During the closed winter season we were asked by Levant mine to install a public viewing platform in Man Engine shaft to improve the publics view of the shaft, up until now the only view of the shaft has been from the man engine tunnel looking through some bars.

First job was to get rid of the bars and get into the shaft and examine how the wooden shaft lining had been constructed.

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As it turned out the shaft linings were just a visual copy of a shaft lining and were in no way built to a standard that would work for us. The original design of the metal platform had it sitting on the lower sett, as this lower sett was barely connected to the rest of the shaft a new design was needed.

Our designed called for a new wooden Shaft sett to be built and installed above the exisiting one, the difference being that the end of this one would extend through the lining boards and rest on the concrete ring beam that was hiding behind the lining. The new metal platform could then be securely bolted onto this sett.

Test fitting the timbers into their joints prior to assembly

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Trimming the excess off the steel tie bars after they had been done up tight clamping the joints shut

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New sett complete ready to be dropped into place

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New sett going into position with the help of a chain block

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The wooden sett is now in, and the metal platform has been dropped into its final position and is being bolted down.

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All that was required after that was to replace the 4 lining boards we had taken out to fit the new sett in and to gate off the stope at the back of the shaft.

Nice job :thumbup: and especially nice to see that timbering can still be used :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
We stopped using timber for shaft linings, collars and headings about ten years ago as the "new breed" of Temporary Works Approval engineers don't seem to have ever been shown how to check designs in timber. Steel design is no problem as the design is a lot easier to check, requiring less engineering judgment. Off the shelf liners, braces or manhole boxes are even easier to get approved, but god help you if a brace or strut is in your way and you need to alter the design! You could wait days for approval. Over educated, inexperienced Engineers who are too scared to sign their name on the dotted line in case something goes wrong.
Clip-clop, clip-clop....that's the sound of Phil on his high horse again :lol: Sorry folks, rant over :lol:

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I had a set of design calcs for various sizes of timber setts, dating from the 1970s; still have them, but as you say, getting them approved is the problem.

I also have the original calcs and drawings of the various timber "specials" used for side entries into various sizes of London Underground running and station tunnels, dating from my time at Angel Station Reconstruction and other similar projects in the late 80s and early 90s, they read like something from another world now.

Actually, that's about right. NATM sprayed concrete has pretty much rendered the whole subject obsolete, and you can't get competent timber miners at any price these days. Engineers don't learn the subject because there are other, easier ways to do 90% of the applications.

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A fair few of the shafts in Cornwall which have been more recently capped/grilled have nice examples of timber collaring.

For instance, Fred's Shaft of Wheal Peevor, "Little Shaft" Killfreth South Lode and a few more in various places.

Cutting to the chase, is the shaft open to depth? Is there anything off the shaft and can that section be accessed from elsewhere? I had a chat with Tony from Levant regarding having a look down Skip Shaft and completely failed to follow it up.

I gather it's green down there.

and you can't get competent timber miners at any price these days.

Ouch, the S in SRJ has been a timberman for the last 40 years atleast and the R was trained almost solely by S so i would like to think they could be classified as competent these days 😉 .

Cutting to the chase, is the shaft open to depth? Is there anything off the shaft and can that section be accessed from elsewhere? I had a chat with Tony from Levant regarding having a look down Skip Shaft and completely failed to follow it up.

easy answer to all the questions is no, Man engine is blocked above adit level, and the adit itself is also badly collapsed at its entrance and further up aswell.
Skip shaft is almost completely off limits these days because of the state its in, plus the fact there is very little to see down there. We priced up the cost to sort the problems out and the number was rather large so probaly won't get sorted anytime soon.

"S" in the pic reminds me of Beaky...?

Lozz.

it certainly is, thats why hes stood around in all the photos watching others work lol

I'm sure he had the same coloured hard hat when he was at Geevor.....

Last time I worked with him was down the wonky ladders in Bridgeworks shaft not that long before they finally switched the pumps off.

Lozz.

oh its the same hat alright lol

Nice, the ladders in Bridgeworks aren't any straighter these days

and you can't get competent timber miners at any price these days.

Ouch, the S in SRJ has been a timberman for the last 40 years atleast and the R was trained almost solely by S so i would like to think they could be classified as competent these days 😉 .

Haha no offence was meant, I'm sure. I think the point is more that if "S" and "R" have been at it for 40 odd years, then (again no offence intended) who takes over from them when they are no longer working? Many would argue that their skills are no longer needed and have been replaced by newer technology, but timbering still has uses. Timberwork, designed on the hoof and installed by experienced guys will get you out of a tight spot a lot quicker, easier and cheaper than anything else!

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I've got another 40 years until i get to Stuarts age so it won't die out just yet, and we're already training up new guys in the group. Your right that timbermen are not needed very often these days, but alot of the techniques used with wood can be transferred over to steel, but less so from steel to wood.

Ryan

Got any jobs going? :thumbsup:

Since we've got some experts here, can anyone answer a question I have had for years.

What horizon is the water sat at in Boscaswell since being holed into by Geevor? I presume it's a long way below adit.

I heard a story of someone going down a ladderway shaft and getting to a level (adit) and then going to Treweeks Shaft and the water being an awesome distance down. I think it's all been sealed up now, but there must be a fair bit of stuff above water in there still.

The story you heard may very well have been me as i've certainly been down there many times in the past, and your right its not an area that has public access and would involve criminal damage to gain access too.

The water level in the shafts is probaly about 200-300ft below surface if i remember correctly so not a massive amount below adit level and there isn't much to see due to alot of collapsed ground