Wood Patterns: What They Are, How to Find Them (and How to Make Yours in CHOCOLATE!)

Once called Burrard Dry Dock (BDD), The Shipyards, during World War II had men and women working round-the-clock, building almost one-half of the Canadian ships needed during the War.

This past winter, if you took a break from skating at North Vancouver’s new outdoor rink at The Shipyard Commons, and wandered inside, you likely saw wooden objects hanging outside the washrooms. Bright and colourful and unusual shapes, but what are they? Who used them? Where were they made? Why are they on display here? These are great questions and the kind that NVMA staff often ask about things in the collection.

In addition to being a great art installation, these objects are now at The Shipyards because that is where they were made and used. They are a powerful reminder of the yard’s history.

Research tells us that these patterns were used to cast parts for the steel ships built at the Shipyards during WWII. There are wood patterns for gears, cleats, portholes, hooks, winches and all kinds of things that were needed onboard. To make these parts, the workers pressed the wood patterns into sand. After removing a pattern from the sand, molten metal was poured into the impression left behind. As the metal cooled a new ship part formed. The wood patterns created identical metal twins!

Shipyard Snacks: Make Your Own Molded Treat.

To get the idea of how this works and to enjoy a yummy treat, try this. You will need a clean object, brown sugar, melted chocolate and an adult to help.

1. Press your object into the brown sugar, just as a wood pattern was pressed into sand.
2. Carefully remove the object and see the indentation left.
3. Poor melted chocolate into the brown sugar as if it were molten metal.
4. Place in the freezer for about an hour to harden.
5. Remove the chocolate from the brown sugar, and voila! You have a shipyards inspired treat.

Though it is not clear what ship part each individual mold pattern was used for, we do know that they were used many times. One of the accomplishments of Burrard Dry Dock was that they industrialized ship building, mass producing steel cargo ships during World War II. Using wooden patterns to replicate parts, rather than individually designing each one, enabled BDD to achieve the incredible feat of producing a ship a week!

Here are more tools used at BDD.

Do you know what they are? Visit our online exhibit, A Riveted Community: North Vancouver’s Wartime Shipbuilding to find the answer and more about our historic Burrard Dry Dock and its contribution to World War II.

by Carol Ballard – Education Programmer of NVMA