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Jan 03
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Morso 1410 Squirrel Wood Stove and Ecofan Update

By Winter, Heating

Morso 1410 Squirrel Wood Stove

Reader Peter Davidson wrote in with a question about the small wood stove we use, the Morso 1410 “Squirrel” Wood Stove, and the Caframo Ecofan, a thermoelectric stovetop fan that helps push warm air around. Here is his email:

In reading your blog post about wood stoves I’m very interested in your follow-up opinion on the Morso stove and Ecofan that you’re using.  Do you have any new perspectives or updates after using them for an extended period of time? Looks like life is good!
Be well,
~Peter

Read ahead for my response!

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Dec 29
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The Sweetest WordPress Themes Around.

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Dec 26
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John Neeman: Birth of a Tool Part III: Making Damascus Knives

By Hand Tools, Video
John Neeman Tools

Hand forging a damascus knife blade

John Neeman and company have done it again, and produced a stunning mini-documentary video about the production of a damascus knife blade, in Birth of a Tool: Part III. Damascus knives are extremely labor-intense, as they require multiple layers of different types of steel to be forged and folded repeatedly, with a minimum of at least 300 layers. The resulting blade is intensely strong, and intensely beautiful, too.

Check out the folks at John Neeman Tools hand forging these knives, and creating the leather sheath in their latest video below! Beautiful work, and excellent filmmaking, too.

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Dec 20
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The Barrel Oven: A New Kind of Outdoor DIY Pizza Oven

By Cob Oven, Book Reviews, Resources

Outdoor Pizza Barrel Oven

There’s an up-and-coming outdoor oven out there: the wood-fired barrel oven promises some pretty compelling advantages over a cob or masonry oven, and it is the subject of Max and Eva Edleson’s latest Build Your Own Barrel Oven book. It’s the first I’ve heard of this particular design, and I must say, it has definitely captured my attention, and the Edlesons’ book does a fantastic job describing the plans and construction process of these relatively simple, efficient pizza and bread-baking wonders.

Have you been considering building an outdoor oven setup of your own, or are you intrigued by the idea baking pizza with wood heat? Read on for my review of the book and a better understanding of the advantages of building your own barrel oven.

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Dec 18
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Chairmaking Photos From Greg’s Shop

By Woodworking
Windsor Chairs

Two of Greg’s miniature Windsor chair samples

We’ve really been enjoying ourselves at Greg Pennington‘s shop and trying our hand at chairmaking. Greg’s been giving us a lot of great instruction and tips along the way. What a pleasurable workshop to create in! (See Greg’s timber frame shop interior here, if you missed it.)

Here are a few photos from the past couple of afternoons of our chairmaking adventures. My recent highlight: carving the seat blank with some new (to me) tools, including a scorp and some really well-made spokeshaves. That pine sure is like butter…

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Dec 17
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Learn How To Build a Cob Oven: Join Our 2013 Cob Oven Workshop!

By Cob Oven, Natural Building Workshops

We are happy to announce our first building workshops of 2013 — come learn how to build your own backyard, wood fired oven in our Cob Oven Workshop.

In September and October, visit Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri for our latest three day natural building course — learn cob oven construction essentials, and get a great glimpse into sustainable living in a well-known ecovillage community in the process.

Outdoor ovens are extremely popular, and for good reason. A cob oven can be built with inexpensive natural and recycled materials, and the results are fantastic. No pizza party will ever be the same again!

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Dec 14
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Sweet Hobbit House Pictures From The Hobbit Set

By Photos
Hobbit House

The quintessential dream house

I really enjoyed stumbling upon this tumblr page dedicated to a boatload full of pictures from The Hobbit movie, specifically of hobbit houses from the Shire set. The close-up captures are great — all the little construction details are really quite stunning. I only wish… well, that they were real. I know that sounds really dumb, but it pains me to know that it’s probably mostly a bunch of nasty foam we’re seeing, and not actual carpentry, living roofs, and really cool brick work. Oh well…. but the hobbit house pictures are really quite inspiring, nevertheless

Read ahead for more pictures!

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Dec 08
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Greg’s Beautiful Timber Frame Shop

By Timber Framing, Hand Tools
Greg's Timber Frame Shop

A great space to create…

We’ve recently had the pleasure of spending time with Greg Pennington in his lovely timber frame shop, here in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Greg is a chairmaker and woodworker, and makes and sells some beautiful handmade Windsor chairs. He works with hand tools and creates some really beautiful work, in addition to teaching others how to work wood with hand tools.

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Dec 03
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How to Acquire Timbers For Building Your Own Timber Frame Home

By Timber Framing, Strawtron
Timbers

Figure out how you will acquire your timbers… early!

This is the first of many posts where I travel back in time, and fill in missing parts of the Strawtron building timeline with essential information for how we built our timber frame and straw bale home.

If you want to design and build you own timber frame home, you should be prepared to determine how you will acquire the timbers for your frame. You almost can’t determine this too early, nor start your search too soon. The timber frame can be a significant portion of the total expense of construction for an owner-builder, and as always, it is helpful to know how to keep costs manageable.

Here are a few tips for how you might acquire timbers for building your own timber frame home.

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