Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
masterpieces have been built and then finished by being rubbed to a smooth
surface, though in some inaccessible parts of some brickwork, grooved stri-
ations, of varying depths, are occasionally visible. De Vries (2006, 3256-9) dis-
cusses the origin of these grooves, or 'hatches' in both the brickwork of De
Waag and on other buildings, and discusses whether they were for aesthetic
or technical effect. Quite rightly he emphasises that, 'In a number of other situ-
ations vertical grooves occur, which do not run on across the entire wall surface
but were connected to individual bricks…' This is to eliminate the possible use
of the steenschaaf as being responsible for the grooves. He theorises that they
may have been placed onto the 'green-clay' brick from the mould, or 'with
a piece of wood, a comb with teeth…' (De Vries, 2006, 3257). This reasoning is
influenced by the belief that the darker red bricks, as opposed to the orange-
red colour of other bricks used on the masterpieces, are therefore harder and
not easy or indeed made to rub. Experience and research demonstrates that
colour cannot be used as an indicator of hardness, the noted TLB rubbers,
from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, were once available in both 'Cherry
Red' and 'Orange' tones, and the famed Fareham rubbers were red. The pres-
ence of grooves, De Vries (2006, 3255) continues:
…had a number of advantages for the construction: once the brickwork had
been completed fewer bricks needed to be rubbed away, a possible 'post-firing
surface' can be broken more easily, it is easier to remove the grindings through
the grooves and a smooth surface develops, because the grooves serves as an indi-
cation for the measure of the layer to be rubbed away.
It is correct that those grooves would have helped in this respect, but it is
doubtful that they were placed onto the brick in the green-clay moulding stage.
Discussion with several experienced traditional brickmakers reveals that to cre-
ate bricks with these grooves by throwing the clay into a mould with narrow flut-
ings to its inside would be impracticable; given the nature of the clay and the
addition of moulding sand to dust the box before casting the clot. Of course it
is not impossible the grooves were 'combed' onto the surface of the green brick
before firing, however, it is more likely that these were applied onto the surface
of the brick post-fired, as part of its overall final preparation for gauged. The
grooves are certainly not indicative of 'axing' nor the use of the steenschaaf,
rather it is the author's opinion that they are the signs of 'freynen', the tooling
of brick faces in the manner of the Flemish craftsmen, as discussed in Chapter 1.
Some craftsmen were content leaving these grooves on their finished work, as
the masons their 'tooled', 'furrowed', or 'boasted' faces on stone. Other crafts-
men bricklayers, however, would see this as only the first stage in the overall
post-fired working of bricks for rubbing to a smooth finish once the entire brick
enrichment was constructed, as on the De Waag masterpieces. This is entirely
