[Flashback] Carpentry, Wood and Labor

[Gunther Zimmerman]

Summer, 510
Gunther woke up early as usual and walked down into the kitchen area. He picked up a scrap of bread at the table. His mother was working at a counter; preparing a meal for Gunther's father. "Can't stick around mum," Gunther quickly said to his mother as he headed for the door.

"You need to eat something!" The woman yelled at him. She did not have much to offer her adult son, but felt obligated to offer what little she had.

"I took a piece of bread. Lots of work to do today. I'll be home late." Gunther spun around walking backwards for a few steps answering his mom and exiting into the streets. 'I really need to leave this home. Find my own way in life,' Gunther thought to himself, but this was a recurring thought.

Gunther picked up his axe and Horsing Iron. The axe had a length of rope fastened at two ends to create a sling. He slung it over a shoulder and the Horsing Iron fit in his waistline. The horsing iron was used when caulking deck seams; a chore he would be working on later today.

When he arrived at the docks, no one was there yet and Gunther was at least an hour too early as he planned. Gunther enjoyed the early morning hours to sit and think about anything. He loved to dream and carve. Finding a comfortable bench to settle into, Gunther picked up a small block of wood and pulled out his carving knife which he generally always carried. He began whittling away at the piece of wood remembering the past...

Summer, 497 AV

Jan Zimmerman had been a carpenter all his life and he learned the trade from his father, Stanislau. Jan fully intended to pass his knowledge and experience onto his son, Gunther. The elder Zimmerman was 36 years old and truly loved his young son. He wished only the best for the young man.

Within an hour, Jan and five other men along with young Gunther Zimmerman were in the Zastoska Mountains west of Zeltiva. They had two teams of four workhorses and two logging sleds. The six men hefted the large double bearded axes and began chipping away at the bark of nearby trees. Gunther watched in fascination as small splinters of wood fell from the wedges created by the hard hitting axe blades.

Within several minutes, one of the six men would yell, "Timber!" as a warning to the others that a tree was about to fall. Nothing could ruin your day more than to have a 150 foot tall pine fall on you. A felled tree was a tricky thing. Because of its many limbs, it could hit the ground and roll or bounce in any direction; possibly even kick its trunk back into the air. The experienced carpenters who logged their own lumber typically felled the mature taller trees and allowed the smaller younger trees to grow. This helped to preserve the forest and afforded access to wider and longer lumber for construction.

Gunther would eventually become bored and run short distances from the work area to explore. He studied the pine needles, pine cones, tree bark and dug in the soil. Finding a small woodland creature or studying the insects gave the boy ample subjects to study. Occasionally, he would return to the work site and watch in awe at the work the men were doing.

Often times, the men never stopped to eat a meal. As a boy, Gunther knew the pangs of hunger all too well. He attempt to busy himself with typical childish exercise, but often they accentuated the hunger. There was a constant shortage of food in Zeltiva and Gunther was reminded of this fact daily.

As the sun was nearing the horizon, the men had both sleds loaded with sixteen foot sections of logs. Everyone piled on top and the crew dragged the lumber back into the city.

Summer, 510

Gunther chewed on a bit of bread thinking about how every day of his childhood was similar to the reflection he just had. He watched a gull as he scavenged for a food source beneath the waves. He wasn't the only one going hungry. The small block of wood was beginning to take a shape.

[Gunther Zimmerman]

Spring, 498 AV

Life wasn't always hunger and work. On occasion, some wild beast would stalk the logging camp looking for a human to take for his meal. "Paw Paw!" screamed ten year old Gunther running toward the men busy at work. They all stopped to see a large cat running toward the boy. Gunther ran past one of the men who was prepared to swing his double bearded axe. The blade penetrated the beast's chest. The large cat fell to the ground moaning and snarling. It pawed at the air cutting the man's thigh and ripping his trousers. Within a few minutes, it was dead.

"I wonder what lion tastes like?" the man who felled the great beast softly asked, while panting heavily. His eyes bulging from their eye sockets; he was filled with incredulity.

Jan ran to his son who had tripped over a tree root. "Gunther!" the father yelled to his son. He cradled the boy's head while looking him over. The back of his left calf had a 6" laceration caused by the giant cat. Jan found some moss and packed it around the wound then wrapped it with cloth to keep the moss in place. While Jan tended to his son who was conscious, the other men got what lengths they successfully felled loaded up. A few of them stripped the big cat in the woods and laid its corpse atop the lumber on the sled.

Jan held young Gunther as the horse drawn sleds made their way back to Zeltiva. Within a week the leg was fine. The moss helped prevent an infection from setting in and the body was able to heal itself. This event would have a significant effect on Gunther for the rest of his life.

Later that evening, the families discovered a new delicacy; baked lion meat.

[Gunther Zimmerman]

Summer, 502 AV

It had been four years since Gunther started helping his father in the woods, at the saw mill and on the construction site. He was beginning to appreciate the work and actually enjoyed what they were doing. The day following a trip to the woods, the men would all gather at the saw mill and begin cutting the timbers.

The first step is called debarking. A simple hand axe and plenty of sweat are all that is required to remove the bark from the logs. Once all the logs have been debarked, then the pieces are lined up on the head saw. The head saw is powered by a waterwheel which draws its power from the current of an adjacent river. As the saw spun, the men would push the log toward the head saw paying special attention to keep the large piece of wood lined up straight.

Once the log has been cut into several squared off 16 foot lengths, the edges are squared and then the resulting boards are planed to a smooth finish. The finished boards are stacked neatly on a drying rack in a special barn or shed. The planing and drying both contribute to a smooth and uniform surface, so that when the material is ready for use, each plank's dimensions are the same. Depending on what the material is used for, the pieces may be trimmed again for a good fit.

Gunther busied himself picking up scraps of bark to be used for kindling and planing. By the time he was 14 years old, he learned all aspects of the work completed at the sawmill. The day before, they had brought in two sleds of Spruce. The spruce had a distinctive smell to it, much different than pine or cedar. Gunther loved the smell of freshly cut cedar over all others.

The spruce they were working with on this particular day would be used for finishing work indoors. It was a softwood like Pine, cedar and fir. Not all of the spruce was used in the production of buildings; some of it was sold off to businesses in Zeltiva for other uses like making paper and sailing spars due to its light weight.

"Gunther! load the wagon with 50 planks of pine," Jan yelled to his son.

"Yes Pa," Gunther answered and began pulling pine boards from the drying shed. He worked hard gathering up the 16 foot lengths and laid them out on the wagon. When he was finished he found his father in the mill house to let him know. The men would be working on a house near the edge of the city. An unnamed senior executive of the Sailing Guild needed a house built and it soon became high priority.

A cellar had already been dug and a stone foundation held together with cement kept the foundation sturdy. There was also a head board laid in place above the foundation. The Carpenters started with building the floor casing. They used Iron support beams to keep the boards suspended above the floor of basement. Flat shale was used to plant the support beam on the earthen cellar. Pine boards were cut to 12" widths to be used for the floor casings. They were stood on end around the perimeter of the foundation and anchored to the head board with iron nails. Next, boards were extended lengthwise across the expanse of the house. These boards were also positioned upright and anchored to the walls of the floor casing with iron spikes. Each upright or "rib" was placed 16" from the previous one. Due to the size of the house, a special cut 12" x 12" piece of wood was used to create the centerline of the house. This larger cut piece was 30 feet in length and had been dropped at the site days earlier. It took four men to hold this in place, anchor it with spikes and place the support poles in the cellar.

By the end of the day, the flooring was complete with 12" planks laid out for the subflooring. 2"x4" pieces of pine made the studs for the walls and other 12" planks were used to cover the outside of the studs.

The next day, the crew was back at the construction site. A hole had been cut in the floor to create an access to the cellar and someone built a staircase to complete the access. The crew worked hard and within two weeks, the framework of the two story house was complete including the roofing spars. Eventually, the skeleton look of the house was complete with wooden walls and sectioned pieces of slate covered the roof. When the carpenters were finished another crew would arrive and do all the finishing touches to make the house look like a home. They used paint, spruce for cabinets and railings, cedar for the doors and window frames and also provided access for a stream of water to be pumped into the kitchen area.

Gunther rarely interacted with the finishing crew. Although Gunther and his father worked the same jobs; they cut the trees, hauled them to the mill, milled the lumber for drying and used the lumber for projects; it bordered somewhat on tedium. Gunther always yearned for something more. He looked to the stars at night and stared out at sea during the daytime. There was something out there calling for him. He just didn't know quite what it was.

Summer, 510

Gunther stared out at the Sea eating his last bit of bread. The small block of wood had taken the shape of a ship's hull. It was six inches in length and very crude. He stuffed it into his pocket and headed to the shipbuilding crew shack that he was assigned to. The day's work was about to begin.