Fórcola

The modern stern fórcola of a gondola has eight different points of control to change the speed and the direction of the boat.

Usually the centre of the trunk is cut down because of the lymphatic canal, easy to crack, and the external part, next to the bark, gets discarded for its darker colour.

Then starts a stage of raw carving — some remèri still use the typical axe of carpenters — after which the piece is left for a year more to season.

Without this long seasoning the wood would not acquire those essential qualities to make it endure over the oar friction and atmospheric agents.

- the fero a do maneghi — a two-handled blade — which can have different sizes: the shorter the more appropriate to carve very narrow curves and vice versa.