This weekend, I attended an excellent firewood workshop at the Clark Conservation Area here in northeast Missouri. My primary motivator was the promised access to timber that would be granted by simply attending the workshop. I came away from the workshop quite excited by the possibility of obtaining free white and black oak logs perfect for timber framing, but very stuck as to how in the heck I could pull off getting the material actually out of the woods.
Lately, I have been doing a lot of reading online about hand tools, especially those for timber framing. A couple of websites have caught my eye recently (which I’ll mention soon elsewhere), and during one of those late night reading ventures I stumbled upon this excellent video about the history and transformation of the Gränsfors Bruks axe company of Sweden, one of the top hand-forged tool manufacturers around.
I’ve been reading snippets about the company and its products elsewhere (mostly in catalogs), but this video gave me a much broader knowledge of the company than before, and I must say, it was very satisfying. Inspiring.
The mighty central bent in the Wabi-sabi kitchen
A bit over a week ago, we raised our mighty giant of a bent for the kitchen. It’s the bent we’ve been working on for weeks and weeks – an assembly of three posts, and a beam with a scarf joint. The beam in question is a gigantic, curving sycamore joined to a cannon of an oak, supported on the south side by a stout poplar, in the middle an oak with a coped shoulder and through tenon (that runs through the scarf), and on the south another oak post. Put together, we guessed that the bent weighed in around 1800 pounds. No joke!
Our new Millers Falls boring machine
We’ve been looking for a boring machine for a year or more. Last fall, we saw two at the local flea market on the same day, but for some reason we decided to pass on both at the time. I can’t remember why.
This year, in May during our timber frame workshop weekend, we had a chance to use Tom Cundiff’s Millers Falls machine. Wow! It was a workout, but made boring holes for mortises much more practical with human power. Since then, we’ve been looking pretty steadily.
It’s sad that power tools just completely lack the character and charisma (and oftentimes, quality) of a well-designed hand tool… This is a Kent pattern axe. (Or hewing hatchet, or broad axe.) This year has been a good education in handling more hand tools that I have not used much before.
Somehow, the preferences on this blog were mysteriously changed some time ago so that you had to register to leave comments. I corrected the problem so that is no longer the case. Oops!
Thanks for reading (and commenting)!
Our freshly raised black walnut bent
In this post, I’m going to rewind back to June of this year when Wabi-sabi hoisted its first timber frame bent to vertical. (A “bent” is a cross-sectional assembly of posts and beams, part of the framing of a timber frame structure.) This particular bent was composed of two roundwood oak posts, and a hewn black walnut beam, with a span of around 18 feet. No small feat!
Removing the original earthen floor
The project of replacing the earthen floor is still continuing, as we wait for the base layer of earthen floor to dry before we proceed with applying a finish layer. This gives me a chance to describe what we have done so far to tear up the floor and insulate a brand new earthen floor.
Wow, I am way behind in reporting news on Wabi-sabi’s kitchen construction. Things are happening, I assure you. Even though it might not look like it when you walk by our site every day. (Timber framing ain’t a quick job…)
The biggest thing to have happened in some time just took place last week when we raised our biggest bent yet – a lunker composed of three posts, and one long beam with a scarf joint, the same assembly we worked on during our timber frame workshop in May. The thing must have weighed nearly 2000 pounds, and we used a super slick system of pulleys and human power to raise the beast.
Anyway, you’ll have to wait for my own personal account of the event (I swear I’ll post some video soon!), but thankfullly Alline of Dancing Rabbit has posted her own eyewitness account of the event with plenty of photos.
It was an intensely exciting and rewarding day, I’ll say. More soon! I mean it, Mom and Dad (and all you other readers that don’t pester me as much).
Strangely enough, my house has been featured in another magazine — this one a rather strange one. Popular Mechanics recently interviewed me for their so-called “Backyard Genius” Top Ten. Alongside all the praise for gloss and high tech gadgets in the mag is a little piece about my house, built out of mud.
I like that its inclusion is kinda subversive, in a way. Ha!
A small blurb can be found in the latest issue (September 2011), and in their online feature.
Check it out.
About The Year of Mud
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.
