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Sep 04
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Our New Timber Framing Tool: Millers Falls Boring Machine

By Timber Framing, Hand Tools, Wabi-sabi Kitchen
boring machine

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.

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Aug 30
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Wabi-sabi’s First Timber Frame Bent Raising

By Wabi-sabi Kitchen, Carpentry, Timber Framing, Hand Tools, Bent Raising
RIMG5053

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!

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May 24
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Making Mortises with a Boring Machine

By Wabi-sabi Kitchen, Timber Framing, Video, Hand Tools

This is one incredibly sweet tool: the boring machine. A boring (or mortising) machine is a hand-operated drill press, usually equipped with a two inch auger bit, that allows the builder to bore holes through timber in order to make a mortise pocket.

This particular model (I forget the manufacturer) is one that Tom Cundiff brought along with him to our timber framing workshop weekend. We banged out a few mortises a lot more easily with this tool than any other could possibly do. (Of course, not including electric drills.) We value hand tools very highly and use them nearly exclusively on our construction. Needless to say, we’re going to have to seriously look into obtaining one of these…. and to think we passed one up at the local flea market last year! Ack!

 

May 21
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Video: Making a Timber Frame Peg

By Wabi-sabi Kitchen, Timber Framing, Hand Tools

Thomas recently had this awesome little peg-making setup made by a friend, and we had the opportunity to try it out last weekend during our timber frame workshop.

It’s super simple and results in very uniform pegs, as long as you have straight grain wood to use. In this case, we were hitting white oak splits through the bench.

It’s essentially a bench with a sharpened rod projecting through the top that cuts through the wood as it is driven through from above with a mallet. Once the wood is hit all the way through, you have a 1″ peg at your disposal!

Check it out!

 

Apr 23
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Amazing Traditional Carpentry and Timber Framing Website

By Wabi-sabi Kitchen, Resources, Video, Hand Tools

I was very fortunate to recently catch wind of Carpenters from Europe and Beyond, an incredibly valuable traditional carpentry resource from France’s Ministry of Culture. The website is host to a wealth of information about the history of carpentry, the people who honed the craft, and videos of modern day traditional carpenters continuing to work by hand, especially in the timber framing tradition.

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Jun 19
Love1

Finish Earthen Plaster: Part 2: Applying Earth Plaster

By Hand Tools, Clay Plaster

finalplaster-01

Once you have mixed your deliciously smooth finish earthen plaster, it’s time to apply it to make your cob walls shine. It’s a seemingly simple process, but there is a certain hidden finesse that will make the job easier with time and practice. I’m no expert, but here’s how I went about plastering the interior of my cob house.

(This entry is a continuation from Finish Earthen Plaster: Part 1: Materials and Recipe.)

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Jun 24
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Building a lean-to trestle

By Hand Tools

trestle00

Over the weekend, I built a lean-to trestle. The cob walls are getting too tall in some spots to work from the ground. I’ve been using a long bench that Thomas kindly lent to me, but I needed at least one other (and taller) option to reach high up.

I based this trestle off of a design in The Hand-Sculpted House, but I made it a bit more simplistic, since I didn’t need this trestle to be super-tall (and because my carpentry skills are pretty marginal). I used some old 2x4s and some 1x lumber. The trestle is about five feet wide and leans against the cob wall for support, and gives me an extra three feet to my standing height. It works just lovely.

May 14
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Cobbers thumbs

By Hand Tools

cobbersthumbs

The great thing about cob is its low-tech nature. You don’t need many fancy tools to work with the medium. Cobbers thumbs are useful wooden hand tools for pounding cob into place on walls, and “stitching” the material together. The fat, blunt ends are good for the pounding, and the pointed ends are useful for weaving different layers together.

You can make these with any old scrap wood. I made these from a downed black locust branch, using just a utility knife and a bow saw.