NB Saturn Oak and 24ct Gold Plated Premium Twist Pen
(£4 from the sale of this pen will be gifted to The Shropshire Union Fly-Boat Restoration Society, the Custodians of NB Saturn)
EUROPEAN OAK - Quercus robur
Usually straight-grained, the heartwood of European Oak varies in colour from light tan to brown. Quarter-sawn pieces show attractive flame figuring. The wood is fairly hard, heavy and dense, clean but with the occasional knot. European Oak is a beautiful timber and with an oil finish, the grain will turn a deep golden brown.
This particular piece of oak (probably English rather than European) is just a little bit special though. It is one of the large bow mainframes from the Shropshire Fly Boat Saturn. The days of the fly-boats began with the success of the Bridgewater and Trent & Mersey canals in the 1770’s. Up until the heyday of the fly boats cargos had sedately plodded up the towing paths (Haling Way’s in them thar days) at three miles per hour or so but the new Fly Boats with teams of four men and two horses regularly galloped their loads of perishable goods at ten miles per hour.
Built in 1906 for the Shropshire Union Canal Carrying Co. at Tower Wharf, Chester, Saturn was used for the fast carriage of cheese from the producing towns of Cheshire and Shropshire to the major markets such as Manchester.
Saturn is the last horse-drawn Shropshire Union Canal Fly-boat in the World – originally built to travel non-stop, day and night. Over 100 years old, she has been fully restored to her former glory; not only to preserve her for posterity but to educate present and future generations about our waterways, narrowboats and horse-boating.
Pen #574 was turned on 17th June 2016 at Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival
Westport Lake on the edge of Stoke on Trent is about an hours cruise south of Harecastle Tunnel. Long, dark, smelly and noisy Harecastle isn’t one of my favourites. It’s a single direction tunnel so there is no chance of meeting oncoming traffic but it is also very low in places, almost kneeling down low. This means that the roof boxes have to come off which is a tad inconvenient to say the least. The next ones I build will be narrower and shallower!
The tunnel also has an extraction system rather than tunnel roof vents as it is too far underground, a few moments after you’re in the gates are closed and noisy extractors pull the heavily diesel fumed air from all the boats in front of you (we we’re last of 8) past you - not nice.
Out the other side and into the brilliant sunlight awaits heartbreak hill - a long flight of locks through pleasant countryside and down through Cheshire. The warm sunny weather changed to warm and wet, actually torrential, as we descended to Middlewich ready for the following week's Folk and Boat Festival.
You can follow my pen making here on this blog and our travels on another blog here
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