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Fowle
House Fans,
The dendrochronology event went very well on Saturday. It was also
pretty well attended including Historical Society members Bob Childs, Julia
Donahue, Joyce Kelly, Karl Neugebauer and Mary Spiers. Peter Benjamin and
his friend Michael Granahan attended. Peter brought his video camera and
filmed some of the event for us. Dendrochronoligists Anne Grady, Daniel
Miles and Michael Worthington were there as the experts. Anne and Daniel
were mentioned in an article on dendrochronology in the most recent issue
of Yankee Magazine, so we felt we were in very good hands.
All were in attendance in the morning at 9:30. Dan Miles and Michael
Worthington inspected beams and joists from the basement to the attic, with
most of the group on their heels trying to hear their opinions and
comments. After about an hour of inspection, Dan told us that it looked as
though our structural beams were fast-growing second growth trees, having
only 20-30 growth rings on them but that our joists appeared to be slower
growth first period trees. They could take core samples of the joists but
many more would be needed, between 20 and 30, so that they could be
overlapped and cross-matched in the lab, hopefully making a pattern with
the 80-100 rings needed to properly date the house. Even though many
samples would be utilized there would only be a 50-50 chance of getting a
date. The Historical Society Council members agreed that the
dendrochronologists should try this method.
With Dan’s assistance, Michael began boring into different joists in
the basement that they agreed were worthy specimens. This is done with an
electric drill with an 18” drill bit with a ½ inch diameter hole in the
middle so that when you bore into the wood, a ½ inch core of wood is
collected in that hole. The result looks something like an oversized
pencil. It took between 10 and 20 minutes to set up the boring site and do
the drilling. Each hole was then covered with masking tape and numbered in
sequential order. The core sample was given the same number as the spot it
was taken from. Bob Childs marked the location of the drill samples on one
of the floor plans we received from McGinley, Kalsow and Associates.
Michael drilled until around noon, when they broke for lunch and
another appointment, and said they would return around 2:30. Everyone left
for lunch.
Bob and I returned around 2:30. Anne, Dan and Michael came around
3:15. They had two drills with them this time so they could both work at
the same time. They hadn’t planned on taking samples that when they came
that morning so we were very lucky (and grateful) that they agreed to do
this for us.
Michael worked in the basement and Dan worked in the attic while Bob
and I intermittently checked on their progress. Most of their samples were
4 – 6 inches long containing 30-50 years worth of rings. Anne left sometime
during the afternoon, Bob left about 6:00.
Michael discovered 2 beams he could get samples from, one going from
the front the to back of the house and one going from one side to the
other. He took 3 samples from these beams that are about 12 inches long
each. They will have 80-120 year’s growth.
In the attic, Dan was able to get 2 samples from beams, the rest from
joists. They also took samples from the newly exposed joists in the dining
room, otherwise known as the room with the bow window.
The wood in the basement is all red oak. Some of the samples were
sapwood, which is the top layer just before the bark. Some had bark on
them. From this they will be able to tell what season the tree was cut
down.
In all, they took: 19 samples from the basement
12 samples from the attic
2 samples from the dining room.
Anne came back to get Dan and Michael around 8:15 and they left
around 8:30.
We should hear from them in 2 - 3 months as to the dating of the
house.
Joyce |
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