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Jul 20
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Giveaway Update: How to Win One of these Sweet Books

By Media
Japanese Carpenty Book, Tuttle Books

Soon you’ll have the chance to win one of these books

I’m happy to announce that Tuttle Publishing has kindly donated two very sweet books to The Year of Mud, and a couple of lucky readers will have the chance to get a copy of their own in the coming two weeks. I’ve got sitting beside me here a copy of The Genius of Japanese Carpentry: Secrets of an Ancient Craft and Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green From Traditional Japan, two excellent book titles. The first explores the incredible craft and history of temple building in Japan, and the second is a portrayal of life in Edo Japan, when Japanese society learned to cope with ecological limits and live in better balance in all aspects of daily life.

Click ahead to find out how you can win a copy of either of these books!

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Jul 18
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Frame Raising!

By Timber Framing
Timber Frame Barn Raising

The first bent goes into position in our new timber frame pavilion

We did it… our new timber frame pavilion has been successfully raised. All worries were put to rest once we had our rigging ready and the first bent went up as smooth as butter. Cutting a frame with a whole bunch of hand tools is fun, but seeing your work raise high into the sky is hard to beat on the excitement scale. Yow!

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Jul 12
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Exciting Free Giveaways Coming Soon

By Resources
Japanese woodworking

We’ve got some giveaways coming up… can you guess what?

I’m very pleased to announce that The Year of Mud will be having a few very sweet giveaways in the near future. If you’re a fan of Japanese woodworking and history, we’ll be giving away a couple of items that will be right up your alley. No details yet, just a little teaser for you… including this photo hint above.

Keep on coming back, and sign up for our newsletter to stay in the loop of things. Yea!

Jul 10
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Timber Frame Workshop 2014 Slideshow

By Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops, Photos

Hewing Hatchet

Here’s one last round of photos of our 2014 Timber Frame Workshop that ended a couple short weeks ago. If you’re interested in getting a firsthand look at our finished pavilion, the building will be up and in use during the Clear Creek Festival from August 29-31. We’ll likely be making pizza during that same festival out of our new cob oven, too… so look out. Anyway, click ahead for the slideshow.

Photos of the completed structure should be up soon, too!

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Jul 06
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The Modern Seaweed House

By Traditional Building, Video
Modern Seaweed House Exterior

The modern seaweed house of Læsø, Denmark

Ever since I saw photos of the seaweed thatch homes of Denmark in the book Built by Hand, I’ve been captivated and wanting to learn more about these unnusual structures. Recently, I was disappointed to learn that there are only about 19 traditional seaweed homes left standing on the island of Læsø. But, my disappointment turned to enthusiasm when I learned that some architects and builders are once again rejuvenating interest in the use of seaweed in construction. In fact, there’s been one successful newly built seaweed house, inspired by a competition organized by Realdania Byg. The results are very cool.

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Jun 29
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And The Tools Come Out: Timber Frame Recap Part 2

By Natural Building Workshops, Hand Tools, Timber Framing
Cutting a Tenon with Chisel and Mallet

Pam works on her chisel skills on a tenon

Carpenter’s squares and tape measures are handy and all that, but they don’t carry nearly the same appeal as say, a sharpened chisel, an antique boring machine, or a Swedish axe. Marking and measuring, though arguably one of most important steps of timber framing, lacks the “cool” factor that comes with cutting joinery. People’s eyes tend to light up as soon as they see the ol’ Millers Falls boring machine come out, what with its fancy gears, the double handle, and the amazing wood chips it produces once set to motion.

Needless to say, enthusiasm ramped up on day two of our Timber Frame Workshop as people got a chance to saw and waste tenons, bore holes for mortises, and get busy with chisel and mallet.

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Jun 26
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2014 Timber Frame Workshop Recap: Part 1

By Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops, Hand Tools
Scoring Lines: Timber Framing

Getting timber layout complete and ready for cutting

We packed in a lot of action during our four days of the 2014 Timber Frame Workshop last week. This was our first official course in our new home location in the Berea, Kentucky area, and I couldn’t be more pleased! The mountains, trees (and accompanying abundant shade), fresh spring water, and wildlife made an excellent backdrop to learning about timber frame layout, cutting, and assembly. It was great to meet new folks and reconnect with some ‘alumni’ from previous classes, too.

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Jun 11
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Timber Arrives!

By Natural Building Workshops, Timber Framing
White Oak Timber

White oak 8x8s for the upcoming timber frame pavilion

Last week, we got our timber delivery for the pavilion we’ll be building in our Timber Frame Workshop next week. It’s beautiful stuff! It’s all white oak, very clear wood, and sawn on a portable bandsaw. It smells really good since it’s so fresh. We will be working this material very green, as it was literally felled and sawn a mere day or two before its final delivery.

We have begun some prep work, doing some layout and cutting on a few pieces to ensure that we can make good headway in the four days of our course. Our goal is to demonstrate layout, cutting, assembly, and ideally raising, too (if the stars align, you know.) This past week and the few days ahead are busy busy busy. More news when I find time to write!