with an ever-increasing buzz of desperation, by this stage of an event. A site visit confirmed that significant progress had indeed been made, though it's little hard for this newcomer to figure out what's going on.

Wednesday, May 31, Report

Nominally under the direction of Jim Kricker (Saugerties, NY), Nancy Bernstein (Vermontville, NY), Leon Buckwalter (Hinsdale, NY), Dave Gaker (Hamilton, OH), with more than an assist from Al Anderson (Christiansburg, VA), there are at least five different stations of effort underway, assignments handed out at the briefest and most congenial of morning meetings led by Jim and Nancy. Guild members experienced (identified as 'the usual suspects') and novice have amiably sorted themselves out by disposition, interest and skill level, as is our custom. Some instruction is going on, and a lot of work is being accomplished, with the usual quotient of good cheer, black coffee and John Prine music. The plans are in the traditional state of flux and disarray, though works continues apace.

The site is this eclectic slot of green on the edge of town literally covered with windmills in various stages of functionality and rehabilitation. It appears to be staffed entirely by garrulous retirees with backgrounds in business, the military and soybeans. Conrail comes thundering through about every half-hour in each direction, hauling endless strings of boxcars and trailertrains filled with whatever it is American needs to buy to keep Wall Street humming. We have the run of the place, including the restoration shop, which is a bright, cool metal building equipped with ample power in various voltages, compressed air, and best of all, an overhead hoist (essential for the manipulation of the 10x10x24' red oak parts). The main building is a Cinderella surprise; it's red metal exterior hiding a hewn fore-bay frame on a new and substantial foundation. We are amply supplied with tarps and awnings for shade.

Today's plan calls for much cutting of diverse parts, perhaps a little resaw action on the conveniently located Woodmizer bandmill (under the direction of Tom Cundiff, of Grafton, IL), the pegging and eventual raising of one wall of the assembly, much of which already hangs in the air under a set of tackle that originated with the Guelph Bridge project. This raising, which will take all hands, has apparently been timed to coincide with the arrival of Stephanie from the pizza place. Everybody in Kendallville has been given an opportunity to feed us, and most have risen to the occasion with generous enthusiasm.

Wednesday Afternoon Report

So what do you do on a Guild project when it starts to rain? Here we turned up the music so that it could be heard over the metal room, and proceeded accordingly.

Before the rain, (a poor excuse for a shower, ultimately), we finagled and fussed the gable wall section into place, then plumbed up and squared up the resulting cube. This act unfolded on both sides of lunch, with the entire cast on stage. The astute reader will note in the photos that all heads are protected by hard hats, and that the three or four guys doing high work are all strapped in. This is relatively new territory for most of us, but we're determined to set a good example, almost no matter how cumbersome and irksome the equipment can become. These safety measures were generally conceded to be a good idea, if a bit overdone. Perhaps we're all becoming natural conservatives as we age.

I was sent to town to recover plans, fabricate some tooling and to acquire refreshments, apparently known as "tech support" on this job. In town, I met the woman who made the shirts (very stylish), collected a fistful of plans, checked out the revitalization of downtown, paid a visit to the well-appointed millwright's shop, and returned moments before the tools and the plans were thrown into the fray.

Tomorrow should see furious cutting of top plates, strattle beams and various small parts.

In addition to the usual volunteers mentioned above, so generous with their time and skills, we want to thank these framers for bringing their good tools and good attitudes: