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Millwright Ben Hassett sits in his workshop in Richmond with finished gears used
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WHEN STRATFORD Hall Plantation formally dedicates its new gristmill Sunday in a private ceremony amid the oaks and wildflowers of its Potomac River setting, visitors will marvel at its intricate wooden mechanisms.
But nowhere on the massive drive shaft, tight-as-a-drum waterwheel or smooth-running wooden gearing will visitors find the name of the 26-year-old Richmond resident who completed the 27-month renovation.
That doesn't bother Ben Hassett, one of just a handful of millwrights in America today.
A teenage visit to a working windmill started Hassett down his current career path, but the journey hasn't been about fame or fortune.
For this lanky, meticulous craftsman with a thick shock of black hair, the payoff comes in meeting renovation challenges with a mixture of woodworking, mechanical engineering and elbow grease.
"You're there to bring the mill back, keeping as much of the historical fabric and structure as possible," he said. "When it's back up and running smoothly, that's the reward."
An inspired start
When Hassett was finishing up high school in Council Bluffs, he had already started working part time as a carpenter and woodworker.
Repairing decks, making repairs and doing some cabinetry, he enjoyed shaping wood and the feeling of building something.
But he quickly tired of the work's repetitive nature.
Then one day, on a sightseeing trip to a windmill in Alcorn, Iowa, Hassett marveled at the wooden parts and machinery powered by the mill's 66-foot sails.
Wanting to know more, he inquired about the machinery and who kept it repaired. He learned some of that had been done by a millwright from Birmingham, England, Derek Ogden.
Thinking that millwrighting might be the career for him, Hassett contacted the English master and asked if he ever took on help.
Ogden, who operated out of a shop in Madison, Va., initially said he couldn't really afford to take Hassett on for pay.
"He put a few sets of hoops out there for me to jump through," said Hassett, who was also tasked with researching millwork at Alcorn and seeking grant money to pay for a year of apprenticing.
"I did the research, but couldn't get any grant money," Hassett said. "But I did send him all the grant-rejection letters."
He also climbed four stories up to the top of the Alcorn mill to meet Ogden personally.
"He said hello and gave me one piece of advice," Hassett said. "He said there was no money in millwrighting."
By 1997, the eager young student doggedly pursued an apprenticeship enough for Ogden to take him on.
The deal: He'd get paid for the first year, but would need to find grant funds after that.
"For several months, I worked with him on jobs and in the shop, but then branched out and started doing work on my own, which he'd check and critique," Hassett said.
Learning on the job
With little in the way of guidebooks or texts on millwrighting, Hassett learned by doing. That meant carving and constructing the wooden gears and components that range from bucket slats for the water wheel to a round pit gear taller than an SUV.
Much of that work was on a job Ogden got redoing the Burwell-Morgan mill in Millwood.
"When you first start, it takes awhile to do even the smaller tasks," he said, noting the hand-carving of the more than 200 teeth in the Stratford mill's gears. "Starting out, it would take a day to do five or six. Now that I've got the feel of it, I can do 15 or 20."
Even though Ogden set high standards for Hassett's work, he left it to the young apprentice to seek his own solutions and fixes--the nature of the job.
"Every mill is different, and so are its problems and challenges," said the young millwright. "I try to visualize a solution to any problem, be it vibration in a gear or rigging an installation."
When that doesn't work, he looks for solutions to similar problems in other disciplines, thinks like woodworking, mechanics or boat-building.
Steve Bashore, the Stratford Hall miller who was Hassett's only full-time help with the project, enjoyed watching him find solutions.
"He'd feel a vibration and just sit there for a long while looking at the gearing," Bashore said.
"Soon enough, he'd find the cause of it and find a solution, either right there or back in his shop."
Solo at Stratford
In 2001, Hassett felt it was time for him to head out on his own. He took on the project at Stratford Hall as his first major renovation.
Through a physically arduous demolition to a full rebuild of the mill, he's learned a great deal as a craftsman and a businessman.
"The business end is a whole different aspect," he said. "I need to do a better job of figuring time and materials to make sure I'm making money on each project."
He noted that this first project was important in establishing himself as a craftsman in his own right. Whether that meant eating the occasional underestimated costs or working 20 days straight in stretches, it was worth it to complete a quality job that could earn him future business.
He's already got that next job, a two-year rebuild of a windmill at the Flourdew Hundred Plantation south of Hopewell.
In typical fashion, he's already relishing the challenge of rigging the renovation of a windmill totally supported by one huge post.
"A big part of any renovation job is the rigging, shifting components weighing thousands of pounds," he said. "You just take your time and find a way to make it work."
To reach ROB HEDELT: 540/374-5415 rhedelt@freelancestar.com
