Historic Fort Snelling
Flagp le T
he Minnesota Historical Society needed a new flagpole for Historic Fort Snelling by Memorial Day 2007. After selecting a design that replicated a 19th century, two-part ship’s mast, they searched for a craftsman to make the flagpole. Enter Charles (Charlie) Nielsen, owner of Nordic Woodworks (nordicwoodworks.com). Charlie is a fine-furniture maker and cabinetmaker who also has experience in the marine industry. First, Charlie needed a lathe to turn the two, 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) Douglas fir logs. He teamed up with friend Dan Gates, a machinist, and they built a 60'- (18 m-) long lathe in the old Calvary barn adjacent to the Fort. They constructed the lathe bed with I beams, a hydraulic pump, a motor for the headstock, and assorted electrical parts and overhead cranes. The lathe soon boasted a crawler, fitted with a self-feeding dado blade cutter. When in operation, the crawler traveled along the I beams at 4' (120 cm) per hour with the logs spinning at 10 rpm, removing a ½"- (13 mm-) deep cut per pass. Charlie and Dan turned and tapered the first log (the main mast) from its initial diameter of 17¼" (44 cm), down to a 12¾" (32 cm), then squared off a section to 9¼" (23 cm). The finished length was 50' (15 m). They tackled the second log (the top spar mast) next, and turned and tapered it from 12¾" (32 cm) down to 4" (10 cm) with a section also being squared off to 9¼" (23 cm). Its finished length was 42' (12.8 m).
Karen Nielsen
The squared-off sections would run for 7' (2 m) on each log, the length that fits into the trestletree assembly, a series of rings and shrouds that hold the two masts together. A lightning rod was installed and the masts were painted white.
The mobile crane needed to hoist the flagpole was too large to fit into the Fort, so the flagpole had to be assembled outside the walls. The crane hoisted the flagpole over the wall and set it into its mounting base near the Fort’s round tower. It proudly flies a 20' × 30' (6 m × 9 m) replica 24-star garrison flag.
Cats-paw cradles. The headstock is at the far end.
Dan Gates trues the cats paw, a circular ring used to support the log and find center.
Headstock.
A router jig was used to mill flat surfaces, which would fit into trestletree.
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American Woodturner February 2012