Seiun wo Kakeru Chapter 26

Chapter 26 – The Lumber

In order to make a village develop, what kind of lifestyle must the villagers lead? What kind of tools would help?

Eiji, who had begun this sort of investigation, moved toward his first direction, Philip’s place.

Were it not for him, Eiji wouldn’t have been able to make the furnace, nor find the iron ores.

That fact, however, hadn’t changed even after Eiji acquired the position of a blacksmith.
He wanted to become this village’s strength as much as possible, and supposedly be able to make use of his own skills and wisdom.

While bracing himself, Eiji climbed the riverbank, going toward the forester’s lodge. He could feel that the atmosphere was changing.

It seemed as though the velvet from the leaf mold was running along the sides of the path little by little, instead of the grass.

Sweating inside his overcoat and breathing out the air from exhaustion, Eiji finally reached the destination.

Even though the weather was quite chilly, the cow continued to eat the grass with its usual appearance.

Not even the slightest sign of caution could be felt from it.
The cow seemed to be taking kindly to people, and its tail was swinging side to side.

…Speaking of which, recently I haven’t a chance to taste a steak – he thought while having the image of a piping hot steak overlapping with the cow in front of his eyes.

– Sorry, sorry. I don’t plan to eat you.

Standing right in front of the cow, which backed off, trembling with fear, Eiji gazed at the barn.

The wood characteristic fragrance, which was pleasant, hung in the air near Eiji’s vicinity.

Together with the rustling sound of grass, a big object was drawing near him.

What’s more, there was a straw rope tied to his waist, pulling wood behind him.

-L-Long time no see.

– No. I left all of these to dry three days ago, so as to make them become lighter.

Rustle rustle – the sound of the rustling grass could be heard as the lumber was sliding and rolling.
Had he been pulling all of that alone…? It was a tremendous power coming from his legs and loins.

Philip, who hadn’t been seen for a long time, looked big as always.

While moving his scraggly beard near near his mouth, Philip spoke.

– Because the amount of wood has increased, there is not enough time to let the lumber rest.

– …Fine. That’s fine. Thanks to that, my tool was improved.

– Truly nice. Still, it’s inconvenient when I have to cut down trees with slanted surfaces.
– That’s because it’s not double-edged, isn’t it? I’ll make it this time.

Philip, who was trying to endure while saying ‘I look forward to it’, smiled with his whole face.

Wasn’t that unfair? If someone were to be given such a smile, they would become motivated, wanting to make the tool quickly.

Despite Eiji working with all his might on a daily basis, he couldn’t resist.
Because it was rare for Eiji to receive such a genuine evaluation for his tools, he wanted to respond to Philip’s glad reaction.

– After cutting trees, how do you process them?

– How do you split the wood?
– Here.

Philip showed his execution in practice.

As he stood in front of the log with its bark removed, he carefully watched it. The atmosphere froze for a moment.

Thinking suspiciously, Eiji couldn’t convert his thoughts into the words. Philip focused all his nerves on the log.

He was observing the grain of the wood.

Once Philip fixedly put the log near his leg, he gently placed the wedge on it.

Changing places, the sound of the wood hammer echoed several times, just like the wedge.

After he drove more than a halfway, Philip distanced himself from the log.

– With this, we will lay it down for one evening. If we leave it alone, it will split on its own.

– Depending on the wood, it might not.

– We try not to cut it down as much as possible. The time needed to cut it down completely isn’t that long, so we can choose when  to cut it down straightforwardly or not.
– I see.

With many years of polishing the skills, perhaps one could guess the grain of the wood to a certain level, even if it’s covered in bark.

Depending on the difference in the atmospheric temperature, the wood swells and shrinks, which probably would cause it to split within a specific time. This technique is called split woodworking.
The head of the wedge was crushed and had the angle frayed due to it being unable to endure the blows, which piled up multiple times. It was probably because of the harmful result caused by the tender bronze.

– My father used a stone instead. Once it became my turn, I got this from the village.
– That’s probably because the stone would immediately crack, wouldn’t it?

With its simplistic form, it would wear off after few times of processing.

Something that is easy to operate and would assist Philip, who had the tendency to place burden on objects.

What was needed was a saw after that.

However, using a saw would make the work be done within few minutes in comparison to this method.

There is a tool called a framed pit saw. It’s an insanely huge saw used by a type of workers known as sawyers, who also specialize in lumbering trees and processing it into wood. Since it’s big, the length of its blade may even reach 1m.
The blade curves from its handgrip, making a shape of a へ letter. Its thickness is about 3mm, whereas, its weight – 4 kilos. For people, who had never seen such a saw, it would be a rather surprising one.

Eiji handed the normal-type saw he made to Fernando. However, he rarely saw it in action, which makes it looks like a tool that is bound to be forgotten. Were it not for Eiji seeing the actual working scenery now, he probably wouldn’t be able to recall it. That’s why, it was crucial for him to move around the tools from time to time.

Suddenly, Philip’s gaze moved away from Eiji.

As the distance kept reducing, it became clear that it was Fernando.

– Oh, isn’t that Eiji?

– That would probably be your case. I often come here. Even though Philip supplies me with the right lumber, I still have to select them, you see. Today as well, I came at my own discretion to choose the lumber, which would become the right material for making beams and pillars of the cattle shed that you have suggested.

– By the way, what type wood are you looking for?
– The one from an oak tree.

Among the lumber stored inside the barn, it was the one with exceptional length.

It was amazing. You could feel the divine strength coming from it.
If it was in the era from which Eiji came, the tree would probably be preserved due to its scarcity.

– You mean this one?…It is huge, isn’t it?

– Probably around 300 something years.

– For beams. I wonder, was this length good enough for making pillars?

– But, was it intended for gathering all the village’s cattle in one place?…It’s going to become an unbelievably enormous thing.

– How long will it actually take to build?

– Do not fret. I don’t cut the trees so as to match them to things I create. I construct buildings, which were once trees.

One could feel the spirit of a craftsman coming from Fernando’s words.

He would usually complain no matter how difficult a request was; nevertheless, he would often get through his work properly.

– Furthermore, with a saw and a plane, whatever tree it is, the work will progress smoothly.

That was the first step of the cattle shed building plan.
Like that, the materials for beam construction were settled.

Chapter end