The restorers of the firm Stolk have started work on the yellow Napoleon of Castle de Haar. At that job there is a nice job for apprentice Bas Kijk in de Vegt. His main interest was shipbuilding, but thanks to a work experience placement with Stolk, Bas discovered that an old carriage has more to offer technically, than he initially thought.

The younger generation

Restorer Piet Stolk, who passed 65 some time ago and prefers not to talk about his age, gets an almost fatherly look in his eyes as he explains to 16-year-old Bas Kijk in de Vegt the properties of the various types of steel used in the undercarriage of a carriage. After all, spring steel is totally different from the rolled together parts of an axle. Bas gets to learn as part of a work experience placement. A condition for carrying out the restoration project of the carriages of Castle de Haar is to 'pass on the craft', in this case that of the forging work of the former carriage maker. Piet Stolk has mastered that craft and wants to share his knowledge with a younger generation, with his 38-year-old son Jean-Louis and now Bas. Father and son had already noticed that the Napoleon sagged a bit in its springs: when you climbed on the back of it, the carriage hung backwards completely. After a century, the spring force had disappeared from the elliptical springs. Such a spring consists of four spring blades attached to each other under a certain tension. Teacher Piet and apprentice Bas now take the blades apart and pat them one by one. Bas laughs, "All the technology in vehicles and vessels I find interesting, I did a metal training and am now gaining experience, who knows, I might just roll into the profession."

Zoo

When the springs are "forged up," the men reassemble the carriage. Bas is allowed to sit on the servant's bench to see what effect this has. The carriage, with only load on the back, no longer hangs backwards. That looks better and also springs better for the one time that the Napoleon will soon ride over the paths of Castle de Haar again. It was a difficult job, but in the meantime a new problem has already attracted Stolk's attention: the roof of the Napoleon is in a more disastrous condition than previously estimated, due to mice nests, woodworm holes and moth bites; a whole zoo has lived in that roof in the past century.