At the sawmill

At the mill, using a Wood Mizer bandsaw, David,the operator of the Ashe Mill in Orangedale, cut the big tree and the curved limbs into the slabs that would become the keel and the stems.

The massive trunk cut into slabs

Capt John and David carefully positioned curved limbs to be cut into the stem pieces.

See if the pattern fits; It did.

The slabs were cut to rough shape and loaded with the 18×16 inch stiffback cants onto the trailer for the trip back to Capt John’s shop in St Augustine for further shaping

Keel pieces at the shop