Hornet repair history

 I got the call from Jim Glasker in the summer of 2005, he wanting to know if I could take a look at the Hornet base. Sure enough the roots of the Hornet tree trunk were rotting away. Since at this time I was doing a lot of carving I had a good supply of logs. My solution was to saw the Hornet off at the base and graft it on to a replacement log. Jim had the hole dug and we did the repair work. End of story, right?

The summer of 2015 came with another call from Jim. The 20 year old Hornet body was in decay. Could I have a look at it? It was serious. 20 years in the elements had taking its toll on the big green insect. My solution was to fiberglass the entire Hornet. I would do the work if the school would pay for the materials. It would then be like an M & M candy and good for a lifetime.

The 2015 repair went pretty good.

I had sawed off the body and base of the carving so a rotted leg could be replaced. The 10 year old replacement log had also decayed and this time we would set in four treated 6X6's to mount the Hornet on.

Hornet parts ready to be reassembled.

Davis lumber had a lift that could help lift the hornet for reassembly.

With the Hornet reassembled and mounted it was time to cover it with fiberglass cloth. It would take several yards of cloth to cover it. The cloth was stapled on to hold it in place until the resin could be applied.

It would take 3 gallons of resin. When the catalyst hardener was added it had to be brushed on in under 5 minutes before is set up. For this reason I mixed small amounts at a time by only adding hardener to one tray of resin, mixing and then brushing it on to the fiberglass cloth.

Repair mission complete, right? Well maybe...

What could go wrong ? 

2024 The Hornet is back on the operating table.
 

The call this time, the Hornet was leaning and looked like it might fall over. Could I take a look at it? Sure enough it was leaning and the call came in the nick of time. In this picture you can see the wood inside the top book had rotted away and the weight of the Hornet body was crushing the M & M fiberglass shell. You can also see some serious rot behind the books. This repair would require some serious thought and engineering.

Keep watching if you want to see the problems and solutions for saving this 30 year old wood carving.