A great and interesting bio post Mike.  Your participation and
contributions to the list are most welcome and appreciated.

Paul, in SF


On Mon, Dec 23, 2013 at 4:58 AM, branson@c... wrote:

> Having mentioned my difficulties communicating with State Parks, it's
> about time I
> put together a bio.
>
> In 1981 I began as a living history docent at Sutter's Fort historic park.
>  There's a
> carpenter shop, but in '81 it was stuffed with donations of "old" tools
> most of which
> weren't in existence in 1845, which had been recently established as the
> cut off date
> for anything used or displayed in Sutter's Fort.  Another fellow and I
> were asked to
> create a formal document for "rehabilitating" the carpenter's shop, to be
> approved by
> State Parks for implementation.  We produced a 200 page document,
> describing wood
> work
> for that time, listing the tools needed and the wood available to Sutter's
> carpenters.
>
> It was approved and we went to work putting the shop in order.  The
> existing
> bench was
> no more than a display piece with a 3/4 inch thick work surface, and it
> was set
> against
> the back wall where there was never any light.  It went away, and we built
> a new
> bench
> using a slab of black oak 30 inches wide by a full 4 inches thick.  Topped
> it off
> with
> an all wood leg vise I picked up for 8 bucks, and placed it under the
> windows.
>
> The two of us got to buy all the tools we had listed, either antiques or
> modern
> examples
> of what was available in 1846.  The carpenter's shop now worked as either
> a static
> display or as a fully functional shop during living history programs.  All
> the tools
> were purchased as "consumables," meaning they all got to work for a living.
>
> I worked there for 17 years, and also assisted with the rehab plans for
> some of the
> other rooms and workshops in what Sutter called his "factory."  In
> addition to the
> tools bought for the State, I expanded my own tool collection, personal
> tools that
> I brought with me to events.
>
> There was a 3rd generation working blacksmith at the fort as well.  I got
> my first
> lessons in blacksmithing from him.  He started at the age of 9, and had
> been trained
> by his father and his grandfather.  It wasn't a hobby for him; it was how
> he made
> his living, and that made a real difference in how he approached his work
> and a
> difference in how I came to approach smithing.
>
> In 2001, I was contacted by a fellow who was a member of the California
> Historical
> Artillery Society.  He had restored a Civil War "traveling forge" and
> built the
> battery wagon that accompanied the forge.  These were used by the
> artificers who
> were the repair and fabrication workers of all light artillery batteries.
>  He needed
> to identify and acquire all the tools issued to the artificers and carried
> in the
> field.  We succeeded in finding or making 98% of the tools in the lists we
> had
> from Ordnance Department documents.  As long as I was helping him identify
> and
> find all the tools, he recruited me into the society, and for the next ten
> years
> we reenacted the Civil War.
>
> I had the forge lit for about 15 minutes at my first event when I was
> asked if I
> could make a staple for one of the Grimsley saddles that had lost one.
>  Sure.
> A half hour later, another saddle lost one of its staples, and another one
> was
> made.  An hour later I was asked if I could restore one of the cannon
> implements
> to working condition, and later in the day a second one was brought to the
> forge
> for repair.  We spent hours at each event doing the various repair jobs
> that
> artificers were supposed to do.  If anything could be broken, the tools
> were there
> to replace, repair, or rebuild -- smithing, carpentry, or harness making.
>
> Between events, we rebuilt, repaired, or rehabilitated gun carriages and
> other
> military rolling stock.  We also got the task of rebuilding and repairing
> a few
> other carriages and wagons that belonged to the group.
>
> Things fell apart with CHAS and the four artificers.  In 2012, all of us
> resigned.
>
> Which brings me to one of my two big projects at the moment.  Bob, the
> fellow who
> recruited me, wanted to continue the artificer gig.  He found the plans
> and tool
> lists for the blacksmith forge and tools and the carriage maker's tools
> that were
> designed to accompany the mountain howitzer.  There are four chests that
> contain
> all the tools issued, including the forge, which folds up and goes into
> its chest.
> There are four chests in all -- two for the smith, two for the carpenters.
>
> Bob passed away last summer unexpectedly, so finishing this project is all
> up to
> me at this point.  I have assembled most of the carriage maker's tools as
> issued,
> but some of the smith's tools are hard to identify.  There's a wrench that
> is
> driving me nuts.  Double open end, one 3/4 inch, and the other 1 1/2 inch.
>  I
> haven't been able to find its length or appearance.  There's a bothersome
> "nail
> punch"
> that isn't adequately drawn -- what is the point dimensions??  Since the
> chest
> also contains a fore punch and a pritchel, I doubt that it has anything to
> do with
> horse shoes.  For cannon carriages and some other things, wrought nails
> are specified
> and my current thought is that the nail punch is for making holes to
> accommodate
> these wrought nails.
>
> My other project was dropped on me by the lead ranger at Sutter's Fort,
> which I
> have recently rejoined.  The plan for the cooper's shop has been shuffled
> around
> for quite a while, waiting for a number of people with Parks to sign off as
> approved.  But the lead ranger and his superior want thing to happen
> there, and
> to have the shop functional.  I've been volunteered to get things rolling
> and
> establish what tools are necessary and appropriate, as well as what
> processes
> would have been used.  This just happened after the Spanish cooper video
> was
> posted here -- good thing I joined this list!!!  I've got another 50 hours
> or
> so in research on coopering, which has been very educational.
>
> Since there is very little known about Sutter's cooper shop, this is going
> to
> be a rather creative project.  There was a German cooper who came to
> Sutter in
> 1847, but documents show that the shop itself was already in existence.
>  There's
> a great diversity among cooperage in the US, France, Germany, and Spain.
> so which
> tools should be found in Sutter's shop?  And what names for those tools?
>  I'm
> settling on the Spanish.  I have found other videos of Spanish coopers
> that show
> a very distinctive hammer (different from the first video).  The names of
> the
> tools are just out the window, so the tool list will have to depend on
> pictures
> rather than names.  The winch sort of things the first video shows, that
> gathers
> the ends of the staves has at least five different names in French...  No
> consensus there.
>
> In real life, I do woodwork.  I've built and designed furniture for
> Sutter's Fort
> and also for Fort Ross.  I spent several years building sets and props,
> primarily
> for opera.  I've made window sash using tools not mentionable here, adzed
> beams for
> architectural projects.  Built a hollow core racing mast once.  With the
> help of
> a Stanley 400, a Marsh 400, and a Stanley 100, I build picture frames.
>  I've done
> wagon and carriage repair and once made a Mexican carreta from scratch.
>
> My tools include some that were my grandfather's, and a very few that
> belonged to
> his father, a master carpenter.  Of my hand tools, the newest are pre-war
> Stanley
> planes, and my oldest is a neolithic stone ax.  Well, the *really* newest
> are
> a number of planes hand made by Viet-Namese carpenters and shipwrights and
> an
> Anglo-American felling ax, circa 1705 that was reproduced by my first
> blacksmith
> teacher.
>
> I love old and old style hand tools.
>
> Mike in Sacto
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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