Steaming the Plank

Text 1: Stern to Bow, by Ezra Polglase

An original short story extract.

The steam box had been hissing for an hour when Samuel Rowe judged the plank was ready. He did not look at a clock. He laid his palm flat against the wooden box, the way a mother tests a child’s forehead, and nodded once.

Then he moved quickly, quicker than you would think a man of seventy could move. He opened the box, and steam rolled out around him in a white cloud that smelled of hot oak and wet earth. He lifted the plank out with his gloved hands, long and pale and limp now, like a strip of pastry, and carried it to the hull before it could cool.

This was the moment that mattered. He laid the plank against the ribs of the boat and began to bend it, pressing, coaxing, murmuring under his breath as if the wood could hear. Clamp. Another clamp. Another. The plank sighed and gave and settled into the curve as if it had always wanted to be there. Only when the last clamp was tight did Rowe step back. He ran his thumb along the seam, once, slowly, from stern to bow. Then he smiled, and for a moment the whole cold shed seemed warmer.

How does Ezra Polglase use language and structure to show Samuel Rowe’s skill and care for his craft?

You should use relevant subject terminology to support your answer.