Carpentry & Wood

Οι προβιοµηχανικές κοινωνίες της Πίνδου και η συνολική τους παρουσία στο πλαίσιο των γεωγραφικών συνθηκών της ορεινής πραγµατικότητας και των ιστορικών όρων που τις συγκρότησαν, αποτελούν τα τελευταία χρόνια αντικείµενο µελετών 1. Μέσα από αυτές τις προσεγγίσεις έγινε φανερό ότι οι διαστάσεις της ιστορικότητας και της ορεινότητας καθόρισαν σε σηµαντικό βαθµό την προβληµατική της αποκάλυψής αυτού του κόσµου. Συγκριµένα η οριοθέτηση του χρόνου της µεγάλης διάρκειας, εισάγοντας στην ανάγνωση της ιστορίας έναν ανθρωπολογικό χρόνο, προσεγγίζει την έννοια της ιστορικότητας ως µια πραγµατικότητα των συνολικών φαινοµένων. Αξιολογώντας, λοιπόν, τον ιστορικό χρόνο ως κοινωνική διάσταση των διαρκειών, καθίσταται ένα βασικό µεθοδολογικό εργαλείο για τη µελέτη του παραδοσιακού κόσµου, πτυχή του οποίου αποτελούσαν φυσικά και οι αγροτικές κοινωνίες της Πίνδου. Παράλληλα, η διάσταση της ορεινότητας, ως παράµετρος διαµόρφωσης πολιτισµικών φαινόµενων, µας υπενθυµίζει ότι οι κοινωνίες που άκµασαν στην οροσειρά, µπορούν να γίνουν αντιληπτές µόνο αν ο ορεινός χώρος διερευνηθεί ως παραγωγικός χώρος και προσδιοριστούν οι σχέσεις που η ανθρώπινη κοινωνία και ιδιαίτερα ο κόσµος της εργασίας διάρθρωσαν σε αυτό. Ουσιαστικά αναφερόµαστε σε µια γεωγραφία των ανθρώπινων δραστηριοτήτων, θέµα το οποίο από τα µέσα του 20 ου αιώνα άρχισε να απασχολεί την επιστήµη της εθνολογίας και ως προς την τεχνική του διάσταση. Στο πλαίσιο της ανωτέρω προβληµατικής οι διαστάσεις του προβιοµηχανικού κόσµου της Πίνδου άρχισαν να γίνονται αντιληπτές, όταν η µελέτη των κοινωνιών της µεγάλης κτηνοτροφίας στράφηκε σε µία συστηµατική διερεύνηση του γεωγραφικού τους χώρου. Η µακρά διάρκεια της παρουσίας του στο ιδιόµορφο περιβάλλον των βουνών καθιστούσε αναγκαία την επίγνωση των προϋποθέσεων ανάπτυξης και των συνθηκών εξέλιξης στη διαδικασία διάρθρωσης του υλικού του πολιτισµού. Μεταξύ άλλων διαπιστώθηκε ότι η επιβίωση και οικονοµική ανάπτυξη των πληθυσµών της οροσειράς δεν βασίστηκε µόνο στην υπερεκµετάλλευση ενός παλαιού αγροτικού κλάδου, όπως έγινε µε την περίπτωση της κτηνοτροφίας, αλλά και στην κατοχή και εξέλιξη συγκεκριµένης τεχνογνωσίας. Αυτή η εξελικτική παράµετρος, αν και βασίζεται σε µία τεχνολογία σχεδόν αρχαϊκή για τα δεδοµένα του βιοµηχανικού κόσµου, δεν µπορεί να αγνοηθεί στον βαθµό που συνιστά παράγοντα οικονοµικής και κοινωνικής διαφοροποίησης των αγροτικών πληθυσµών της Πίνδου. Είναι χρήσιµο να επισηµανθεί εδώ ότι σε περιπτώσεις πολιτισµών που τα κείµενα είναι ανύπαρκτα, οι τεχνικές αποτελούν το ενιαίο βάθρο της ιστορίας τους. Σε αυτές δεν εµπεριέχεται µόνο η τεχνική έκφραση µίας αγροτικής οικονοµίας, αλλά ως µέρος οργάνωσης της παραγωγής συνιστούν βασική παράµετρο στη διαµόρφωση της κοινωνικής και 1 Mελέτες των τελευταίων ετών προσδιορίζουν ως ένα βαθµό το ιστορικό, γεωγραφικό, ανθρωπολογικό και περιβαλλοντολογικό πλαίσιο, εντός του οποίου διαµορφώθηκαν οι συγκεκριµένες παραγωγικές δοµές.

This study proposes the strategic planning process for development in model forests, based on the case study of the Yoro Model Forest in Honduras. In this forest the timber industry –and specifically the carpentry and furniture subsector– has the greatest competitive potential for supplying products for export and generating wealth in the area, given the region's scant purchasing capacity. Strategic analysis, strategic choice and strategic implementation are applied to this subsector, and the results show that the subsector could be developed by creating a cooperative enterprise capable of supplying furniture parts to an international company whose marketing strategy includes the sale of natural, environmentally-sustainable furniture, and which has a policy of social engagement.

This thesis is a geographic and temporal case study of the carpentry and joinery trades present in the Delaware River Valley region from the period of Anglo-European settlements in the 1660s to about 1740. This examination of the region’s craft traditions emphasizes what its colonies share: patterns of settlement, ethnicity, kinship, religion, material richness, and commercial interdependence.

This study closely examined the construction of and materials used in case furniture produced in New Jersey or Pennsylvania individually, or in the larger Delaware River Valley region as a whole, revealing the persistence of Anglo-European craft traditions in colonial America, and a relative stasis in internal casework construction as a result of the apprenticeship system.
The similarity of construction and material found in these objects indicates the shared cultural expectations of craftsmen and their patrons, illustrative of the craft tradition of the Delaware Valley Region, not of any one colony.  It also speaks to the significant role of New Jersey's timber in intercolonial commerce. This further suggests that extant furniture defined as made within Philadelphia or Pennsylvania without any further details of maker and place of manufacture could have been produced anywhere in the Delaware River Valley, including New Jersey, Chester County, and the Lower Counties (Delaware). In addition to case studies examining furniture of this region, this study identifies over two hundred and fifty members of New Jersey’s woodworking trades who utilized the colony's material wealth and interpersonal resources for individual success.

Handicrafts are getting tremendously popular in the global market. Many developing countries are exporting handicrafts to the developed world, creating a new source of revenue and employment. Sillanwali in Pakistan is famous for its handicrafts and has always fascinated people with keen interest in handicrafts and traditional furniture. Sillanwali is known throughout Pakistan and at international level for its wooden handicrafts with colorful geometric patterns and oriental designs. The current research is a qualitative analysis of occupation of carpentry which involves the knowledge, skills, techniques and tools adopted by handicraft makers. Utilization of these handicrafts is not only for practical purposes but also decorative. It is an attempt to explore a renowned wood work being done in the district for over decades. The data was collected through participant observation and in depth; interviews of 45 workers and owners of Sillanwali handicraft main market. The results indicate that the artisans involved with the occupation have majorly chosen the field on need rather than interest basis. The profession skill and techniques are passed on to the next generation; thus lack of access to global economy, knowledge regarding profitability of new trends and designs severely hinders the industries growth.

Den pensjonerte tømraren Roald Haugli var fødd i 1929 på garden Haugli i Målselv. Han har lært tømring på tradisjonell måte gjennom å arbeide saman med faren og andre erfarne tømrarar. Gjennom intervjuet går vi inn på korleis han arbeidde med tømring av hus og hytter.

A Basilica dedicated to Saint Michael was first built in the Longobardic period (6th-8th cen-turies), however the present building dates back to 11th-12th centuries. The church was built in Romanesque style and it is unanimously considered one of the masterpieces of the Lombard architecture of the period. During the subsequent centuries, the building underwent several changes and restoration works. Dealing with the roof of the central nave, the rebuilding of the vaults (1488-91) was the most relevant work. Traces of the pre-existent vaults are still visible in the attic; they were much higher than the present ones and thus they were in-compatible with the structural organisation of the existing timber roof structure. Therefore the conception of this structural system probably dates back to that period. In 1860–75 the building underwent works of stylistic restoration and since the 1930s many preservation in-terventions were done in order to consolidate the decayed sandstone of the façades; however, these interventions did not affect the roof structures. In 1942 two reinforced concrete wall plates were built on the top of the longitudinal walls of the central nave and the timber trusses now lay on them. Since the early 19th century the church has been studied by many art and architecture historians, and many surveys and drawings have been done, both before and af-ter the stylistic restoration works. However the historians’ attention has focused mainly on the formal features of the building and on the construction phases of masonry structure. In many of the drawings the roof structures are not even represented; in the others, they are only sketched out schematically. Therefore, the knowledge of the timber roof structures of the church is still very poor. In this situation, the study of archival documents and the survey and in situ investigation of the timber trusses play a fundamental role in the historical knowledge of this important but neglected timber structural complex. The structural complex is com-posed of a sequence of seven quite different trusses supporting the upper layers of timber elements (i.e. purlins, joists and laths) and the roof tiles. The paper advances a hypothesis about the dating of each of the trusses, based on the matching of the archival data with the critical interpretation of the surveyed signs: structural type of the truss, type of joints, signs of woodworking tools (e.g. axes, saws, hand drills, chisels), assembly marks, signs of reutiliza-tion of timber elements, type of iron reinforcement elements, etc.

This paper presents the results of the charcoal analysis and the study of clay imprints of wood recovered in the site of Castrovite, A Estrada (Galicia, Spain). The studied material has a chronology that dates between the 4rd-1st centuries BC. The taxonomic identification showed a low variation of taxa, but the conservation of complete branches and the study of wood imprints in clay allowed us to establish the existence of coppice
practices.

""La tesi si inserisce nell'ambito di ricerca della storia delle tecniche costruttive e analizza l'evoluzione tecnologica e tipologica delle coperture lignee in Italia nel periodo che va dall'inizio del XIX alla metà del XX secolo.
Dopo una parte di inquadramento delle condizioni tecnologiche, del contesto socio-economico e produttivo generale e delle teorie e pratiche costruttive delle coperture lignee italiane della fine del XVIII secolo, la ricerca ne analizza i progressivi mutamenti cercando di individuare alcune "fasi omogenee" e di rintracciare i nessi tra i processi evolutivi del contesto e quelli che interessano le coperture lignee.
Particolare attenzione è attribuita allo sviluppo delle tipologie costruttive delle capriate e alla diffusione di altri tipi di strutture lignee di copertura (cavalletti centinati, archi, portali a due o tre cerniere, ecc.), rapportati ai vari aspetti del contesto tecnico-culturale e produttivo: livello e tipo di formazione culturale e tecnica dell'ingegnere e dell'architetto; sviluppo e diffusione delle teorie della meccanica delle strutture e della resistenza dei materiali; cambiamenti nei modi di produzione e lavorazione dei materiali edilizi; variazione dei prezzi della manodopera e dei materiali; invenzione di nuovi sistemi di connessione dei legnami.""

The paper will show how modern structural engineering has been applied to a field of construction before ruled by empiricism and static intuition: timber trusses.
Since the late 18th century, the development of steel industry led to profound changes in the production and processing of building materials. This allowed the use of metallic members in substitution of timber ones and the development of trusses made entirely of steel.
Until mid-19th century timber trusses were designed on empirical basis, with redundant members and with static scheme difficult to be analyzed. In absence of specific building traditions, the spread of metal trusses required the development of appropriate structural analysis methods; the theory of statically-determinate trusses was therefore elaborated. However this theory couldn’t be used with timber trusses because loads weren’t applied in the joints, hypothesis required to ignore the static indeterminacy.
Since the 1860s many engineers expressed the need of structural assessment in traditional structures to optimize the use of materials. Structural analysis method for timber statically–indeterminate trusses were developed, considering rafters as continuous beams on rigid supports. Not considering the deformation of the intermediate supports, such analysis didn’t satisfy constitutive and strain–displacement equations and were gradually excluded from the structural mechanics manuals, but remained common in technical handbooks until 1940s.
In the 1870s, theoretical studies of Castigliano allowed the exact calculation of statically-indeterminate structures, technical papers were then published to apply this theory to various types of wooden trusses. The complexity of the calculations, however, relegated the use of these methods to sporadic examples; in most cases engineers still resorted to empiricism, simplified formulas, tables and nomograms.
In the early 20th century the production of new steel elements for timber connection (screws, bolts, spiked plates) allowed the experimentation of new timber trusses made mainly of boards; these trusses could reproduce the steel truss schemes due to the simplicity of the joints and to the slenderness of members, thus allowing the use of the theory of statically–determinate trusses.