Back in the Fields

Oooh, nice fence!

On Tuesday it was cloudy, threatening with rain and the boss was back from hols. Plus Shane and Jayne were in that day so it turned out to be quite a fun day! After the usual cuppa to start the day, we fixed ourselves the job for the day and we were off for pastures new. Old really, as we were continuing the park rail fencing we had started previously before we ran out of uprights. 

This had been started as a weekend project for the CNTV (that’s Cambridge National Trust Volunteers to you and me) and a kind of hospital job for us on a Tuesday… or as Shane says: “It takes teamwork to make the dream work!” More of Shane’s colourful phrases later! Of the first problem we encountered was a new one that had arisen the week before; a padlocked gate. To all those who are thinking ‘surely you have a key for that right?’ well ordinarily we would do. Unfortunately we weren’t counting on the farm to come and put a new lock on with the only key in their pocket so to speak.

OMG!!!

I think this about sums up what we all thought at the time! Credit to kyaangelwing on Buzznet for the cool graphic. We soon found out that it was done to prove a point because the buggy driver kept on leaving the gates open when they went up to the Hall. Apparently it was because if the animals got into the stable block area, they could wander on to the front lawn.

You would have thought they’d make it easy for themselves and used the pedestrian gate that’s always left wide open anyway. I think there was great consternation from many of the departments and not just us lowly foresters! Rant over, phew I don't usually write something this controversial. I guess it was the hot topic of the day (Thursday), besides I had to write something to justify the cat with the Uzi! (Or whatever it is).

Starter kit; instructions not included

Okay, back to sanity once again. So, you ask, how do you erect that most stupendous marvelously looking fencing that could stop a herd of moose? Even better question: Do moose come in herds? Answers on a postcard, please! Well it all starts as a flat pack in a way, as we pick up the metal from the local engineering firm (Andy Klose Engineering) all ready protected and finished in black.

Actually the black finish is a new addition because we thought it’d speed up the job so Andy sends it off to be powder coated now. In fact it’s a very new improvement since you can see some unpainted uprights from the last lot of fencing in some of the photos!

Stop posing Shane and HIT IT!

First job is knocking in the uprights. There is a line strung out on the ground, with white poles as markers so we know where we’re going. You may be able to see the orange string in some of the photos.

Of course even with a line to follow it’s very difficult to get the posts spot on and dead straight all the way down as you’re thumping them.

It is possible to knock them in on your own (like Shane is doing), but bear in mind that the thumper itself is a heavy piece of equipment! Shane and I find it more efficient to use it together, with Jayne providing accurate levelling measurements every now and then.

 

Gently Does it...

Not forgetting of course to make sure we have the post in the right way round! Something we have all done at one point or another! On the odd occasion when we’re threading the bars though and suddenly realise the slots are in the wrong place!!

If that ever happens it’s down to the post-puller to get us out of a jam. That’s the post-puller Mark II by the way as the previous one is still lost in the woods somewhere (or was it stolen? I forget now).

Despite careful measurements it’s amazing how wonky the fence looks sometimes! Whether it’s because we put in the far (double slotted) post in first or not I don’t know.

With the double in, we then work back to the last completed section. Depending on the number of adjustments of course, it can be quite quick or really slow!

Level in hand, it’s a team effort to make sure the post is knocked in relatively straight. Fine-tuning can often be done later with a bit of extra pulling (or in desperate cases, the front end of the land rover!).

 

Usually with comments like: ‘left a bit’; ‘to you…’ and so forth. Or if you’re really lucky you’ll get a classic Shane: “A blind man would love to see that”!

Step two, with the posts in and nicely straightened up one way or another it’s now for the fun part and slide in the slats. Naturally if the posts are properly lined up and on the same slope, the slates will slide straight in with little effort. Coining another phrase, “Hole in one”; basically when you push it along and the slat fits straight into the slot first time!

I Love it When a Plan Comes Together!

Bingo! Peasy as pie!! Slats in and everything nicely lined up and it’s on to the next section. Rinse and repeat as it were. It’s nice to do the fencing because as we put it up you can look back and see your progress, to see how far you come in a few hours!

As a special bonus, here’s a little caption competition to finish! Enjoy and until next time…

 

 

On a Roll

Well since I keep forgetting to bring my camera when I’m doing forestry, I thought I’d post another from my day a week doing textiles. It was two weeks ago, so it’s going to be a bit of a drag on the old memory but I’ll do my best! I find a few photos usually help with that. Just on a side note for all those folks who live in the UK, Don’t forget up on all the action from behind the scenes at the National Trust currently being shown weekly on ITV. I haven’t appeared on the programme yet (except for a few background shots with my fellow co-workers) but I am sure we all will at some point!

Anyway, back to the point… this post is us working on one of the carpets that run down the back stairs. So if you’re afraid of heights look away now! Ok, this is looking up but you get the idea.

So you might think taking up a stretch of carpet is a relatively simple task. Well I thought that too until I actually started doing it!

The one on the John Soan stairs is perhaps not as important as some of the other rugs and carpets seen throughout the Hall but it still requires the same amount of attention and care when rolling it up.

First job is to unhook the stair rods that hold the carpet in place without causing a trip hazard. Yes, I know me and a flight of stairs with trip hazards is a little problematic I admit!

Still after a little bending and deft finger work (those rods were quite tight!) we had them out in no time.   

Following inspection of the carpet and seeing how many sections we would be lifting (or rolling) it in, we had to separate each one out. Then we hit a problem. The section I was sorting out was a little trickier than the others (It's always me that gets the difficult stuff!). The darn thing would just not come up and I didn't want to yank it too hard in case I ripped it. On closer inspection, literally millimetres from the carpet, I could just about see a tack.

Having called Mary over to get her opinion, the next few minutes we of us struggling to find even an edge to the tacks so we could get a grip on it. Even with a screwdriver we had very little luck so unfortunately in the end we had no option but to pull the tack through the carpet. Definitely not a recommended conservation technique!

Also not the way to secure a carpet in the first place. Even worse was when we finally got it up, we found that it was tacked into lead sockets to hold it into the concrete!

What the... ?!

With the carpet separated into three distinct sections it was down to the simple task of rolling up each section. We lifted these one at a time up on to the top landing so we could roll them up, placing the first two together to save on materials.

A quick vacuum and clean before hand was adequate for this set of carpets, and they were quite dirty! Almost as if a forester regularly used them perhaps... (sorry boss). Now nicely spruced up a layer of acid free tissue paper was rolled out on top of the carpet to protect it as rolled up.

Mind that banister rail!

Now as you can see, the corridor is only just wide enough to roll the carpet! Maggie did a sterling job rolling the first section up while I was snapping photos! Still I did my bit too, wait until you see the magnificent job we did on the curtains.

For those of you thinking of rolling your own carpets, remember to roll with the carpet and not against it. If you stroke the carpet you can actually feel how rough it is when you move your hand across in a particular direction. Oh and don't forget to turn the rug or carpet over before you roll!

Both the top landing section and the first stair section were rolled up in this way, the only exception being that when we came to roll the next section we lifted the rolled up landing piece on top so they rolled together (Maggie, correct me if I remembered incorrectly).

So what's the next step? Wrapping the sausages in Tyvek of course! As you can see (below) we take careful measurement of the object we're going to wrap and cutting it precisely to size. Or if you want that translated, roll out a length of tyvek, place said sausage in the middle and run the scissors down the length and pray you haven't just cut yourself just short!

Carpet sausages!

There; two nicely parcelled up carpet sausages. By the way, no string or sellotape was used in this production. It's amazing when you enter the world of conservation the sorts of things that can affect fragile textiles and upholstery, anything from ply-board to glues and other nasties. That's why we only use cotton tape to secure carpets, curtains and other fragibles. I just made that word up on the spot! Pretty neat... huh? If your wondering, it means more than one fragile item.

Apart from the underlay, which we rolled up into itself (no paper needed this time) and stacked all the individual steps, the only thing left was to protect the brackets for the stair rods. This involved cutting little squares (or rectangles if you want to be pedantic!) and tying them on each and every one. Although a little daunting at first, it didn't take as long as we originally thought, which was a good thing!

Underlay, Underlay!

Oh and more vacuuming! Not bad for a days work eh? Now where are those curtains...

For those of you who aren't afraid of heights (or drops in my case), here's a bonus photo! Until next time...

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!