While we were at the Music Festival in Townsend last Saturday, there were craft demonstrations, including this one about making wood shingles. Using very primitive tools, this fellow made some beautiful shingles and made it look easy. He started with a piece of a white oak log that had been cut to the proper length. That piece of wood was split into 8-12 pieces, and he carefully made the shingles from those triangular pieces of the oak. He worked at a steady rhythm, and I didn't want to interrupt his work to ask questions. You could tell he had done this before. I was impressed that he was handling those splintered shingles without any gloves. These were the shingles he had completed. I wonder how long it would take to make enough for a roof? I can understand why the people who settled these mountains stayed busy all winter, when everything had to be made by hand. These wood shingles are on a barn at the Bud Ogle place in Gatli...
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