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Jan 11
Love8
kurashiki canal street

Beautiful Japanese Storehouses in Kurashiki

By Lime Plaster, Japan, Clay Plaster, Carpentry

kurashiki canal street

I’m back home from Japan. I can think of no better word to describe the trip than ‘whirlwind’. It was very full and varied, and it’s taken me over a week to feel settled back into home life and routine. (The jet lag on the way there was almost nonexistent, but it hit me like a sack o’ potatoes on the return trip.)

It’s hard to summarize such a long trip, so I won’t really try. I’ll say this, though — I definitely want to return, and plan on it at some point. My goal right now is to document some of my trip highlights in a series of blog posts. I can’t share much about the first week (yet), so things will have to be out of chronological order. Not that it matters.

Enough jabbering, let’s get on to the good stuff. Here are some pretty pictures of clay walls and kura (storehouses) in the lovely city of Kurashiki, a small historic city I loved exploring.

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Nov 24
Love7
ziggy japan

I’m Going to Japan

By Traditional Building, Japan

ziggy japan

It’s been one of my biggest dreams for over the last 10+ years — traveling to Japan. Now I’m getting my chance. Recently, I was selected to participate in the filming of a Japanese TV show. The show will have me visiting sakan (plasterers) and touring traditional buildings. It’s for a show called “Who wants to come to Japan”? (Yes, literally. Only aired in Japan.) The premise is that they invite folks with a passion for some specific element of Japanese culture to learn more about their interest.

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Nov 14
Love6
clay manure plaster finish: straw bale house

Essential Natural Plasters: My New Favorite Book for Plastering

By Resources, Clay Plaster, Lime Plaster

essential natural plasters book reviewThe world of natural plasters runs deep. Despite the seeming simplicity of plaster, there’s a lot of depth to explore. Materials, recipes, tools, and application can vary widely from project to project, person to person, and place to place. Although there are some good resources on the subject, there haven’t been a lot of in-depth publications focused on plastering in North America specifically.

Luckily, that’s changed with the release of Essential Natural Plasters. This is easily my new favorite resource for natural plaster recipes and techniques. The authors Michael Henry and Tina Therrien (and a host of contributors) shine a bright light on the sometimes mysterious subject of clay and lime finishes.

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Nov 11
Love10
ready for top plates

Tiny Timber Frame Raising

By Timber Framing

timber frame assembly and raising

The best part of timber framing is, of course, the finished product. Raising up a timber frame is an exciting prospect, even a tiny project like this. I finally had time in the late summer and early fall to wrap up work on the charred oak timber frame that our intrepid students started in our summer Timber Frame Workshop. My excitement hit a peak when the day came to stand things up.
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Oct 28
Love2
true cost natural building

Interview About the Reality of Natural Building

By Cob Building, Media, Timber Framing

true cost natural building

Oliver Goshey of Adundant Edge recently interviewed me for his podcast series. In our chat, we talked about the reality (or realities) of natural building, including the importance of building for your climate, the true cost of building a natural home, and some common misconceptions about natural materials. One piece of our conversation focuses on getting real about the expenses associated with natural building and the myth of the “$1000 house” (for lack of a better term). Although materials may be affordable, labor costs can be spendy for folks who aren’t able to do the work themselves.

We also talk some about the shou-sugi-ban wood preservation methods I’ve been experimenting with lately. Check out the full interview and tell me what you think. Questions and comments welcome.

Listen here: The reality of natural building and designing for your climate with Ziggy Liloia from “The Year of Mud”

Oct 20
Love7

Yakisugi: Japanese Charred Wood Finish

By Carpentry, Timber Framing, Woodworking

shou sugi ban finish with propane torch

Yakisugi is a traditional method of wood preservation. Charring wood is not specific to Japan, but charring sugi (Japanese cypress) for cladding use is a traditional feature of some Japanese architecture. It’s been used primarily for practical reasons — charred wood is less susceptible to rot and moisture damage, insect damage, and ironically enough, it’s more resistant to fire. Plus, it looks pretty badass if you ask me.

I first saw a video of a guy burning sugi boards several years ago and was entranced. I knew that I wanted to try it sometime, and I decided to use our first timber frame as an experiment. So I bought a torch and lit up our white oak timbers. Read ahead for more…

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Sep 18
Love8

Planing Large Timbers with a 7″ Electric Planer

By Carpentry, Timber Framing

electric hand planer - triton 180mm planer - TPL180

If you’re thrifty and building a timber frame structure for yourself, you’re most likely going to buy green (or unseasoned) timbers from a local sawmill. If you’re lucky, you might acquire timbers from a bandsaw mill, which produces relatively clean cuts when compared to a circular sawmill. However, if you’re not partial to the rough sawn look and texture, you have a few options to smooth and finish the timbers. Perhaps the most economical option is to plane the timbers yourself, but how?

6×6, 8×8 and larger sized timbers can be intimidating to consider planing. There’s always a hand plane, but that is challenging work for more than a few pieces or tough wood like oak. I was faced with this dilemma and opted for the electric hand planer route, picking up a Triton TPL180. The TPL180 is a 7″ wide electric hand planer designed for large dimension lumber. Here are my impressions of the tool.

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Aug 07
Love5
japanese timber log saw

2 Useful Timber Framing Saws

By Hand Tools, Carpentry, Timber Framing

z saw 333

If you’re building a timber frame with hand tools, it’s helpful to have a few types of hand saws in your arsenal. There are many many types of saws that you could use, and at the end of the day it boils down to personal preference. Me? I like to try new tools from time to time, and these are two that I find very effective in the cutting process — a Japanese anahiki saw (or timber saw), and a Japanese ryoba saw (or two sided saw).

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Jul 27
Love4

An Exercise in Visualization

By Timber Framing, Natural Building Workshops

dealing with irregular timbers

We just wrapped up our 7 day Timber Frame Workshop and I’m finally catching my breath. Whew. Timber framing has a steep learning curve so it’s not the kind of thing you can easily jump into, willy-nilly. It takes some warming up and getting used to lots of new terms, tools, methodologies, etc.

Timber framing is, first and foremost, an exercise in visualization. Looking at plans and applying layout to a timber, imagining a timber oriented in the building — these are all skills that take some time to hone. It’s a totally different way to approach building the bones of a house because everything is laid out and cut in advance of the pieces being assembled. So it’s immensely helpful to be able to see things in your mind, before they exist in front of you. Essential, even.

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Jun 27
Love7
timber-frame---green-white-oak-timbers

10,000 Pounds of Oak

By Natural Building Workshops, Timber Framing

timber-frame---green-white-oak-timbers

White oak is impressively heavy. Green white oak timbers are that much heavier. Today we got our order of white oak, pine, and sassafras, in-between massive bouts of rain. There was flash flooding for most of the day except for a tiny window in which we were able to get 10,000+ pounds of timber on-site and loaded off the trailer. I’m thrilled this day is behind me now. Jeez. Onto the next step! (All of the wood is not pictured here, by the way.)

p.s. The “wedding tent” is still going strong after all these years! Granted, we replaced the canopy once, but… this thing has been a lifesaver for shade and rain protection during our workshops. So goofy looking. Maybe a barn is in order next year?

p.p.s. Oh, how do I know it’s about 10,000 pounds of wood? This handy dandy lumber weight calculator, of course.