Yesterday was the first day we had a crane on site to help dismantle the O’Kane house frame. I don’t think the day could have gone more smoothly, all thanks to a great crew, and crane operator Frank Donahue.
Rigging the rafters
Rafter pair, flying.
Thank you, Kendra, for all the pictures. Check back soon for more.
Had a question or two I meant to ask before now re yr. O Kane house take down: First, the old split lathe you found in the O Kane house-will it go into the rebuild, or even, did you save it? If no and yes are the answers, like to take it off yr hands–for a price of course. Have a bucket of old lathe hand nails from c. 1730’s house that were saved but the lathe was thrown out. I’d like to restore the ceiling of a room using the old lathe and the nails. Second, original mantle on a c. 1760 kitchen hearth was thrown out. Anybody there who might like to reconstruct a mantle and surround using the old carpentering methods?
Hi there,
Yes, to both questions, which I think is both good and bad news: we are going to re-use the split lath when the building is rebuilt, and, yes, we have reconstructed period mantles before. We always employ traditional joinery, usually using a combination of traditional and machine methods (for instance, we use a table saw to rip boards to width). Please see our post HABS to watch out for and Yours, Gluely for a little bit of information on our most recent fireplace surround.
Please contact Arron, PTF’s president, to talk about your projects, he is always delighted to talk with a fellow preservationist.
Thanks for contacting us,
Jessica MilNeil