'Always Look on the Offside of Life'

The Offside is worked on next, a large area of waggon body to cover. Small mercies for the repeated flat board stripping, but minor terror at the amount of carvings, big and small.

With the rear almost complete but for under the porch and the crownboard area (still working out my better options), focus has now moved onto the offside of the waggon with its many inter rib carvings and larger corner carvings. Shutters are removed and stripping begins

Close encounters of the Carving Kind

As we fly through the flat boarding, heat gun and scraper ablaze, we are hindered once more by the plentiful inter rib carvings and larger, more ornate corner carvings. But, patience is a virtue and slowly, slowly, we handle the intensity with careful appreciation and wonder at the beautiful creations that would have been produced en mass by masterful hands, possibly a journeyman carver, with his quick and efficient manner, affecting not the quality of his work. There are still other areas to tackle unmentioned as yet, such as the side weatherboard, under the gutter and also the trim where the shutters slide freely at the top.