Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 84 - Planks And Firewood

"Sir, I had seen you walking towards the windmill area. Were you there to discuss something with Eagle?" Jack asked as soon as he saw me returned to the house and sat in front of the study table. I took my journal and prepared to make some entries.

"As a matter, I did, come, join me at this table, it's about the nomads and I would like to highlight it during the conference tonight. By the way, do you know anything about their nomads?" I inquired and Jack related to the best knowledge he had.

Heather was around and so she sat beside me as she listened to what we were talking and hoping to share some ideas on the nomads as well.

"Hmm, well... There's a report of more than 6 families making this nomad. They heard that we pioneers had made a settlement some months back, but then they didn't know it had bloomed to be a thriving little village right now. They were on their way some months ago upon hearing a new settlement that pops out like a mushroom and was heading this way to check things out."

I explained to Jack as he shared that nomads would prefer to be roaming across the lands as they prefer to be independent and the other landlords would be hard to track and demand taxes from them.

Heather was curious about these nomads and began asking, "These so-called nomads, are they a kind of barbarians that wore animal furs as clothes and carry clubs and sticks as spears? They also speak in their own language and made grunt sounds like as if they were clearing their throats as in a form of communication?"

Jack and I looked at Heather and soon laughed our heads off because of the way she described these nomads to be uncivilised people who had not seen another civilisation in their lives before.

"Hahaha. They are not that type of people, milady. Those type of people that you describes may live far, far away on distant lands where no man had ever explored yet."

"The nomads were just like you and me and the difference is that they travel a lot, sleep on tents, tend to their livestock on pastures and then move out again." Jack elaborated to Heather and she nodded her head in embarrassment.

I listened to Jack and decided to put some balances in what I had gotten from Eagle as well. Tonight would be the release of information as well as to find out more about their sentiments towards these nomads. Well, for tonight's topic, I really have to form the right words though.

Tonight's meeting would take slightly longer as I would like to have everyone's participation in voicing their opinions. Some may be good and some may be bad so I would take these into considerations.

Soon, shouts of "T-I-M-B-E-R" were heard where my house once stood and I saw trees as low as 12 feet and higher were fell in a 90 degrees angle towards the courtyard. After 4 trees were fell, the men quickly get to work to chop and remove the branches off the tree trunk.

"Come and take a look. I wished to see how they going to saw those trunks, tr a sport them and then Ben would be turning them to planks." I ushered Jack and Heather to the place where the 4 trees were fell and the men started to use a long two-person saw to make 5 and a half foot trunks.

Some of the trees had trunks as large as a man's embrace while some are smaller. I wouldn't know what those trees were, but those who passed me as they carried the branches told me that those were not fruit-bearing trees, so we do not have to worry at all.

These branches were hauled into the sawmill where Ben and a few men worked to cut these branches into one foot long and then it would be split in the middle into four parts and made into firewood after being dried.

This firewood, instead of being sold to the merchants, would be used for the general purpose of GraceHaven instead. In the midst of this, an open shed was erected beside the sawmill.

It was actually the structure of a house without the doorway and inside it was used to store the tools such as axes and a few wood wedges. Plus, there was a small working table and some chairs made of bamboo too.

That shed was going to be Ben's little workshop to make furniture, musical instruments and others to make the citizens live livelier. It seems that once Ben had shown Frank the ropes of the sawmill, he would transfer next door to chop firewood and make other furniture for the citizens instead while keeping tabs on Frank's progress.

A collection point was set to stack this firewood once it had been split. For every 5 feet of firewood that had been set in the ground, a 4 feet branch was inserted in the middle of it to make a divider.

This divider would represent a segment of firewood 6 feet across and 4 feet or higher. As the wood had been split and thrown aside, some children would carry them and place them nearly and once it reaches their height, they moved to another segment.

Each end for the upright support was dug into the ground to hold the stack of split firewood in place. Soon, the stack grew higher and another collection was set up right in front of the existing stack.

More than 100 square feet of working space land area was made for this purpose and a tree stump was in place to hold the 1-foot branch upright so it would be easily chopped down.

"I like the way you did to his place. It's practical and doesn't get in the way with the sawmill at all. So once Frank had made the plank, he would be stacking them high just like the firewood, innit?"

I inquired as Frank was wearing a pair of tough gloves when handling the branches to be cut while another engineer was helping to crank the saw blade.

I saw the signs of progress made and can't help to applaud when each stage was completed. One undertook a new profession, while another moved on to make firewood.

We observed that the 5 feet and a half trunk was easily transported using the pull cart and Ben hurried over next door to guide Frank and others how to properly lift without injuring their backs. Ben and Frank got hold of each end while an engineer squatted to receive the log in his cradled arms.

With a count of three, the three squatting men, effortlessly carried the log while the engineer in the middle cradled it as they moved slowly to the sawmill table and plop the log down. Ben showed the rest in now to make the adjustments on the sawmill table as it had some guidelines to get the right cuts.

The first cut would be to shave the bark off on one side after it had been clamped down securely. After that, the measurement of 1 inch thick was made between the saw blade and a guiding device on the table.

The initial sawn off side was placed on the table so it would roll about, thus making the subsequent cuts much easier.

A single plank of 1 inch thick was being sawn off under 10 breaths as the sawblade operator cranks the wheel a single revolution to have the saw blade to revolve at least 5 times. I looked on with amazement and discovered that the process did not end there.

Once the plank had been sawn off, it was left one side first until all the slicing had been done for that day. The next step, as Ben explained was to trim down the bark edges first, then measure the 1' 1" in width before sawing off the other side.

The sawdust could be made into a mix with the clay bricks, while the spare bark edges could be made into tinder. Ben demonstrated one and the end result was a perfectly shaped and sized 1 foot wide and 5 feet long wooden plank that would be used as wall panelling, ship buildings and many other structures.

I held the piece in my hand and can't help feeling proud of those who were doing this job as it would mean another huge step ahead for the citizens and GraceHaven. "Sir, these are not for sale. Could you explain to Marcel when he comes by that these are for the priorities of GraceHaven and would only be available once your domain has been completed."

"Yes, definitely Ben. I would put up your feedback into great consideration. At least Marcel can have all those clay bricks since it is still in the process made by the 3 children. These children really seemed to have m.a.t.u.r.e older than what their ages are."

"Thank you so much, sir. We would better start on the next log since we are putting all those initial stages aside first and continue once everything had been completed. The second stage would only take like three breaths to complete one side... Hehehe." Frank was happy to see his fruits of labour together with his buddy Ben.

From a lumberjack to a carpenter and from a carpenter to a woodcutter. These 2 men could easily coordinate their duties to and fro with ease and once they worked in tandem, nobody would be able to stop their tenacity.

I clapped the backs of those who were working hard at the mill and when the branches started to come in once more, Ben instructed the men to arrange it at the woodcutter area first. Even a female woodcutter could sit down and saw these branches into 1 foot long since they were light enough to be lifted by its end.

Since Ben and Frank were engaged at the sawmill, Jack is the one that took over after the initial deployment of tasks before the start of the day and helped out in areas that would need another pair of hands once in a while.

Jack assisted the boys on making the clay bricks after he had collected a pull cart full of sawdust while Heather and I sat at the weaver production area as I tried my hands on making a bread basket that was 3' by 2" by 3', especially for Marcel to ship it to his town.

The breakfast that was prepared could last till lunchtime and the citizens could just leave their stations to have early or late lunch as and when they d.e.s.i.r.e. I had made an announcement earlier so that they would move about freely and be autonomous.

This way, there would be less disruption as work would be able to continue non-stop from the start of the day will dusk. This improves productivity, as well as the freedom for the residents to have their breaks according to their needs and not fixated to only midday lunch.

It would be high time for the citizens to chip in to provide dinner as well since the practice had begun and results would soon be shown. As for the bakery, it would operate when these a need to and would only require a single baker or at most 3 while the other bakers would be assigned to another secondary task.

"Seems everything is working fine and there has been positive feedback so far. After tonight I would like to hear one voice from them after this." I thought to myself as I sat in the ground as I was shown how to make the base of the basket first.

Once the base had been completed, with additional strips on its side to make the frame of the basket, I was shown how it was generally done and I remarked at how easy the sequences would be.

Working in stages and completing with sequences, a basket soon formed as I scooted from one station to the other until I made a well... Badly shaped lopsided rectangular basket in the end...! Hahaha...!

Everyone laughed but it was truly my first masterpiece and I wanted to have it to store all those knick-knacks around the house in it.