What is Children’s Day?
The Fort runs many events. During the summer season they will have an event almost every weekend. Sometimes it is a group “garrisoning” the fort, that is, they are staying in the fort, manning it as if it were the 1750s. Other times the event is only during standard hours. In still other times, the event attendees stay in an encampment outside the palisade.
Since a major part of the fort’s goals is education, they have many events for schools, homeschooled children, and just children in general.
In the spring we have multiple school groups attend outside normal days we are open, but yesterday was an event for children of all ages to visit.
Manning The Fort
When everything is going well, we will have people in every building doing things, teaching as they do. My hiding place is the Joiner’s shop.
Ally mans Sartwell House, cooking up a storm, attracting every body to come visit.
It made my heart swell an extra size when I heard a group enter the fort and immediately head to Sartwell House, saying very loudly, “Ally’s cooking in Sartwell!”
I don’t get the same level of excitement, but I still have fun.
The Fort Is Coming Back to Life
In Johnny Cash’s video cover of Hurt there are a few brief glimpses of The House of Cash. By the time he made the video, the House of Cash was closed to the public.
That video is haunting, not only for the music but also for the visuals. That empty place which once was alive, thriving, a museum worth visiting.
When I started going to the Fort, it had that feeling of barely hanging on. The same 4 or 5 people were all there were.
Amber, Albert, and Bill were the people that I saw interpreting every time.
Then something amazing happened: more people showed up to interpret. More people were visiting. People that had stopped volunteering came back.
The Richards are there and many others whose names I can’t recall.
All of this because the leadership of the fort put their shoulder to the wheel and made it happen. While the Director doesn’t interpret, she does so much to drive the Fort into the future. Without her, I do not believe the Fort would still be viable.
Today we had over 50 children attend. They brought parents, grandparents, and friends with them. Every house was open with interpreters in the buildings. I was warned that we had three people that could handle the joinery which would allow me to do something else if I wanted.
The fort was alive with people. It was a wonderful feeling.
State of The Joinery
The first thing I noticed was that my wood chips were in the collection barrel, but that there were more chips and shavings. Others had been working in the shop. It wasn’t just me doing the old-timey thing; others were doing it as well.
The best part was that Bill and a volunteer had braced the lathe. They had also replaced the spacer blocks so the belt was tensioned better.
One of my self-imposed tasks for today was to apply a bit of TLC to the drive belt. What do you call it when a leather belt drinks nearly a cup of neatsfoot oil?
I call it thirsty. The belt looks and feels much better now. It should last for many more years.
Eric had also been doing stuff in the shop. He has done an incredible job of cleaning and organizing the shop. It looked like it was a shop ready for use. Thank you, Eric.
Dull Tools Everywhere
I came to the fort prepared to sharpen tools. I picked up a DMT extra course 8×3 diamond plate. Think 220 grit. This is in addition to my existing 320-grit and 1200-grit diamond plates.
I decided to go with diamond plates instead of my oilstones is because I would rather not have to deal with oil. Diamond plates require no oil and no water. You can use water with them, but it is just as easy to wash them every so often.
My first tool was a 1/2 skew chisel for the lathe. I sharpened this by hand.
Two sides with no guide. I did an “okay” job. I saw the facet extend to the edge. I was able to feel the burr from one side and might have been feeling it on the other side.
When you have the facet touching the edge, it will roll a burr. If you can feel a burr across the cutting edge, this indicates that the facet reaches the edge across the entire edge.
I worked my way through the stones, then stropped the chisel. It looked pretty.
Better, when I used it to do a pairing cut, it just worked. I got real shavings.
From there I went to a small wooden coffin smoothing plane. It is called a coffin plane because of its shape.
The blade was in poor condition. I used my jig to establish the correct angle then started sharpening.
By the time I had the burr at 220-grit, I was pretty much finished. It took more effort than it should have. After stropping the edge, I was able to see that the blade had chips in it. It cut nicely but left small grooves in the work.
I should have done more work on the blade until the pits were gone. I choose to move to the next iron.
The third blade/iron was for the jack plane. It looked ok, but it wasn’t. After over an two hours at the stones, I still had 1/8″ of edge that was not turning a burr. That’s as far as I got. I didn’t have time or energy to do more.
I tested it straight off the 220-grit stone; it did an impressive job. I am pleased with myself. I’ll get it done next time.
I have many more irons, chisels, and other tools to sharpen. Once they have a good grind on them, it will be much easier to maintain.
What are the kids interested in?
Augers. We have a wall of augers. They are post 1750s design, but they are old timey so people think they are period. I had a dozen kids use an auger bit to make a hole in a piece of scrap wood.
The augers are not something I’m interested in. Why? Because I can’t find the old-school style my father had. I would rather not pay for a tool I don’t know how to sharpen and which might be of poor quality but high price.
Sometimes they are interested in the planes, but generally not. Maybe one out of a couple of dozen.
Working with the shaving horse is something they enjoy. Unfortunately, the drawknife we use needs to be sharpened. And somebody put a bevel on the back, which should be perfectly flat.
Then there is the lathe. The lathe is still my favorite. Because of the work Bill and his helper did, it was purring yesterday. I did have to adjust the tension, but the drive wheel axle had been adjusted and greased; it moved much better.
Some kids are interested in the lathe.
What did they seem most interested in?
Making fry bread with Ally. That was the winning demonstration, in my opinion.
A (nearly) working lathe!
After over a year of playing with the lathe, it is nearly fully functional. We need to remove or modify a bit of wrought iron that interferes with the treadle. Once that is done, I think it will be perfectly usable.
I managed to actually make some cuts while powering the lathe myself. That’s an impressive improvement.
I had a few “apprentices” working as the lathe motor. Two of them got the wheel spinning, and I was able to make real progress on rounding the shaft. A sharp chisel lets that happen.
I always start by showing them how it is done. Because I have practice, I can almost always get it going on the first try. As long as I only have to treadle I can do it without issue. Trying to make cuts while powering the lathe, not so much.
A young college-age man got the wheel going and was going long enough that I felt guilty. I was making excellent cuts and didn’t want to stop.
Normally, they tire long before I feel guilty; he beat me at that game. Except, as he walked back, he told me that if we had gone just another 2 minutes, he would have had to quit.
Conclusion
It is my home away from home. I love going to the Fort. I love interacting with people in that controlled environment. I love interacting with the kids with such a giant joy of learning.
We need to see you at the Fort. I think you would enjoy it.
P.S.
I have been working on a minimum viable product website for the Fort. With the new client, I’ve had to push that project to deal with the new client.
As soon as I knew, I had Ally inform the Fort people. They responded.
I spent the rest of the week feeling like shit for letting them down. I found out yesterday that they felt bad because they went back to the full project with a delivery in 2026.
I was lucky enough to be able to hug it out with the director. We are both more worried about the other’s feelings than we need to be.
She’s doing a wonderful job. I’m glad she is the director.