Ship bottom and frames: Kipfen

The backbone of the Salzzillen

In order to build the curved hull, a so-called bearing "G'lieger" was constructed outdoors from wooden posts, which formed a completely flat surface. The floor boards were laid on top, pressed together at the bow and stern with ropes and provisionally fixed with iron cleats.

The so-called Ichsen wood, the lowest, particularly strong wood of the ship's side, was then pulled around the edge of the floor.

Then the corbels, the frames, naturally grown angular timbers, were formed by the split trunk and the thick, uppermost root of a young conifer. The trunk formed the stool wood for the floor boards, while the side walls of the ship were nailed to the root timbers, the so called Kipfenhörndln, which grew at right angles. Two Kipfenhörndln, which were placed against each other, were drilled through and into the bottom wood and connected with wooden nails.

In the ship, the log end lay on the floor, the root end Kipfhörndl on the wall. The strength of a ship depended largely on the number and spacing of the installed Kipfen. Wooden nails have the property of swelling when damp and are therefore more stable than nails made of iron, which wear out with the constant movements of the ship, causing it to lose strength.

To obtain the nails, the nail diggers searched the forests for suitable young trees, which they then dug up with staples or pulled down and were uprooted by horses. Since 80 kipfen were needed for a single Siebnerin and hundreds of new ships had to be built every year, the demand for kipfen was enormous and caused particularly great damage in the forests.