Rob Roy MacGregor
February 18th, 2004, 11:08 AM
An Eye Toward History
By Steve Howie
Shipwrights show how vikings built their craft
Inside his Fidalgo Island boat shop, Jay Smith patted his hand on a thick, carved piece of Douglas fir and smiled.
The wood, which will eventually cut the waves at the head of a 21-foot viking ship, was taken from the stump and root of a tree logged in the North Cascades 100 years ago.
Its horn-shaped curve follows the natural grain of the wood, from stump into a thick root.
"No one's made a bow stem like this since the Dark Ages," Smith said.
In this case, the comment was not so much a boast as a simple statement of fact.
http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/content/articles/2004/02/17/news/news01.jpg
Scott Terrell / Skagit Valley Herald
Dan Packard checks his work on the bow of a viking ship's boat he is helping to build Monday on Fidalgo Island near Anacortes. Behind him is Jay Smith, who owns the shop and was commissioned to build the 20-foot-long vessel by the History Channel.
Smith and his team of shipwrights are taking part in a History Channel project to demonstrate the tools and techniques used by the vikings to build boats 1,000 years ago. The pilot is scheduled to air on the History Channel this fall.
The craft Smith and his team are constructing is the replica of a ship's boat, or dinghy, uncovered in a Norwegian burial mound 125 years ago.
The boat belonged to a wealthy merchant who lived in the early ninth century. He would have used the small vessel to travel to and from his larger viking ship to shore, where he would either pillage and wreak havoc or trade with the locals.
"This is his Maserati," Smith said. "It was so beautifully done, it was not only a ship's boat, it was a piece of art."
Smith and his assembled boat builders are constructing the vessel using some of the same tools and techniques perfected by the vikings.
Fidalgo Island blacksmith Paul Thorne designed several tools specifically for the project, including an adz, an axe-like tool that looks like a chisel on a stick, and a broad axe with an offset handle to allow shipwrights to smooth boards without catching their fingers on the wood.
Thorne said blacksmiths were central to viking culture, making the tools and weapons, and taking part in battles as warriors and ocean voyages as sailors. In terms of blacksmithing, not much has changed since the Dark Ages, he said.
"The work I do is virtually identical to what a viking smith would do," Thorne said. "A viking blacksmith would be very comfortable in my shop. The only thing different is electricity."
While little has changed in terms of blacksmithing, shipbuilding techniques have transformed since the viking era.
Smith said his team is using the old methods, but also employing some modern devices, such as chain saws and electric tools, in their effort. If they were limited exclusively to viking tools, the project, expected to last until March, would take three times as long, he said.
"We're not bashful about admitting to using everything we have at our fingertips," Smith said. "Building viking ships is no minor undertaking. It's huge."
Smith should know. He has been building wooden boats using ancient techniques since 1977, when he worked at a small boat shop in Norway.
Since then, he has received grants to return periodically to Scandinavian countries to fine-tune his techniques and work with other shipwrights interested in keeping the age-old boatbuilding methods alive.
But even with 27 years of experience, Smith said building a viking ship was a unique task that has required the combined knowledge of his crew, which includes a boat maker from Montana and two veteran shipwrights from Port Townsend.
"The construction is so unique. None of us has done exactly this before," Smith said. "We each bring our varying expertise to the project."
While the shipwrights worked in their various corners of the shop, trimming a scarph on the bow stem and shaping a port side forward garboard plank with a compass plane, Craig Robertson, the apprentice on the crew, looked on in awe.
Robertson, of Everett, is a longtime member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a Middle Age recreation group. Several years ago, he researched and designed a viking ship on a computer design program.
He is taking a month off from his daytime job as an engineer for the state Department of Transportation to live his dream of building a real viking boat.
"This is pretty much my vacation," said Robertson, who wears a dark beard and has a long ponytail. "And that's how I look at it. I get to do this for a month."
He said helping to build the ship is just one more step in bringing the viking period to life.
"You run around with people dressed up like vikings, the next thing you know, history is no longer facts, figures and dates, it's real people who lived and how they lived," Robertson said.
That's the kind of recreation History Channel producers are no doubt hoping for in their pilot on viking ship construction.
Every other day, an eight-person film crew crowds into Smith's rustic boat shop at the edge of the woods to compile footage of the viking ship as it takes shape, from a rough-hewn backbone, to a ribbed skeleton, and eventually a hull with a row of oars on either side.
"This happens to be a lucky day when they're not bothering us," Smith quipped. "When they're here, it's crazy."
When completed, the boat will be topped with a custom-made rectangular sail.
Like other aspects of the project, the sail is not made exactly as it would have been in viking days. It will be constructed from cotton as opposed to wool, which traditionally would have been patched together from smaller woven squares.
Despite the modern adjustments, Smith and his team have found that many of the traditional tools are more effective than their electric equivalents at hewing wood and shaping planks.
"They're quite sharp and they take a lot of wood in a hurry," Smith said, as one of his shipwrights trimmed a scarph on the bow stem using a traditional scraping tool known as a spoke shave.
While some aspects of the viking days make Smith nostalgic for earlier times, he also appreciates the comforts of the modern era.
A steady Northwest rain beat against the metal roof of the boat shop, which was kept toasty warm by a wood stove that Robertson kept stoked for a long day of viking ship building.
"If we were doing this in the viking era, we'd all be wet," Smith said.
http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2004/02/17/news/news01.txt
Steve Howie can be reached at 360-416-2135 or by e-mail at showie@skagitvalleyherald.com
By Steve Howie
Shipwrights show how vikings built their craft
Inside his Fidalgo Island boat shop, Jay Smith patted his hand on a thick, carved piece of Douglas fir and smiled.
The wood, which will eventually cut the waves at the head of a 21-foot viking ship, was taken from the stump and root of a tree logged in the North Cascades 100 years ago.
Its horn-shaped curve follows the natural grain of the wood, from stump into a thick root.
"No one's made a bow stem like this since the Dark Ages," Smith said.
In this case, the comment was not so much a boast as a simple statement of fact.
http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/content/articles/2004/02/17/news/news01.jpg
Scott Terrell / Skagit Valley Herald
Dan Packard checks his work on the bow of a viking ship's boat he is helping to build Monday on Fidalgo Island near Anacortes. Behind him is Jay Smith, who owns the shop and was commissioned to build the 20-foot-long vessel by the History Channel.
Smith and his team of shipwrights are taking part in a History Channel project to demonstrate the tools and techniques used by the vikings to build boats 1,000 years ago. The pilot is scheduled to air on the History Channel this fall.
The craft Smith and his team are constructing is the replica of a ship's boat, or dinghy, uncovered in a Norwegian burial mound 125 years ago.
The boat belonged to a wealthy merchant who lived in the early ninth century. He would have used the small vessel to travel to and from his larger viking ship to shore, where he would either pillage and wreak havoc or trade with the locals.
"This is his Maserati," Smith said. "It was so beautifully done, it was not only a ship's boat, it was a piece of art."
Smith and his assembled boat builders are constructing the vessel using some of the same tools and techniques perfected by the vikings.
Fidalgo Island blacksmith Paul Thorne designed several tools specifically for the project, including an adz, an axe-like tool that looks like a chisel on a stick, and a broad axe with an offset handle to allow shipwrights to smooth boards without catching their fingers on the wood.
Thorne said blacksmiths were central to viking culture, making the tools and weapons, and taking part in battles as warriors and ocean voyages as sailors. In terms of blacksmithing, not much has changed since the Dark Ages, he said.
"The work I do is virtually identical to what a viking smith would do," Thorne said. "A viking blacksmith would be very comfortable in my shop. The only thing different is electricity."
While little has changed in terms of blacksmithing, shipbuilding techniques have transformed since the viking era.
Smith said his team is using the old methods, but also employing some modern devices, such as chain saws and electric tools, in their effort. If they were limited exclusively to viking tools, the project, expected to last until March, would take three times as long, he said.
"We're not bashful about admitting to using everything we have at our fingertips," Smith said. "Building viking ships is no minor undertaking. It's huge."
Smith should know. He has been building wooden boats using ancient techniques since 1977, when he worked at a small boat shop in Norway.
Since then, he has received grants to return periodically to Scandinavian countries to fine-tune his techniques and work with other shipwrights interested in keeping the age-old boatbuilding methods alive.
But even with 27 years of experience, Smith said building a viking ship was a unique task that has required the combined knowledge of his crew, which includes a boat maker from Montana and two veteran shipwrights from Port Townsend.
"The construction is so unique. None of us has done exactly this before," Smith said. "We each bring our varying expertise to the project."
While the shipwrights worked in their various corners of the shop, trimming a scarph on the bow stem and shaping a port side forward garboard plank with a compass plane, Craig Robertson, the apprentice on the crew, looked on in awe.
Robertson, of Everett, is a longtime member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a Middle Age recreation group. Several years ago, he researched and designed a viking ship on a computer design program.
He is taking a month off from his daytime job as an engineer for the state Department of Transportation to live his dream of building a real viking boat.
"This is pretty much my vacation," said Robertson, who wears a dark beard and has a long ponytail. "And that's how I look at it. I get to do this for a month."
He said helping to build the ship is just one more step in bringing the viking period to life.
"You run around with people dressed up like vikings, the next thing you know, history is no longer facts, figures and dates, it's real people who lived and how they lived," Robertson said.
That's the kind of recreation History Channel producers are no doubt hoping for in their pilot on viking ship construction.
Every other day, an eight-person film crew crowds into Smith's rustic boat shop at the edge of the woods to compile footage of the viking ship as it takes shape, from a rough-hewn backbone, to a ribbed skeleton, and eventually a hull with a row of oars on either side.
"This happens to be a lucky day when they're not bothering us," Smith quipped. "When they're here, it's crazy."
When completed, the boat will be topped with a custom-made rectangular sail.
Like other aspects of the project, the sail is not made exactly as it would have been in viking days. It will be constructed from cotton as opposed to wool, which traditionally would have been patched together from smaller woven squares.
Despite the modern adjustments, Smith and his team have found that many of the traditional tools are more effective than their electric equivalents at hewing wood and shaping planks.
"They're quite sharp and they take a lot of wood in a hurry," Smith said, as one of his shipwrights trimmed a scarph on the bow stem using a traditional scraping tool known as a spoke shave.
While some aspects of the viking days make Smith nostalgic for earlier times, he also appreciates the comforts of the modern era.
A steady Northwest rain beat against the metal roof of the boat shop, which was kept toasty warm by a wood stove that Robertson kept stoked for a long day of viking ship building.
"If we were doing this in the viking era, we'd all be wet," Smith said.
http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2004/02/17/news/news01.txt
Steve Howie can be reached at 360-416-2135 or by e-mail at showie@skagitvalleyherald.com