Making Wooden Shingles in Slovenia

J

John A. Larsen

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Jan 15, 2001
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Last night on You Tube I ran across a video made by a German firm, on a man making wooden shingles for a church restoration in Slovenia. He starts with a large tree trunk, de-barks it, then using a chain saw cuts off a section which looked to be about 4-5 feet long, and 3 feet across. After that it is all hand tools. He starts with an axe head, with a broken handle, another axe complete and using a large maul splits the log with apparently not a lot of effort. The he goes to a froe, a Hatchett, three wooden wedges to complete the process. Goes into a building and using the froe, splits the log sections, finer and finer, till he has wooden shingles that look to be about 4 feet long, and maybe 8 inches wide, 1/2 inch thick. It also showed him and other men working on the very steep church roof. There are German sub-titles, no English, but just watching you can figure out what is happening. the name of the video is: Herstellung von Holzschindein. John
 
The variety in materials, processes and wooden shingling techniques across Europe is incredible. Makes you wonder how such a mix could come about.
 
the wooden shingle is very traditional in the mountainous areas where it has fir trees,
only a very straight and proper tree is selected ... and so from generation to generation
the tradition of making has been transmitted for centuries :thumbsup:

 
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A description of the video, in English:

"Making Shakes (Izdelovanje »šintelnov«) Naško Križnar, 2013, 24 min. Topla Shakes (wooden shingles) are a roofing product that is typical of the Alpine areas. The raw material used to produce them is spruce. Starting from an around 110-cm long spruce log, the maker splits it into several segments and uses two 10-cm thick outside bands, discarding the core. These segments are then split into shingles on a special bench. The maker uses a shake axe (froe) and a wooden or rubber mallet. The shingles are then tied into bundles and air dried. Peter Kos covers roofs with shakes in Austria and Slovenia, especially church buildings."

from https://isn2.zrc-sazu.si/sites/default/files/def_katalog_2014_web.pdf
 
John A. Larsen said:
Their froe, seems sharper and thinner than the one I am used to seeing. John
Click to expand...
It serves the double function of riving and trimming, but that's obvious, I only mention it because a bit further to the west where they are working an entirely different kind of wood there is a separate tool taken up for the trimming aspect. It's what in French is called coutre, with an edge as keen as ever
dscf2841.jpg

That said I, personally I like to have the edge of a froe sharp.
dscf2852.jpg
 
Nice video, looks to have been made in 1967, but was it is Germany? I wonder how many thousands of those shingles that man made in his lifetime? John
 
Thanks you guys,tons of interesting stuff.
The sockets on those froes,Ernest,look to be particularly well and thoughtfully made.
The videos are neat.The one in post #3,when viewed on Utube,has some Slovenian axe-making videos pop up,forging/fabricating those neat,regional axes(that among other things lend themselves so well for such smacking with a beetle in splitting).
 
I went back and watched the first video in Slovenia again and noticed three things. One, he is missing the first part of his right forefinger, but with his job, I can see how that could happen. Two, while working on the church he has one of those hammers we discussed before where one claw is longer than the other. Third, I think the church work site would probably not pass an OSHA inspection since no hard hats, or safety harnesses or lines! John
 
jake pogg said:
The sockets on those froes,Ernest,look to be particularly well and thoughtfully made.
Click to expand...
You gotta get this one thing straight in your head Jake, a froe is a froe and a coutre is a coutre and ne'er the tween shall cross.
trimming-shingles.jpg
dscf2892.jpg

The sockets of the coutre are not only thoughtfully considered but beautiful as well, like that kind of approach would suggest. I have no idea where the inclination to such an attitude towards making comes from but it explains so much of what there is to be encountered in a certain kind French craftsmanship, from the smid to the carpenter to the stone carver and maçon. The froe, I wouldn't consider like that, maybe because I hand a hand in its design, or not, I don't know. Appropriately enough for this topic it was made as a shingle making froe but then one intended to split out thick old oak billets. But its eye is an unusual one for sure and made in the good way, it gets used without equivocation for the work it gets put to.
 
Ah SO!!!!:)...NOW that counter-bevel makes Total sense,thanks!:)
And yes,more contact inside the eye on such a tool is very practical,and appropriate...
 
I take too much for granted I think when I up-send a photo. I hope it becomes more and more clear.
This by the way just came to me in the mail quite spontaneously and independent of our discussion so is a big coincidence.
A totally contrived set-up, I mean, who's going to go trim up a piece of firewood like that?
pixel.gif
iu
 
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In Eastern Europe,long time ago,people lighted their places by burning a thin splinter split off a chunk of wood...Apparently,it took quite a few of these for an evening of doing stuff inside,in the darker times of year.
To that end a fairly specialised tool have developed,however,the physics of it were more along the lines of the Japanese Nata,the handle in line with the blade...(often a knife-like object but with an extra-thick spine(+/- 1/2"),and a rolled iron handle that (often,not always)looked like a socket but wasn't meant as such...

But,anyway,the tool lived inside,by the stove and the inside woodpile for convenience.

https://imgur.com/a/92yjP
 
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No,man,are you kidding?That'd be Untold wealth!(everyone drunk for weeks...all work at a standstill...:)
 
Ernest DuBois said:
The variety in materials, processes and wooden shingling techniques across Europe is incredible. Makes you wonder how such a mix could come about.
Click to expand...

That's very true.
Some of the methods being rather exotic today.One of the rarer ones is a way to roof with these ultra-thin(often 3/16" or even under) Aspen "shingles"(shakes? not sure how to classify those).
They were used in many layers,and stacked 3-4 thick even within one layer.
The traditional manner to obtain the necessarily great quantity needed was as illustrated in this video(it's an experiment by some eco-oriented cooperative so is not awfully refined,i'm not sure that examples of original set-ups exist):

The result is not only beautiful(a light gray color),and practical(longevity,depending on the climate,is normally 50-80 years),but employs a fairly complex principle:After the rain,the entire roof bristles like the fur on some shaggy animal,which opens up the spaces between the individual shakes,allowing for better/faster drying....Then they all lay back down...:)
 
P.S.

A fair example of the latter,(from Karelia,a rather cold and rainy region),

The man demonstrates,by bending a piece,how the grain is oriented a certain way when installing,that is the principle that works for drainage....

There's even an old rural legend how,supposedly,the roofer was made to slide down the freshly-completed roof on his bare ass...to prove that he installed everything right side up...(i doubt that it's literally true).

Sorry about lousing up your thread,John,i'll shut up now...:)
 
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