Finished Windsor chair with milk paint and oil finish
Wow, I can finally claim that the Windsor chair I have been working on is… 100% done. In fact, I’m sitting on it as I type this. What a great feeling! (For my rear end, and my morale!)
Here’s a few photos of the final milk paint job. I’m really digging the bayberry green color.
Painting the Windsor chair with milk paint
Paint has historically conjured some nasty feelings and sensations for me — that chemical smell oh-so liable to induce headaches, the almost plastic appearance of the finished product, the worry that washing brushes in the sink or out on the lawn is going to kill something, somewhere down the line… Well, it doesn’t have to be that way! Enter good old fashioned, homemade milk paint. Yes, paint… made with milk. It’s really that simple.
Milk is a brilliant natural alternative to synthetic binders, and has been used for thousands of years, and is perhaps a superior product to anything you would typically find in the store. I’ve learned that milk paint is a traditional finish for Windsor chairs, and you can actually buy it in powder form. I’ve made it myself in the past, but buying it is a convenient alternative to souring and stirring milk with your own pigment — see Old Fashioned Milk Paint.
Windsor chair… complete!
Many hours later, and my first chairmaking project is complete — check out these pictures of my hoop back Windsor chair. April and I have been visiting Greg in his timber frame shop here in Hendersonville, TN for several weeks now, making steady progress on our chairs under Greg’s expert guidance. It has been really, really fun, and it is thrilling to see the (almost) complete product. All that is left is painting the chair (with traditional milk paint, of course).
Check out these photos of the Windsor chair!
Using reclaimed material for our flooring installation
Our wood flooring installation was a race against the clock — back in June, we had but a few short days to install over 300 square feet of our wood subfloor before the start of our Timber Framing Workshop. No pneumatic nailers here, no big sheets of plywood — only a huge pile of nail-y, reclaimed yellow pine tongue and groove flooring, full sun blasting down on us, and a few great helping hands to see us through to victory.
Here is the story of our wood flooring installation, and why I think we chose the best wood floor for the job.
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The pier and beam foundation of our timber frame house
Earlier in the year, I discussed the idea of “replacing concrete with wood” in our pier and beam foundation design. For the construction of our timber frame house, we decided to go high and dry, and eliminate as much concrete as possible with this style foundation. I wanted to take this opportunity to go more in-depth about the plans for our pier and beam foundation, with a bunch of images to illustrate the design.
Read ahead more for details.
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. Â 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!
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.
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.
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…
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
