WE ALL NEED TO LEARN TO……BURY THE HATCHET

My dad’s business was 98% industrial block flooring,1946 to 1970!  I went to work for him in 1971.  We had many industrial accounts at the time here in New England.  They were not huge facilities like in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, or Michigan, so no steel or aluminum plants, no automotive, and no Caterpillar plants.  But the facilities we serviced were paved with the same 2”, 2-1/2” and 3” depth end grain wood blocks.  In those days industrial block flooring was most always pine and oak.  I personally supervised and installed (on my hands and knees) creosote treated pine and oak blocks, and I learned how to fire up a pitch kettle to finish the install.  Although power tools like chop saws and table saws were available to us, most industrial facilities were so large, the work so far from a wall or outlet, and so far from our truck(s), that we would need some pretty long extension cords to complete the work .  It was so much easier to just bring 3 or 4 hatchets to the project for “cutting in” less than full blocks.  To go around a circular plate on the floor we actually had curved chisels!    Most all measuring to “cut and  fit” the last block was done on the floor.  No need to get up.  Stay down!  The “starter cuts” were always half blocks to start every other row.  It wasn’t necessary to use a chop saw.  The half blocks did not need to be so precise.  It was a factory!   We needed only a simple half hatchet, or two, or three. 

In addition, most industrial block flooring was then treated with creosote oil.  The blocks were almost black, or if not treated with creosote certainly most industrial wood block installations were coated with a black coating, making the blocks even more black.  Black coatings covered over all my mis-cuts!  Black coatings would always hide the less than perfectly cut blocks.  Using hatchets to make half blocks at the beginning of the line, and leaving a hatchet or two at the end of the line to cut in the last piece, was simple, easy, and common practice.  Every morning before leaving the motel room we’d all sharpen our hatchets!  Before I forget, I became so skilled using a hatchet, that I could look at the size piece needed, and could cut it with a hatchet, 90% accurately  where needed.   If I missed I could lose a thumb or a finger.  If I missed I’d just throw the block away and cut another!

In the mid to late 70’s the demand for industrial wood block installation service began to diminish, eventually almost entirely.   The decrease in our industrial sales required an increase in our commercial sales and installation, that is……if we were to survive.  Our goal was to find alternative treatments where needed, learn the performance characteristics of other species of end grain, and develop supply chains for the good ones. Electrical outlets were always plentiful and within easy reach at commercial installations—which made experimenting easier, and at times, more exciting than it probably should have been.

With those advantages—and more than a few splinters along the way—I believe it was sometime in the early ’80s that KASWELL FLOORING was able to finally “bury their hatchets”, figuratively of course, and embrace a smarter, smoother way forward that would define the next era of our business.

Norm Kaswell