Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Statsraad Lehmkuhl details 3, the Boston Teapot Trophy

The Boston Teapot Trophy is a trophy that is awarded to the sail ship that covers the greatest distance over the course of 124 hours.
Why they have chosen that time frame I have no idea of, but as it happens, Statsraad Lehmkuhl has won the trophy 8 times.

Our ship is the current holder of the trophy, and due to that, the actual trophy is sitting on a shelf in the CEO's office.

The trophy itself is a copy of a teapot which was made by Paul Revere (yes, that Paul Revere!). Whenever we hold a meeting in the CEO's room, I find myself drawn to the box that holds the trophy.

Today after the meeting, I quickly snapped a few pictures of the box. I tried a little bit to remove the teapot, but I couldn't see a proper way of doing it, so I stopped before breaking something. While writing this, I got to think of that I think the correct way is to lift out the upper part (the teapot itself), and then remove the base.
I tried to pull a bit at the middle shelf surrounding the teapot.

Technically the trophy isn't part of the ship, but this is my blog, so I decide that it is OK anyway.
According to a link I found, the Trophy was established in 1964

You will be able to find some pictures of the teapot itself in the first link, but here are a couple of other pictures of some details of the box.

I can't see how the box itself is constructed, I mean if it is with secondary wood and veneered shell -or solid wood with blind dovetails. But the overall size of the box is something like 16" x 16" and 8" deep and inside it is lined with some dark blue velvet.
Neither of the screws are clocked which I find a bit strange, after all I am certain that the box was made by someone professional.
The original silver plate on the right hand door has nice engravings, whereas the new silver plate inside the lid has got some not so nice machine type engravings. This is to be expected,as engraving is not something that any goldsmith can do anymore as far as I have understood.
The bracket holding the top of the teapot in place is clearly made with a Forstner bit. I think that is the one detail that look the most out of place to me. Using a Forstner bit is OK to remove the material, but it wouldn't have taken much to take a spade bit of a similar size and ground it to a round shape. Then carefully rounded the bottom of the hole.

Now all this may sound as I am ungrateful for the Trophy which is not the case. Instead I would say that I find it intriguing that after having built stuff myself - I am able to see that not everything that was made 50-60 years ago was better than what could be built today.
Maybe the cabinetmaker tasked with the job had to work on a tight budget because the teapot itself had cost more than anticipated, so a bit had to be saved on the box. Or maybe it was someone who had never heard of clocking screws? We will probably never know.


Silver plate on top of the box.

The closed box.

Hinge stay, new silver plate visible inside the lid.

Description of the inspiration for the trophy. 

Teapot lid holding bracket closed.

Let's just use a Forstner drill, no one will ever notice..

Sunday, June 2, 2019

A small barn for the summer house 17, laying tiles on the roof.

Though it might not seem that way, I do occasionally still work on the small barn at our summer house.
I have completed the interior cladding of the walls, and also completed painting the outside.

Last year I wanted to install the tiles on the roof, but I never took the time to do so, instead I built some nice hydroplanes with the boys, and I think that was a great idea.
The month of April this year was fantastic regarding the weather. So I jumped at it and started cleaning mortar of the old tiles from the house. I have been saving all those tiles since 2013, when we installed a new roof at home.

The tiles are as old as our house which means that they were made in 1924. They are of a much better quality than most of the tiles available today since they are burned harder than today's tiles.
A drawback is that they do not comply with any of the available fixation systems. Back then they were secured from the inside of the attic using some heavy gauge iron wire similar to what was used for fencing the fields.
That would still work if I had an accessible attic. But since I have decided to make a sub roof with tarred paper, the tiles are not accessible from the back.

Instead I resorted to drilling a small hole in the top of each tile, and then I fixed them with a screw directly to the lath. That will ensure that they don't blow off in the event of heavy winds.

Laying the tiles was more arduous than really difficult, and I finally found out what the correct spacing should be, so I know that when I start on the second side of the roof.

When I go to the summer house, I usually do so in the morning after tending the horses. Mette and Asger (the only child at home at the moment) have both left for work and school at that time, so after letting the horses out, I put the leash on Bertha and lifts her into the passenger front seat of the green Volvo Valp.
We then drive down to the small shop in the village and I get out and buy a package of sausages or some pork, a loaf of bread and maybe some milk.
As soon as we get to the summer house, I put the groceries in the refrigerator, and then lifts out Bertha and we go for our regular morning walk. It is maybe one and a half mile, so it isn't that long, but there's plenty of deer tracks for Bertha to examine and there's also a canal which she will swim in regardless of the temperature.

Back at the summer house I'll start working and around noon I'll light a fire in an old type grill. I then roast sausages or pork and Bertha and I helps each other eating it while I sip a cold beer.

Around 3 I'll pack up and head home so there's someone to greet Mette and Asger when the workday/school day is over.

It might not sound like a big deal, but to me those days are reinvigorating. The only problems Bertha and I face in the summer house are that the local squirrel population are decidedly unsportsmanlike. They will occasionally appear and then clear off into the treetops - Now that is hard for a Newfoundland dog to understand and accept.

Putting tiles on the roof.

This is the sort of thing that will lower my blood pressure.


Bertha is patiently waiting for the food to get ready.