Lost Art Press

Category: Historical Images

A Bill of Lumber, San Francisco, 1848

Posted on by fitz

william-lewis

Shortly after my arrival I met a gentleman by the name of Post, who had been to San Francisco in ’47 and was a confidential clerk of General Williams, who was keeping a wholesale dry-goods store. I told him I had something over eight thousand dollars which I should like to invest in dry-goods. He informed me that they were over-stocked in clothing, and that if I wished to lay out my money in that way, I could get goods at very low prices. I purchased of them to the amount of over eight thousand dollars, and took passage in a Spanish bark, the owner of which was named Luca, and arrived in San Francisco on the second day of January, 1848.

On my arrival Robert A Parker looked at my invoices and made me an offer of one hundred per cent on first cost, he also agreed to pay all duties and freight charges. I took up with his offer. This transaction was the starting point of the building of the Parker House, where now stands the Old City Hall. After my return from the Islands, Captain Leidsoff sent for me and made me a very liberal proposition. He wanted me to take a lease of the City Hotel. When I asked Parker what he thought about taking the hotel, he said he did not wish me to have anything more to do with it, and if I was willing to put in what money I had, he would find the balance, and we would build a large hotel, in partnership.

Parker had a piece of land and the balance of a fifty vara lot, which we leased from Southard and James Gleason. A short time afterwards we purchased the whole of the land. We then got Stephen Harris, a carpenter, to make out a bill of lumber, and to take charge of the building. In those days it was not such an easy thing to get lumber, although, prior to the interest in the mines, it was cheaper than it is now.

Lumber was got out by what they called pit sawing, and we had about ten pits at work getting lumber out for this house. We first commenced in February, 1848. Most of the lumber was got out on the Widow Reed’s place. She was a sister of Francisco Sanchez. Mrs. Reed’s second husband was a man known throughout the country as “Three fingered Jack, the desperado.”…
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A Copy of Verses Upon Two Celebrated Modern Poets

Posted on by fitz

gathering_chips_at_the_saw_pit

Behold thoſe Monarch-Oaks that riſe,
With lofty Branches to the Skies,
Have large proportion’d Roots that grow
With equal Longitude below:
Two Bards that now in faſhion reign,
Moſt aptly this Device explain:
If This to Clouds and Stars will venture,
That creeps as far to reach the Centre;
Or more to ſhow the Thing I mean,
Have you not o’er a Sawpit ſeen,
A ſkill’d Mechanick that has ſtood,
High on a Length of proſtrate Wood,
Who hir’d a ſubterraneous Friend,
To take his Iron by the End;
But which excell’d was never found
The Man above, or under Ground.

The Moral is ſo plain to hit,
That had I been the God of Wit,
Then in a Sawpit and wet Weather,
Shou’d Y——g and Ph——ps drudge together.

The Universal Mercury (London) – February, 1725

The above poem, published anonymously by Jonathan Swift, was meant as an act of censure on the poetical character of Edward Young and Ambrose Philips.

—Jeff Burks

Gathering Chips At The Saw Pit by John Burgess Junior (1813-1874)

OK, One More Unusual Square

Posted on by Lost Art Press

Indian_carpenter

Lest you think that the Indian square dug up by Suzanne Ellison this week (see it here) is an anomaly, check out this excellent illustration dug up by Jeff Burks. Yes, we now have dueling researchers (cue the harpsichord rendition of the soundtrack to “Deliverance”).

indian_detailThis gorgeous image is from the British Library and circa 1825. In addition to the square, which appears to be a hybrid form of a miter square and a Melencholia-type square, we also have a curious image of his saw.

The saw looks much like an Egyptian saw that is on its way to Japan to become a backless Kataba. Or perhaps it is Dutch-ish? If you zoom in you can see clearly that the saw is designed to cut on the pull stroke, like an Egyptian saw.

— Christopher Schwarz

The Earliest Account of a ‘Board Stretcher’

Posted on by Lost Art Press

ceriani

After growing up in the Presbyterian church, I became fascinated in college by the Gnostic Gospels – a collection of writings from the 2nd to 4th centuries about aspects of Jesus’ life that aren’t included in Bible we used in Sunday school.

So I was particularly intrigued when Jeff Burks passed me this passage from The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. (Read the full text here.) It was one I hadn’t read in college. This one was translated by M.R. James and appears in the popular “The Apocryphal New Testament” (Clarendon Press, 1924).

It is, quite frankly, the earliest account we have of the mythical board stretcher. Here’s the text:

XIII. 1 Now his father was a carpenter and made at that time ploughs and yokes. And there was required of him a bed by a certain rich man, that he should make it for him. And whereas one beam, that which is called the shifting one was too short and Joseph knew not what to do, the young child Jesus said to his father Joseph: Lay down the two pieces of wood and make them even at the end next unto thee (MSS. at the middle part). And Joseph did as the young child said unto him. And Jesus stood at the other end and took hold upon the shorter beam and stretched it and made it equal with the other. And his father Joseph saw it and marvelled: and he embraced the young child and kissed him, saying: Happy am I for that God hath given me this young child.

The image is from “Canonical histories and apocryphal legends relating to the New Testament represented in drawings with a Latin text.” Edited by Antonio Maria Ceriani, 1873.

— Christopher Schwarz

Melencolia Square, Part 6: From the Grave

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vs2621

One of the earliest images of a try square that I know of is a carpenter from the tomb of Rekhmire in Egypt, a New Kingdom official from the 18th dynasty (1543-1292 BC). The image shows a carpenter in a traditional (plaid flannel) loincloth using a straightedge on a piece of work. On the floor is a miter square, a form that remained unchanged until the 18th century.

And on the wall is a try square that looks darn modern. It looks nothing like a Melencolia I square.

Many of the hand tools we use today are descended in some way from Egyptian tools that later made their way to Asia and Europe – via Greece and Italy. But as far as I can tell, the Melencolia square emerged sometime after the Egyptians and then disappeared. We woodworkers reverted back to the Egyptian-style try square for some reason.

After making at least a dozen of these Melencolia-style squares, I can assure you that I’ll be keeping the form alive – at least in Kentucky. They are simple, compact and easy to use.

romania_square3_IMG_9498

Today I made a pair of squares that are the last in this series. I must get on with building furniture that puts food on the table. These last two squares are the improved “Romanian” form of the Melencolia I square. The improvement is that the blade is a bit wider than the stock, making them easier to true up.

Both of the squares I made today were slightly out of true, and it was indeed much easier to bring them into line because the blade was wider. If you make one of these squares, I recommend this modification.

As a final note, thanks to Jeff Burks for his research and for pointing out these squares to me in the first place. Without his keen eye, I’d have never noticed them.

— Christopher Schwarz