Farm Book, page 114
by Thomas Jefferson


IXV. Carpenters, Wheelwrights. coopers.
staves for a tobo. hhd are by law to be 4 f. 6. 1. long. the head 34. I. in the clear with an allowance of 2. 1. more for the prising head.

Johnny Hemings & Lewis make a set of Venetian blinds with fixed slats, i.e., 2. pair 3 f. 3 1. square in 6. days, splitting out the slats from common plank with the handsaw. say a window a week.

Johnny Hemings begun 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 smiths perhaps 1/3 of the same time.

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.

a 2d is finished, having taken only from Mar. 15. to wit 16. working days.

a panneled door is done in 5. days, all the stuff being previously planed up.

the staves of a flour barrel are got 28. 1. long & dress to 27 I.
it 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.