Watermill Blog -  Sack Hoist Jigsaw
6th March 2008

We had an eager team today and several jobs that had already been started moved forward.

With the garner floor now safe to walk on, Max turned his attention even further upwards and made a start on investigating the sack hoist. With help from Colin he checked the large wooden pulley that turns the windlass. It is easy to see that time and woodworm have taken their toll of this but we need to establish a method of repair.

They managed to unscrew the bolts that hold the pulley together and brought the pieces of one side down to floor level to examine them.

The picture shows the two of them putting the jigsaw back together. The woodworm have left enough for us to see how the disc was originally made, and how it has been quite crudely repaired in the past.

We all think the crude repair is horrible, but it is part of the history of the mill and we have decided to retain it. Some of the original parts are so worm eaten that we have to make copies and Max has made a start on this.

Jonathan carried on repairing the brickwork in the stable wall facing the President's Barn and is making excellent progress. He doesn't seem to mind using lime mortar, which is just as well because that's what the wall was built with in the past.

Dick spent the earlier part of his time painting the flywheel of the chaff cutter and then turned his attention to the section of PTO shaft that is in the workshop. This has accumulated a great deal of dirt and rust in the yeras it lay in the channel across the raodway and Dick set about getting it cleaned up. He even found what appears to be a maker's mark.

Richard finished the double hatch doors for the small ground floor window, complete with a wooden latch on the inside.

The door are made from recovered tongue and groove boards and seem to look okay to us.

John spent most of the day releasing the first of the front windows, the ones that face the roadway. These are much higher quality joinery than the windows facing the farmyard, but rot and woodworm do not respect quality.

The bottom rail needs to be replaced completely and several of the glazing bars are broken. The rail is straightforward rectangular section but the glazing bars are a very fine fancy section. We were lucky to find a local supplier who could match the section exactly and we now have enough to make the repairs match the original perfectly. That job will be started next week.

Go to the next Watermill Blog Entry
 
Go to the previous Watermill Blog entry

Learn how to Support Us

Return to our Home Page