Monument Conservation with APS

Here is a link to an article about some monument work that has kept APS busy the past few months:

http://heritagepreservation.org/Update/2010/10suVA.html

Historic Carpentry Merit Badge

I guess I'm a little late to the party as I just happened upon this:

http://www.usscouts.org/mb/mb139.asp

Teaching the old techniques to 21st century boys.

50 years of Baltimore Heritage

Congratulations to Baltimore Heritage on 50 years of preserving Baltimore's architectural treasures!!!

See you at the Gala!

http://www.baltimoreheritage.org/programs/50th-anniversary/

Tool of the Week: Lasers!!

Here is a link to a week old article about using 3D imaging for documenting historic sites:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/05/25/4356809-monuments-immortalized-virtually

I can see a lot of uses for this technology in our field. Documentation is obvious, but the technology is also being used for part replication. Using 3D CNC routers any part can be duplicated from a 3D model. This would certainly help cut down costs for manufacturing by hand. Perhaps that is somewhat blasphemous, but the reality of budgets makes this type of process relevant. The number of hours to replicate several hand-carved Corinthian capitals maybe out of the reach of many property owners. Not to mention the ethics involved in reproducing something so exactly that the difference can't be told between old and new. A new plastic part replicated by a CNC machine would certainly be recognizable as non-original. The original wooden pieces could be preserved and stored safely for future generations.

The other possible use is virtual tourism. How about accessing a space that normally would be off limits like garret or attic spaces. Or perhaps recreating a site that is long vanished and would be impossible to replicate in the real world. Imagine walking the streets of ancient Rome or Dutch New Amsterdam.

I am a big fan of embracing the technology. The craft and the history have to be preserved, but progress and technological advancement should be embraced.

The Rocket's Red Glare!

Worcester Eisenbrandt isn't just about historic preservation and architectural conservation. We also make exhibits and props for museums. One of our latest projects involves exhibit pieces for the new visitor's center at Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine.

The mastermind behind our exhibit division, Exhibit Hues, is Hugh Bennett. Among the pieces he has created for the visitor's center is this replica rocket. Hugh used the a design from the Park Service to create the rocket out of new materials and then used his skills as a finisher to make it look like an original 19th century projectile. This one is just for viewing purposes, but wouldn't it be cool to make a working one? I don't know that I would have the nerve to light the fuse!

Exhibit Hues is also creating, with sculpter Bill Duffy, a bronze sculptural representation of Francis Scott Key. The rendering will be a focal point in the new visitor's center. The foundry is currently putting the finishing touches on Mr. Key. More on him later!

Metropolitan AME Church

One of our current restoration projects, the Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC, has been added to the National Trust for Historic Preservation's 2010 11 Most Endangered List. The church is renowned for it's architecture and stained glass windows, as well as its importance to the national AME church. The building is the mother church of the AME faith. While the building's location was important, as it placed it in the center of Washington DC, that location is now a detriment, as surrounding construction projects and larger buildings have contributed to structural problems with the church. WEI has been assisting the congregation with some of these problems but the scope of the damage will require much more extensive work. You can read more about the Metropolitan AME Church and the other 11 Most Endangered Sites here:
http://www.preservationnation.org/issues/11-most-endangered/

Tool of the Week: Photographs

There are a lot of ways that one can gather evidence for a restoration project. Looking at the remaining original materials is one. "Reading" an historic building is not simple and requires quite a bit of knowledge in the history of architecture and building technology. It helps to know about the period differences in nails and other fasteners, hardware, molding profiles and construction techniques. The complication is that so many people added and changed a particular historic building through its life, so it can be very difficult to tell when and where those changes occurred. Every now and then, however, you get lucky and find an historic photograph.

While the iconic image of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse has been captured thousands of times, only a few historic images exist. Those images are going to prove invaluable to the restoration of the structure. Because the lighthouse suffers from such severe weather, it has been deteriorating at a rapid rate since it was built. Repairs have been continually made by lighthouse keepers from both the U. S. Lighthouse Service and the U. S. Coast Guard as well as numerous volunteers. These repairs have been made with limited resources and to act as improvements. Like any historic structure, repairs have altered the original appearance of the building. Much of the physical evidence has been lost to repair after repair after repair.

All of this makes these photographs very important. There are two in particular that interest me. The first is the earliest known photograph of the lighthouse. It was taken by Major Jared Smith on the 18th of August, 1885. There are several noticeable differences between today's lighthouse and the 1885 lighthouse, but the most important to me is the difference in the railings. The 1885 railings are taller and include a round railing above the lower sqare railing and pickets. The posts are curved on the outboard side and the round rail, or pipe, runs through a hole drilled through the wood.

The taller railing apparently lasted into the 20th century as evidenced by the other historic photograph. This one is of Assistant Lighthouse Keeper Earl C. Harris. It was taken sometime in the 1930's on the perimeter deck of the lighthouse. Behind him is the railing, including the taller rail. While some of the detail is hard to discern, it provides the best evidence of the rail's appearance that we have. Granted, at this point the railing is 50 years old and has, doubtlessly, been repaired several times.

Whether or not the railing gets restored to its 1885 appearance has yet to be determined. The priority for the U. S. Lighthouse Society is the preservation of the structure. They will also have to determine the dates of interpretation for the deck. It may be that the current railing design is the most appropriate. There are still many decisions to be made before deciding if the railing gets changed, but there is evidence if an historic railing replication is desired. Not every property owner is lucky enough to find historic photographs of their building. In fact, more often than not, historic images don't exist. When they do, they can be very valuable resources.

If you are interested in the preservation of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse please visit their website: http://www.thomaspointlighthouse.org/

1885 Lighthouse photograph from the National Archives- Photograph 26-LG-25-54
Photograph of Earl C. Harris courtesy of the U. S. Lighthouse Society

Lighthouse Restoration and the Importance of Planning

Every restoration project presents unique challenges. When the project is a 20 minute boat ride into the Chesapeake Bay, the unique challenges are many. Yesterday Todd Anderson, Tyler Anderson and I set off on just that ride. We boarded the "Audacious" and set out with Capt. Howard Lewis, Henry Gonzalez of the U.S. Lighthouse Society and engineers from Keast and Hood Structural Engineers to spend the day planning out the restoration of the perimeter deck of the Thomas Point Shoal Lighthouse.

Lighthouses, as you can imagine, suffer from extreme weathering. The decking and the joists holding the decking are rotting and much of the fabric needs to be replaced. Our task yesterday was to figure out how we would access the joists and replace them. Obviously, we can't just throw up ladders and scaffolding and go to town. A deck for the scaffold will have to be built and everything will have to be properly secured. We also have to figure out how to get equipment and materials to the sight and where to store it once it is there.

While restoring a lighthouse is not the norm, properly planning for a project should be. We've all forgotten something on a project: climbed a ladder and left your hammer at the bottom, or prepared half of a recipe and found out your out of cinnamon. If your working on a lighthouse you better have your Phillips-head screwdriver with you or its going to be a long trip back to the mainland! Proper planning at the beginning of a job can make everything run smoother. This doesn't just mean having the right tools on hand at the top of the ladder, but also making sure things are done in the right order. You want to make sure you don't have to backtrack. You can't install your wiring after the drywall is up. A successful job begins with careful planning.

As for the Lighthouse, the folks from Keast and Hood have investigated all of the joists, both visually and using a very cool resistance drill. We removed a couple of deck boards and verified what they had determined: that many of the joists have suffered from the exposure to the elements in the bay. We carefully studied the joists and how they were originally installed. Then we game-planned how we would remove the joists and reinstall new replacements. Obviously, when they were first put in, the rest of the building wasn't there. The installation of the replacements won't be as straight forward as it was when it was originally constructed. We have all the confidence in the world, however, that we can successfully replace the joists with proper planning!

So that is how we spent our day: learning as much as we could about a unique and very historically significant structure. Hopefully it was the first of many days spent out on the bay.

Working with Lead Paint

As of last Thursday, April 22, the EPA has started enforcing their new lead safe work practices. The details can be found here:
http://www.epa.gov/lead/
Any contractor that enters a home and conducts work that could produce toxic lead dust, is required to inform the homeowner and tenants of the risks. That contractor is also required to have completed a one day training program on lead safe work practices. It is very important that property owners understand these hazards. Lead paint is a definite risk of most historic home renovations and precautions should always be taken.

Tool of the Week: Planes

Hello, my name is Matt and I am addicted to tools. Especially antique tools. I have quite a few in my collection and I am regularly adding more. To that end, I felt a need to include a discussion of tools and their uses here at Ask WEI. Every Friday (hopefully this isn't too optimistic) I will post about a different tool and how we use it in our work. Some will be basic tools and equipment that are familiar to everyone, and others will be unique and unusual. Many, but not all, will be as historic as the work they replicate.
So now the question is, what should be the first "Tool of the Week"? The "most important tool" topic has been widely debated through time and I am not going to wade into it if I can help it. I will say that the most recognized tool, that is unique to the restorer's arsenal, is the hand plane. The hand plane has existed, in some form, since the beginnings of man's use of tools. The Romans used planes that are very similar to the Stanley-based models of today. Planes are used for smoothing and surfacing, straightening edges or jointing, and creating joinery and mouldings. In the future of "Tool of the Week" we will cover different specific planes. For this inaugural post I have included a photo of several different varieties. The smallest iron plane is a Stanley #102 block plane. The block plane is the workhorse of the planes, used to fit a joint or quickly joint an edge. It is usually kept close at hand, tucked in an apron pocket or permanently perched on the bench. Its larger cousin is a Stanley Bedrock 604 smoothing plane. This plane is used to put the final surface on a board. Occasionally, when we are replicating a period component, we want to create a hand-planed surface. This is the plane that we reach for. It is considered the primary "bench plane." The large wooden plane is a fore plane made by Atkins & Son in Great Britain. Before Leonard Bailey popularized the iron plane in the 19th century, most planes were made of wood, usually beech. The fore plane can be used for jointing(or straightening) the edge of a board or for surfacing large flat pieces. Wooden planes were still popular with the "old timer's" in the carpentry world and continued to be made well into the 20th century. The last plane, the wooden moulder, represents perhaps the most varied class of planes. Prior to shapers and routers, adding a moulding detail or profile to a piece of wood involved the use of moulding planes. Each plane was made to create a specific profile. If you wanted a different shape, you had to buy an entirely new plane. Early craftsmen usually owned only a handful of planes. Therefore they could only produce a limited number of profiles. It is possible, in some areas, to identify a carpenter's work by the profiles he used and therefore the planes that he owned. The plane shown here cuts an ogee profile. This double curved moulding was used on casing, sash and various other trim components.
So there is a very quick overview of planes. There are volumes of information on this subject and we will cover specific planes further down the road. For now, I am off to add to my collection. Perhaps now that I'm posting them here I can consider further purchases as a business expense!!

19th Century Window Restoration

Here at WEI, we do quite a lot of window restoration. We are currently working on some double- hung windows from a residence in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. Like the entire house, the windows are fantastic. They are typical weighted double hungs, however they include leaded glass transoms. Three of these windows are portraits of unknown women. We are cleaning all of the transoms and repairing damage to the lead caming and the glass. They are heavily coated on the interior with dirt, tar and creosote. We are gently cleaning them with detergent and water. While the house dates to the 1860's-70's, we don't have a specific date for the windows themselves. The patent date on the sash locks is 1869. This only proves that the locks weren't in the house until then. It is possible that the leaded transoms were added after the house was constructed. There were several merchants providing glass in Baltimore at this time, the largest of which were Baker & Brother on S. Charles St., Hugh Bolton on McElderry's Wharf and Otis Keilhotz on Franklin St. Any of these companies could have provided this glass to the property owners.

Part of the enjoyment of this work is discovering the people that built the property in the first place. The merchants, such as Baker & Brother, the manufacturer's such as Hopkins & Dickinson, who made the sash lock, and the craftsmen, such as Harry Dennis, who worked for Benjamin M. Dennis as a paperhanger and scrawled graffiti on an interior wall before papering over it. Baltimore was quite the town in the 19th century, full of successful entrepreneurs and immigrants. It was growing at an impressive rate and rivaled New York and Philadelphia. By the end of the century it was home to a championship baseball team! As the city grew, thousands of men in the building trades built these spectacular buildings. Their names are largely forgotten, but by restoring their work we can, in a small way, bring them back to life.

Baker & Brother Advertisment used with the permission of the Maryland State Archives:
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Baltimore City Directories Collection)John W. Woods, Wood's Baltimore Directory for 1856-'57, Baltimore, 1856, available on line at http://archivesofmaryland.net/

Welcome to Ask WEI

So after some false starts, here we go. WEI enters the "blogisphere". First, a quick introduction. Worcester Eisenbrandt, Inc. is a restoration contractor based in Baltimore, Maryland. We work throughout the Baltimore/Washington Metropolitan area and in Virginia. Our capabilities include historic millwork restoration and replication, masonry restoration, metal fabrication and restoration, conservation of historic materials, fabrication of museum quality displays and exhibits, and replication of historic finishes. We also provide documentation services and consultation. We work on projects ranging in size from large commercial restorations to the careful preservation of your house.

As for me, my name is Matt Hankins. I run the millshop here at WEI. I have a degree in Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington and graduated from the North Bennet Street School's Restoration Carpentry program. I have worked for museums, residential contractors and, here at WEI, in the commercial historic restoration arena.

It is my hope that my colleagues and I can provide all of you out there some expertise when it comes to the restoration of your historic buildings. We will share with you photographs and stories of what we are currently working on as well as some tutorials on different restoration projects. So here we go!!