Did you know that one of the biggest trade of the early New England settlers was that of shipping the straightest eastern white pine logs over 24" in diameter back to England for use in making masts for all the merchant sailing ships. And during one period, for England's Naval Armada. England was buying their masts from European countries but costs for doing so were drastically rising. The Crown soon found out how numerous white pine trees were in New England, and during the period before independence, pine trees 24" in diameter and over were marked with the 'Kings Mark'. It didn't matter whether the tree was on your your property of not, it still belonged to the king. Cutting it down for one's own use carried stiff penalties. Check out the link directly below for the story of the king's mark and the rebellion that followed.
The photo above was taken at a boatyard museum in Essex, Massachusetts.
I headed out to my workshop to start my day and as I walked across the driveway I noticed three newly hatched snapping turtles making their way towards Wood River which marks the back border of our property. As I looked towards the end of the shop I noticed a couple more turtles, so I followed the trail back to the nest of the little critters all in the process of struggling to get out. Momma turtle had made a nest halfway between the shop building and the brook, another border to our property. A reasonably good choice on her part, this year. She's been known to work her way to our front lawn to hide her brood. It's quite a journey for these little guys to get to the river, so I decided to give them a hand. I placed all I could find and took them to the river where I carefully released them. I remain a bit curious as to why they weren't heading towards the brook, only a few yards away. The river on the other hand was a couple hundred yards away.
I counted 37 hatchlings overall
Momma Turtle (pic taken the previous year)
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Just to you an idea of their size
View of their potential new home
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The address below is home to some very good information on general woodworking tips and explanations.
https://www.workshopcompanion.com/General/Welcome!/Welcome.htm
https://www.workshopcompanion.com/General/Welcome!/Welcome.htm
I added the above site because it has dozens of videos for DIY enthusiasts, one in particular caught my attention and that was one on a wooden sawhorse set-up for one-man (woman) handling of a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood.
