We are a 501c3 nonprofit history museum presenting rural Maine and New England life though living history, hands on learning experiences and exhibition of material culture from the 1850-1920s at our museum village in Orrington/Holden (northeastern Maine).19th Century Curran Village, 372 Fields Pond Rd, PO Box 107, Orrington, ME 04474 and 70 Elm Street, PO Box 28, Newfield, Maine 04056, Tel. 207-205-4849, Email: thecurranhomestead@gmail.com
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Summer History Camp
Description of Activivities
Campers will sew with a needle and thread leaves of paper as well as a cardboard cover together for the purpose of their own journal. Campers will have the opportunity to record their experiences with history during the week in these journals. Campers will be instructed on 19th century penmanship using liquid ink and a fountain pen ( wood handle with metal nib). We will work at imitating cursive writing.
Willowbrook has a hands on exhibit that includes working vintage telegraph keys and sounders for sending messages using Morse code. This was an important means of communication from the 1840s until well into the 20th century. These telegraphs depended on an electromagnet to send and receive messages over a metal wire. Our exhibit scenario is identified as a "wireless" telegraph. The famous H.M.S. Titanic was equipped with the latest technology on its maiden voyage in 1912; this included instrumentation for sending and receiving Morse code via radio signals. We use telegraphs that have been wired together, so we are actually not using the wireless technology that the Titanic used to alert other ships it was sinking; this would be extremely expensive to set up and maintain so we have simply hidden the wires connecting out telegraphs with each under the floor. We will have some experience with sending and receiving Morse code and Civil War era secret codes that would have been sent via telegraphs in the 1860s. Campers will build their own telegraph key/sounder using modern electronics, and they will be able to take these home with them.
Under the tutelage of veteran woodworker and builder Ed Somers, you will learn mortise and tenon framing techniques using hand tools over five days . You will also use power tools. You will review framing styles, construction strategies, and engineering as well as measuring and scribing, and maintaining your set of tools,strategies for moving and positioning lumber of varied dimensions, and techniques in cutting precise mortises and tenons. Using rough cut hemlock, a purloin/rafter type framework for a one story 18 x 28 foot structure will be completed. It will serve as a museum workshop/classroom building at a museum in Orrington, ME where it will be raised and sheathed.
Housing is available for 4 nights and 5 days of dormitory style rooming at a century old mill house on a waterfall next to the museum. Breakfast and lunch each day of the class is also available at our restaurant. You can bring your own tools or we can provide some or all tools for you (borrow or buy). It is recommended that you at least own your own set of chisels to learn to sharpen.
Class Cost: $425 ( Scholarships Offered) ; Optional Housing Cost: $325. Five days of Breakfast and Lunch ( at the museum's Sandwich Shop): $175.
*The text Tedd Benson's Building the Timber Frame House; The Revival of a Forgotten Art should be bought be by each student, if the tuition for the class has been waived.
Contact Robert Schmick, Museum Director, at (207) 793-2784, or Email: director@willowbrookmuseum.org
Recommended Tool List:
1-inch mortising chisel
1 3/4 - 2 inch chisel
wood mallet ( class work will be to make a mallet from scratch )
4 TPI handsaw
rip saw and cross cut
framing square
utility knife
sharpening stone
tape measure
Power tools:
circular saw
reciprocating saw
heavy duty 1/2 inch drill
Large bits
Books:
A Timberframer's Workshop/ Steve Chappell
The Timberframing Book/ Steward Elliot and Eugenie Wallas
Build a Classic Timber Framed House / Jack A. Sobon
Timber Frame Construction; All About Post and Beam / Jack Sobon & Roger Schroeder
Create a blacksmithing forge from a used propane tank, metal stock, and high temp. refractory cement. 10 PSI burner with black metal pipe gas/flame delivery system. Involves cutting, drilling, and welding (we do that) metal. Create mold and pour cement. All materials provided. $295. A day and a half of knife making with this class (not sold separately). For forge & knife making weekend package: $375.
A finished propane burning blacksmithing forge. The side ports are for feeding your metal project into the forge. A variation of this design can produce a metal casting furnace. The sides of the tank are left intact except for your prop hole is cut at the top of the tank. This allows metal to be fed into a crucible positioned inside the furnace.
The tank is cut and welded. Leds are welded to the tank. Three lugs are we;ded on both the perimeter of the top and bottom. Screws with wing nuts serve to keep the top and bottom fastened together.
The black metal pipe at an agle is where the ignited propane creates a vortex for the heating of metal.
Horseshoe legs
This large version of the forge has the welded lugs at the top as well as shelf extending out from one of the heating ports; this allows you to selectively heat your project.
Welded lugs of the top of the forge.
High temperature paint is applied after the propane tank is scraped of tags and labels.
Refractory cement is poured into the tank before a Sana tube is cut and set into place in order to pour the cement sides of the tank.
Cardboard and duck tape serve to create the form for the refractory cement. We will be using Sana tube and styrofoam instead of cardboard.
Refractory is worked into the sides of the Sana tube and the port forms.
The black metal pipe connected to he gas regulator.
This fixture allows airflow to the propane gas flame.
This is actually a metal casting furnace variation of the design.
We are putting together our summer history week activities right now.
The week will run from July 9th. Check out this lamp, complete with
porcelain fixtures and real cloth covered wiring like the very beginning
of household electricity. Electricity didn't come to most homes on Elm
Street, where the museum is located until 1934 ( through FDR's [
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's] Rural Electrification Act). The Durgin
House, our iconic 1813 structure, got electricity before everyone
else in 1913. How many of us know how to build a light fixture. Those
8-12 year old who take our camp will learn how to do so... By the way,
the light bulb came from our very favorite Maine's own Marden's. We
happened upon the most wonderful clear light bulb sale ( this baby was
25 cents), and bought in quantity with the idea of having more ele
ctricity programming with this year's summer history camp.
Some thoughts for the purpose of planning our upcoming timber framing class at Willowbrook, which we hope will produce a building for another museum, The Curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum in Orrington, ME. The tentative class will involve learning mortise and tenon joinery. The wood materials used will depend on its source. We may harvest hemlock from the Curran Homestead or we may find a sawmill in York County who can supply pine.The framework for the chosen building will be created in the class. The framework will subsequently be transported to Penobscot County where another planned class will do a barn raising of the completed building frame. An additional and smaller open pavilion structure will accompany the work for the Orrington class. Individuals are welcome to participate in the sheathing of the sides and roof if they wish, but this work will not be part of the formal class work. The intended use of the building will be a woodworking shop to complement the current metal working programs currently in play at the Curran Homestead. Depending on the success of this June and July work, we hope to have a third class in August to complete yet another structure, an apple cider mill. Similarly, the framework will be created at Willowbrook and shipped to Orrington.
Take a look at these designs. The first two are most pertinent. The first is the blacksmith shop at The Curran Homestead Living History Farm and Museum in Orrington, ME. This structure is 16" x 28"; this is a plausible design for our timber framing project. We would not include the clerestory but instead create a full second story. I imagine having 8" x 8" x 8' tall corner posts that we build the second floor upon. Look at the last photo below. This Limerick (ME) blacksmith shop of yore is what I am interested in here as a model of what we might be building. Of course, this smithy looks to be longer than 28 feet, so our structure would be limited to that length. I am especially interested in the front double doors on the second floor, with the stair access as these is a detail often seen in buildings of the era we seek to replicate. The original materials list that was used for the order to Stillwater Lumber for the materials at the Curran Homestead's smithy are found in the second image down. These are the dimensions of the lumber that we presumably be using with this project. The intended purpose for this building is a woodworking shop. Having two floors would allow for storage and additional work space on the second floor, pr, perhaps, other related programming.The building would rest on an "arctic slab" , which would include wood planking for a floor surface.
Curran Homestead smithy with the additional lean-to roof for firewood storage. The wood piece running down from the right side of the fascia board of the lean-to is no mistake; its there to keep people from reaching in and hitting their head on the knee brace of the right side corner post! Someone learned the lesson the hard way.
Certainly, this material list can be amended; we will need to come up with additional lumber to complete the proposed second story.
Interior of Curran smithy exemplifies what we hope to achieve with this timber framing class, although metal fasteners and post and beam construction was used on this project.
This is one of many photo references of trade buildings in the late 19th century.
Of course, we are not building in stone but this is very similar to the other one story structures with a gable window.
Maybe not aesthetically pleasing, but authentic to the time.
If we were not to go with a full second story for our proposed structure; I would choose something like this with a stronger roof pitch for our Maine winters.
A smithy in Limerick with the second story I mentioned.
Since last March, 2015, 19th century Willowbrook Village has been offering classes in Antique Engine Repair and Maintenance. In the Fall, our class worked on a 1918 seven horsepower Model E Economy engine. The Economy had long been part of a static exhibit in the museum's Engine Shed. The fly wheels of the Economy had at one time been switched so that the flat belt pulley was located on the right side to receive a belt that was connected to an 1885 all cast iron construction Chase shingle mill. The static exhibit is inaccurate, as the 7 horsepower, although powerful, would not have provided enough power to effectively cut shingles from log sections. It is likely that the horsepower required would more likely be in the 15-20 horsepower range.
Like many of the gas engines in the collection, this had been purchased in the late 1960s or early 1970s nad had simply been sandblasted and painted. The red paint had been generously applied, so much so that parts of the engine were rendered immovable. One area in particular, the push rod, required much scraping in order to free springs in the assembly. In a follow up class we will replace the push rod return spring as it no longer serves its purpose. Paint penetrated into the cylinder head. In the Fall class we removed the head and cylinder. One of the three rings on the cylinder head was discovered to be broken. After a rebuild on the magneto, replacement of the ignitor gasket, removal of the gas tank and the temporary replacement of the tank with a portable tank our instructor Doug Kimball brought with him, we hoped to start the engine.
The Economy engine was long paired with an 1885 Chase shingle mill; the flywheels were actually switched to achieved the right side flat belt pulley arrangement. This engine did not have enough horsepower to actually run the mill.
The engine had been lifted by a portable aluminum Gantry crane we assembled in the space. A chain fall allowed us access to the underside of the engine where the gas tank was located. The skid was removed for the purpose of removing the tank, and it was. The tank was badly corroded and filled with sediment. The skid was very lightweight for this engine that weighs more than a thousand pounds. The skid ran the width of the cast metal base containing the hollow where the gas tank resides. This skid had to be replaced; a skid of greater width would serve to make the engine more stable and less prone to tipping over.
The engine was returned to the skid once the tank was removed; the skid and tank would replaced by the time our next class was scheduled, and we would purchase the other necessary parts to get the engine running with the assistance of a whole new set of students on March 19th and 20th in our next Antique Engine Repair and Maintenance class. in the mean time, we attempted to switch the remaining rings around so that the two original and unbroken rings were seated at the top and middle of the piston head. in place We re-inserted the piston into the cylinder with the two rings and returned the cylinder head with a new head gasket in the hope of starting the engine.
Instructor Doug Kimball with the Economy's piston removed.
Pulling on these very big flywheels to start it proved futile. There was not only little compression but the fuel intake gasket we had replaced leaked like a sieve. The engine subsequently would sit for several months in the engine shed until our next class. By that time, a new custom made gas tank with a formal soldered copper pipe air intake instead of a more primitive puncture at the top of the tank would be ordered and delivered from John Wanat & Sons of East Redding, CT.. Like many early gas engines the gas tank is hidden within the cast metal base to the engine. Two brackets surround the tank and attach it within. The skid that this particular engine was attached to was a bit light for the more than 1000 pounds of the engine. As the skid was also constructed solely of two 2 x 6s running from front to back and attached by the four anchors.
Removing the piston
In the interim the engine was moved from the engine shed to our new Machine Shop. A new oak skid was created and the needed parts were had. The work on March 19 & 20 included raising the engine with the help of the Gantry crane again. The new gas tank was fitted using the original brackets. The engine was anchored to new skid and lowered to the floor where the head and piston were once again removed. The new 5 3/4" x 3/8" piston rings were installed. The head was returned and fastened. The ignitor gasket was renewed.
We tried to start the engine. After many tries we decided to wait until the next day. it was determined that the spark was good, but that the engine was not getting gas. The previously cleaned and lubed gasoline check valve was examined and found in good condition. What we had assumed to be a compression fitting was found to be a second check valve rusted shut. The second check valve was removed which allowed the fuel to flow.
After only a few tries the engine started. We allowed the engine to run for some time allowing the rings to seat which was illustrated by the gradually improved performance of the engine. Another issue was revealed. The head gasket had blown out on one side. The head and the remains of the gasket were removed again. Upon closer examination of the surface of the head high and low spots were identified. A straight edge was used for this determination. A flat file dressed the head preparing it for our next work date when we will renew the head gasket, install a new push rod return spring and install the missing outer baffle plate on the muffler which will be cast in one of our casting classes.
Economy engines were first made in Sparta, Michigan, by the Holm Machine
and Manufacturing Company. for Sears, Roebuck & Co. By 1912, demand had predicated the creation of the Hercules Gas Engine Company to keep up with demand. The Hercules Company purchased Holm and a new factory in Evansville, Indiana soon resulted.
The first Hercules produced engines were sold in January 1914 and were known as
the Model D. The Economy engine produced for Sears differed slightly in design
to the Hercules, having a more rounded lip to the water hopper and no crank guard. The two engines were further distinguished by the color red for the Economy and green for the Hercules brand.
The Model E, our project engine model, was popular. There were more than 220,000 engines sold of this type. Our Model E dates from 1918. The Model E was followed by the "F", which was produced from
1921 to 1923. An estimated 25,000 Model Fs were produced. There were design modifications from the "E" including the use of Webster 1A and 2C magnetos. These
magnetos proved unpopular, and many were replaced by either Wico EK high-tension magnetos or the older Webster
oscillating magneto.
This class involves basic blacksmithing techniques. We heat spring steal and cut it using hand tools. The metal is then shaped to a blade and tang through heating and hammering. The blade is then filed and sanded to your satisfaction. We make use of power belt sanders as well. Students will cut brass rivets and fit a hardwood handle to their tang. We heat treat the blade. Student are instructed on the annealing process. Here are some photos of the process of the knife making as recorded by one of our recent students.
This is our side draft forge.
We use propane burning forges, although coal burning forges are also available to use. The reason for this is that it takes some time to master the use of a coal burning forge. Students would be far more likely to overheat their metal and compromise the steel. The propane forge only reaches a particular temperature and will not go beyond that. With a hand crank bellows and a coal fire overheating can occur as air is forced under the coals bring them to even greater temperatures than planned.
Here we see an early 19th century painting of blacksmithing. As you can see many people are involved; blacksmithing isn't always a solitary endeavor. In the case of the spring steel we are using for our knives we are dealing with large pieces of metal. To heat this metal and to juggle the various tools required to hold it steady on an anvil surface, place a hot cut hand tool on the surface of the heated metal, and then strike that hot cut with a very heavy hammer is an impossibility for one person alone. In teams, the metal for each knife is cut. Once this is accomplished students go to their own anvils and continue the work required to achieve a knife blade.
These are billets cut from a steel spring. we do not want to cut our billets larger as it will require a large amount of time to draw out a tang and form a blade, a blade that is larger than we require for our purposes. Much of the hammer activity involves thinning the metal through a drawing out process. We do not want the blade to be too thick.
This a billet that has been drawn and shaped through heating and hammering. At this point the student may begin filing their knife blade and also shaping the tang.
Here we see a blade after scale has been removed. This is a coating that occurs on the metal surface during the process of heating and hammering. We remove the scale by hand using pieces of coarse grinding stones. Then we use a series of files, whetting stones and sandpapers to achieve our shape and finish.
These are examples of other student forged knives.
