The Cement Sink

Gordon Shears

Gordon Shears operated sawmills all his life. When something broke he fixed it himself. He was always making parts for engines and liked solving problems to make life easier in Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland. One day he decided to build a cement sink.

WE LIVED IN A LITTLE HOUSE that I'd bought. It was down here under the hill. A one-storey house. And we didn't have any water in it or anything. You heard about the Raleigh going ashore in Forteau, the big old warship. I bought some pipe from a man in Lance au Loup, that he got out of the Raleigh.

I bought a hundred feet of one-inch pipe out of the Raleigh. I think it was five dollars. And I brought it home to put water in the house. They were all cut off on the ends, broken off, so I sawed them off square and I threaded them with a hacksaw and file. I put three threads around each one, and forced a coupling on it.

There's a brook running down there now. I dammed off the brook to bring water in the house. So, I got that done, but I didn't have a sink. I couldn't afford to buy one. My brother Jim, he was used to using cement.

He said, "Make one out of cement."

I said, "I don't know how to make it."

He said, "We'll make one. I'll make the form for you."

So he helped me make the form. We made the sink with cement. A hundred and fifty pounds of cement I put into it. We were tickled to death. One end was big for washing clothes. My wife could put the scrub board down in the sink and wash the clothes in one end. The other end was for washing dishes.