XIV. Carpenters, Wheelwrights. coopers.
| staves for a tobo hhd are by law to be 4f. 6.I. long. the head 34.I. in the clear with an allowance of 2.I. more for the prizing head. | ||
| 1812. | June. | Johnny Hemings & Lewis make a set of Venetian blends with fixed slats, i.e. 2. pair 3f 3I. square in 6. days, splitting out the slate from common plank with the handsaw. say a window a week. |
| 1814. | Mar. 21. | Johnny Hemings began the body of a Landau Jan. 12. and finished it this day. being 9 weeks & 5 days. he had not more help from Lewis than made up for his interruptions. the smith’s work employed the 2. smiths perhaps ⅓ of the same time. |
| 1818. | Feb. 1. |
Johnny Hem. & Lewis began a dressing table & finished it in exactly 6. weeks, of which 4. weeks was such dreadful weather that, even within doors, nothing like full work could be done. |
| Apr. 2 | a 2d is finished, having taken only from Mar. 15. to wit 16. working days | |
| 7. | a panneled door is done in 5. days, all the stuff being previously planed up. | |
| 1821. | Apr. 14. | the staves of a flour barrel are got 28.I. long & dress to 27I. it takes 16. or 17. staves to a barrel & 6. heading pieces. 22. or 23. in all a cut of a middle sized tree yields 16. or 17. bolts, which give 4. staves each such a tree, midling good will yield 18. or 20 cuts. a cut will make 3. barrels, staves & heading one tree with another will make 50. barrels |
© 2025 Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Getting Word: African American History at Monticello supported by The Mellon Foundation