Trimming the shutters

Turning logs into boards

The boards for the hull were made with a long hoe. This required nicely grown trunks that could be split easily. They were pierced about every 40 cm and split with wedges to make two halves of the tree. The halves were smoothed with the broad hoe and the edges, which were later to form the joints for sealing with moss and were bevelled with the carving hoe.

Wood consumption was high with this method of working. When the forests were soon no longer able to supply enough wood for the pan houses, attempts were made as early as the 17th century to produce shacks cut with three-man pull saws or in sawmills. This meant a much better utilisation of the logs and less wood consumption.

However, this was done against the resistance of the shipmen. They claimed that the ships built from sawboards did not run as well because of the rough surface, probably meaning that they were slower. The reason they gave was the rough sawn surface of the planks, and the shops made with hoes were smoother.