Page 22 - Abraham Lincoln Hearse Narrative

THIRD PROGRESS UPDATE ~ NOVEMBER, 2014 ~ ERIC HOLLENBECK
As anyone who’s been in the military will tell you, it is important to keep track of
the morale of the troops. Well, let me say, the last couple of weeks it wasn’t hard to see that
morale was headed downward. As well trained
and tenacious as these guys and gals are, “Parts
Is Parts!”, and that’s all we have been making for
the last nine weeks! It was definitely time to start
on the hearse body so one and all could see where
the parts go and that there actually was a reason
for making them.
We started with the framework of the floor
which was all mortise and tenon together, same
as the original would have been. We then went
to the framing.
Because of the
Eric, Sean, Ty and Cody -Pulling the frame
square with clamps. deeply recessed
windows of
the original vehicle we used 3”x4” framing material. This
not only gave us the depth for the windows but made a
tremendously strong frame that will not flex as the hearse
is used. This is important because of all the castings on the
vehicle. These castings will have NO flex, and as such, the
body must stay rigid and force the springs to take all the
movement. The frame is “let” into the floor and once again
mortise and tenon into their landing spots. Then all is glued
together. Yep, no flex here!

Finally, we have a little peek into what the project Crystal Morse pre-drilling and
might look like. But still the big question is, “Where do all Mitch setting the screws for the
these parts go that we worked so “skirt extensions.”
hard on?” “Soon everyone! ~ but first the frame has to be tight. ”
Finally, after getting the frame and roof members permanently
installed, we get to start defining the windows. The first step was
to make the sills. After trying several different angles we chose to
use a 30 degree sill slope. This is double what a Victorian house sills
would slope, but it seemed closest to the photo and is a beautiful
look. Once the sills were installed the next step was to resaw, plane
and fit the ¼” maple “skin” that will cover all the framing.
This detailed process took two full days. Then Cody and Ty
got all the skins glued and clamped in four hours. Once the frames
were skinned we could begin the process of dry fitting the columns,
Daughter Cara which allowed us to also start dry fitting the CASTINGS !!! This is
Hollenbeck and Crystal
Morse (Army) centering what everyone here has been waiting for and we can all see that the
up pre-drill holes. end result is going to be stunning.
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