September 3, 2013

Mike has given me my first assignment from his list of jobs for me to do ----finish pulling nails from the kauri wood he is going to refinish and use for the floor downstairs in the main living area.  Here is a little information about the kauri.  

Kauri are among the world's mightiest trees, growing to more than 50 metres (164 feet) tall, with trunk girths of up to 16 metres (52 feet) and living for more than 2000 years. Kauri forests once covered 1.2 million hectares (2,964,000 acres) from the Far North of Northland to Te Kauri, near Kawhia and were common when the first people arrived around 1000 years ago.  Maori used kauri timber for boat building, carving and building houses. The gum was used as a fire starter and for chewing.  The arrival of European settlers in the 1700s-1800s saw the decimation of these magnificent forests. Sailors quickly realized the trunks of young kauri were ideal for ships' masts and spars, and the settlers who followed felled the mature trees to yield huge quantities of sawn timber of unsurpassed quality for building. 

Kauri is now protected so its availablity is limited.  Mike 'rescued' the kauri from a warehouse that was damaged and condemned after the 7.2 earthquake in Christchurch in 2010.  This kauri had been used for the flooring in the warehouse - parquet flooring - so the pieces are small.  Here is a picture of my work area with the wood stacked in one of the divisions of the wood shed.

Each piece of wood has up to three nails in it -- bent rusty nails and removing them is a challenge.  And when I am done with this pile, there is another out beyond the driveway!!

Yeah!  Lots to keep me busy!