The Steady Hand

  We are doing a good bit of work on the Little Bayou House.  Not that I preferred a more modern dwelling but this is to battle the termites that have decided this should be their residence and supper.  The fact is that most homes on the Coast have similar problems.  Termites came calling directly after Hurricane Katrina and found the area to their liking.  With so much lumber from demolished houses littering the land, it was a regular smorgasbord for the critters.  Once they finished devouring the debris piles, they looked for other means of surviving and found the older houses.  The Little Bayou House, like all older homes, was not built with the treated lumber that is used today.  Which is not a bad thing considering all of the illnesses connected to the treated lumber but which does open up these older houses to bug infestations.  While the termites are devastating, I prefer them over the cancer-causing chemicals in today's houses.  The work is hard as we are tearing out old things and replacing them with stronger pieces.  New siding is going up as we speak!  Son does most of the work up on the scaffolding, Mark mans the table saws, circular saws and does all of the "ground work" while I do cleanup.

  While ripping out the old, termite-infested or rotted wood, Son has been using a weird saw that cuts through just about anything that gets in its way.  With this, he can cut right through the large nails that Mark and I pounded into the boards so many years ago,  Some of the rafters needed to be trimmed back a bit so this saw came in quite handy.  He was zipping along rather quickly until he came to one particular board.  I knew the boards were tough as they were actually milled from family property.  (Quality lumber is made under watchful eyes!)  Anyway, the board in question seemed to take twice as long to cut.  This was strange indeed! Finally, he tossed down the cutoff piece and started laughing.  As I tossed the piece into the wheelbarrow, he showed his dad just what was making the piece so difficult.  As he was cutting, he completely sliced a large nail....lengthwise!  In his hand, he held a perfectly sliced half of nail!  Not once did he waver enough to get off track from that slender nail shaft!  That, my friends, is a steady hand...even if it was not intentionally done!

  This whole ordeal brought up a conversation about how building supplies have changed over the years.  Like Son said, even under the extreme stress of the saw blade, that nail did not bend.  Things were made stronger back in the day.  Boards were better quality, nails were stronger and houses were built to last.  I am sure glad that Mark and Son are repairing the Little Bayou House in the same way Mark built it originally...sturdy and strong...made to last.  True workmanship!