Tent pegs of beech - Specimen details
| Catalogue Number: 37672 | |||||
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| No Image | Plant Name | 159.03 FAGACEAE Fagus sylvatica | Entry Book Number | 65.1912 | |
| Artefact Name | Tent pegs of beech | Vernacular Name | |||
| Iso Country | United Kingdom | TDWG Region | United Kingdom | ||
| Parts Held | Tent pegs of beech | Geography Description | Great Britain, Chiltern country | ||
| Uses | Tent pegs of beechUse: MATERIALS User: Man | TDWG use | MATERIALS | ||
| Storage | Bottles, boxes etc | Related Items | |||
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| Donor Date | Donor Notes | ||||
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| Notes: | Label source: Not many war time industries are carried on deep in the woods, but in the Chiltern country, where every hill is crowned with beeches, tent peg makers continue a craft for which this part of the country has been famous. The making of split, tent pegs for which the beech is ideal wood, is almost confined to the Chiltern country, though a few are made in Gloucestershire. A split tent peg has many advantages over a sawn peg; it is stronger, more reliable and a much better shape. A sawn peg oft, en snaps at the place where the saw cuts across the grain but not so with a split peg. Tent peg workers usually work in pairs, because two ment are needed to fell the trees. They are in the woods in all weathers, so they build a temporary hut of galvan, ised iron and sacking. The first job of the day is the selection and felling of enough timber to keep them busy all day. Their experienced eye tells them which trees will split well, and the selected trees are sawn close the ground, so that no usable ti, mber is wasted. The butt of the tree is rarely suitable for tent pegs but is used for brush backs. The tree trunk is sawn ito blocks which vary from 13ins to 4 ft in length, according to the size of the peg to be made. These blocks are carried to the h, ut and split into suitable pieces by means of a splitting iron and mallet or in the language of the peg makers, a flammer and molly. A cut is then make where the notch of the peg is to come. This is the only part of the work apart from the felling, in, which a saw is used. With a heap of split wood by his side, the worker seats himself at a primitive shaving horse to complete his task. The shaving horse has a vice controlled by the feet, the hands being free. A few swift cuts with piece of wood into a, smooth, well shaped tent peg. Like most other things done by an expert, the operation looks easy, but there are few men who can make a split tent peg. Some of the men working today are veterans of the last war, and most of the younger workers learned t, he craft as lads during the same period. A good worker can, including the work of felling ans sawing the timber, make from 800 to 900 pegs a day. The finished pegs are stacked to dry in long, orderly piles close to the hut. In warm weather they are read, y for use in a week, but in winter they need a month in which to weather. The great grey green trunks, representing decades of slow growth, are turned into tent pegs in a few hours. Their passing helps to fill a vital need. We regret their loss but tho, usands of slender beech saplings spread outward to take their place. | ||||