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Jul 10
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Highs and Lows of Scaffolding

By Strawtron
Construction scaffolding

Shiny new scaffolding

You know what really sort of stinks? Working at heights. You know what is even worse than working at heights? Not having a good way of doing it safely. Last year, we borrowed scaffolding for a big chunk of the building season, but this year, we needed to find a new scaffolding option for our construction needs, which includes a lot of work high off the ground.

Turns out we ended up deciding to buy our own, since no one in the area has an adequate setup that can reach the heights we need. I dreaded having to buy our own set of scaffolding, but I think it was the right choice to make.

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Jun 28
Love0

Something For Your Weekend

By Living Sod Roof, Photos

Cob House - Living Green Roof

Could it nearly be July already? Good gracious. Half the year is gone. Well, so it goes. Here’s a photo of Gobcobatron as of a couple weeks ago, during one of my favorite times of year for the little cob house — right at that time when mud is not so prevalent, and the sky begins to get a little bluer, and the grass on the living roof really comes into its own. The garden, though not mature at this point, shows signs of abundance to come. Ah yes… these are the little moments during the year that I enjoy the most.

Well, have a good weekend, doing whatever you may do.

Jun 26
Love0

Building the Light Clay Straw Porch

By Light Clay Straw, Strawtron
Light Clay Straw (Slipstraw) Walls

Our light clay straw (slipstraw) porch walls are on the way

The north porch of our straw bale house has been occupying most of our construction time these days. As of only a couple of weeks ago, the porch was still largely open, with only framing and a few windows installed.

We decided to go the wall & windows route, instead of just screening the space in, because of how exposed this part of the home is to the north and west weather. Also, the space is much more versatile this way, too. We decided to do light clay straw (a.k.a., slipstraw) infill walls.

It’s been an enjoyable process thus far.

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Jun 20
Love0

Now It’s On (Or About To Be): Live Edge Siding Arrives

By Strawtron
Live Edge Wood Siding

Live edge siding from white oak… mmm…

Wow, our Amish sawyer really pulled through. He gave us a call a whole three days after our visit to let us know he had completed sawing up the white oak live edge siding we had requested. Amazing! And he did quite the job, too. The wood looks great. The quality of the material is high, the sawing is very clean and accurate, and I am super jazzed to finally have the material in my possession.

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Jun 13
Love0

To Great Lengths, and Beyond

By Strawtron

Am I picky, or stubborn, or just in a really impoverished area? Maybe all of the above. It’s somewhat crazy what I have had to go through to try to get a particular type of wood siding sawn up for me. It started off simple, I thought — calling a mill I’ve used before to see if I could have some live edge siding sawn up out of white oak. I slowly learned that this would be harder than I thought. Well… many weeks later, I think I finally may have someone both willing to do it, and with access to the materials.

Is it normal to go to these great lengths for a building project, or what? Please do chime in, and please tell me.

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Jun 07
Love0

Using Reclaimed Wood Flooring

By Strawtron
Reclaimed wood flooring

Unfinished reclaimed wood flooring

There is nothing terribly easy about using reclaimed wood flooring, or reclaimed wood in general. Though I really do like it. New lumber is nice and all, sometimes, (and certainly really easy to work with, primarily), but when experiencing or working with new wood, sometimes I get that feeling similar to when I have a new pair of shoes or boots on — something just doesn’t seem right. The brightness, the lack of wear and that really perfect/clean feeling, the lack of a history or story embedded in there… that doesn’t appeal to me. The imperfections and wear, scratches and dings, the colors of reclaimed wood all tell a story, I think, and I like that. Also, older wood is often higher quality material, too.

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May 18
Love0

See Our New Cob House Interior Design

By Cob Building, Photos
Cob House - New Interior Design

The latest look of Gobcobatron

Our work on updating the interior of our cob house, Gobcobatron is finally complete! I think this latest design might be my favorite so far… although of course it’s so exciting just because it is “new”, too. We changed things around to make it an even more appropriate and better place to stay for renters and people who come stay for weekends. I think they are in for a treat…

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May 09
Love0

No Shortage of Things To Do

By Woodworking, Strawtron

spring work

There’s been no shortage of things to do these past few weeks. Other than the usual building and gardening tasks, there’s been a lot on the list of items to complete.

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted any new photos of work on Strawtron… I promise we are not slacking. Nothing has jumped out at me as really photo-worthy just yet. Although that will change soon, as we are closing in the north porch and will soon be doing some light clay straw work. Yea!

Just when I think we’re done with work on Gobcobatron, we find more to do. As we are converting the cob house to a rental this year (see how you can stay in our cob house this summer!), it means we’ve taken some time to do some maintenance work — re-grouting parts of the tile floor, oiling the floor (finally), tearing out the mudroom floor to put in a more durable tile floor, making a brandy new bed frame to accommodate a queen size mattress, dusting the rafters… Didn’t I say I was “done” with this house before?

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May 08
Love0

What a Studley Tool Chest… and More Woodworking Hand Tool Candy

By Hand Tools, Woodworking
H.O. Studley Tool Chest

The infamous (and absolutely gorgeous) H.O. Studley Tool Chest

By the way, comments should be back open! I swear, I am just constantly plagued by weird comments bugs on this blog, and half the time people can’t chime in because something in the inner workings of this here website has rewired itself again. Go ahead and try it now, though!

Moving on… In just a couple of short weekends, Handworks in Amana, Iowa is happening. Handworks (May 24-25) is a sweet little two day woodworking hand tool festival, with a bunch of companies turning out to show off their stuff, providing a good excuse for woodworkers and tool mongers to talk even more about sharp edged things.

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