THE WOOD for the printing press arrived at the Campus Facilities Carpentry Shop on Friday afternoon, September 5. After two months of contacting wood suppliers and searching for a stock of appropriate hardwood, our Press Construction Coordinator, Homer Brown, and our Head Cabinetmaker for Press Construction, Keith Jenkins, located an outfit in Virginia with massive, hand-hewn chestnut timbers from an old house and some smaller sections of white oak. The supplier guaranteed that each piece of wood in the shipment was at least 60 years old. Keith guesses that the large chestnut timbers were probably worked up in the early or mid nineteenth century. They were shaped with hand tools and they bear numerous adze marks. Keith also found what looked to be two old hand-forged nails embedded in one of the chestnut pieces. The photo to the right shows the entire wood shipment; the photo below and to the right focuses on the large chestnut timbers.