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Clabbids


Rob Amaral

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I leave it to the down'easter types. Sounds cool out there. In the Midwest, it sounds like someone trying to sound.....like they're not from the Midwest.

No one around here even calls them *clabbords* or clapboards. They don't know what to call it because it's all been covered up with crap Insul-Brick, aluminum, or vinyl for the last 75 years. It's usually only visible at the enclosed back porches where it was left exposed.

I've had a lot of youngsters ask me "What kind of siding is this? Is it wood?"

Seriously.

When I tell them it's the original, cut out of 500 year old trees, they're all fascinated, like...."wow, wood. Who'd've thought they used to make siding out of wood".....

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I am here living in my hometown these many years.. settled in the 1600's, incorporated in 1724... local book shows verbatim the guys being assigned various trees, rocks, stands of trees, brooks, paths, etc..

In old town records, they spell cedar "Seder" and "... to make clabbords'.. This is from the hand-written text of these first-generation Englishmen..

Interesting tidbits about cutting 'masts' for the King, raising the first meeting house "... _______ assigned to locate a 'gin' to raise the meeting house.. ", dimensions of the powder house prior to the 'day of the alarm' (6'x6'x6')..

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I did a parsonage here in town for the local 'ancient' Protestant church.. in the attic of this early 1800's house were rafters that were basically v-shaped in section.. Flat-side to the sheathing, peak of the triangle facing down.. I'm looking at them puzzled ..

Then it hit me..

They were probably part of a former steeple here in town..... all this structural lumber around here was recycled many times between the 1600's and even up to the 1950's..

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I did a parsonage here in town for the local 'ancient' Protestant church.. in the attic of this early 1800's house were rafters that were basically v-shaped in section.. Flat-side to the sheathing, peak of the triangle facing down.. I'm looking at them puzzled ..

Then it hit me..

They were probably part of a former steeple here in town..... all this structural lumber around here was recycled many times between the 1600's and even up to the 1950's..

Sounds like to good place to visit.

Marc

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I did a parsonage here in town for the local 'ancient' Protestant church.. in the attic of this early 1800's house were rafters that were basically v-shaped in section.. Flat-side to the sheathing, peak of the triangle facing down.. I'm looking at them puzzled ..

Then it hit me..

They were probably part of a former steeple here in town..... all this structural lumber around here was recycled many times between the 1600's and even up to the 1950's..

What about the hull of an old wooden boat being used for property construction? I saw a clip of just that on a structure built in the UK from the hull of a ship similar to the Mayflower.

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Could be but I doubt it. I'm not aware of any boat rib design that was triangular in section. The scantlings on most wood boats were heavy; they weren't trying to save weight by shaving ribs.

I've seen triangular steeple "rafters" though. There's some on a church here in Evanston.

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Could be but I doubt it. I'm not aware of any boat rib design that was triangular in section. The scantlings on most wood boats were heavy; they weren't trying to save weight by shaving ribs.

I've seen triangular steeple "rafters" though. There's some on a church here in Evanston.

I found it. It was a Paul Harvey's ... The Rest of the Story segment from years ago.

[utube]

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