Summer is quickly coming to an end.
Some youth have already started back to school.
The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend.
Make sure and spend some quite time on your porch!
Originally posted 2015-08-22 13:39:57.
Here is the rebuilt kitchen fireplace in the historic Noah Parsons House located in Massachusetts.
The mantle piece adds a nice decorative touch, don’t you think? The left side is plenty big enough to have a fire to keep the room warm, and, with the aid of the forged swing arm above it, to cook the family’s meals . And then, once enough coals are built up in the fire they can then be moved under the beehive oven where fresh breads or a pies can then be baked.
Other rooms in the house are certainly “fancier” than this kitchen, designed to impress guests and maintain civility within the family… but I can guarantee you that standing in front of this fireplace is where everyone wanted to be. It is certainly where you would find this old boy.
This fireplace is also a great example of designing and building a new home that is classic in appeal. They look good when finished, but they improve in appearance as they age. A homeowner who builds a fireplace like this today will be admired for generations to come.
Originally posted 2015-08-22 13:17:19.
When I look at this photo I first notice the wood cook-stove and admire it for having the ability to be free from the power company and my imagination runs wild with how good the food must taste that is cooked on top and within it’s wood fired oven.
And then I can’t help but notice the early form of kitchen cabinetry with a bowl used for a sink, how quaint. No clogged drains, just pitch the used water out the open widow when done.
It’s then that I start looking at all the equipment that fills this photo and I am filled with dread as I see the workload that was once placed upon the lady of the house. I think the life of a full time, stay at home mom is tough today, but it must have been overwhelming then. And keep in mind, this was the good life for many at the time.
Originally posted 2015-08-18 14:09:11.
Yes, it is true.
At one time I did create a garden for my new bride and I with the aid of a team of horses, a plow, and the generous help of some wonderful neighbors. (The country folk of Tennessee are some of best people that walk this earth).
That’s me with my hand on the plow… a much younger and leaner version of me, I might add.
This was my “recreational work” … when I wasn’t building my future home, or salvaging material for it.
Originally posted 2015-08-15 20:26:41.
I bet Billy was one happy boy having his own log cabin!
(I bet his folks were happy to, only having paid a buck for it!)
Originally posted 2015-08-11 14:50:18.
How about chimneys… which do you prefer? Stone? or Brick? Perhaps… stone with a brick top? or maybe your preference is a modern chimney built of wood and vinyl?
Originally posted 2015-08-10 14:40:21.
A mill, like no other… just look at that boxed-in chase running down to the stream!
Originally posted 2015-08-09 21:36:44.
After a log was hewn square with an axe, and if someone wanted lumber for joists, flooring, or siding, the timber would then be taken to a pit saw.
Operating a human powered saw is much more labor intensive than swinging an axe. I have found that it only takes a few strokes of the saw before the first time user has had quite enough. Never volunteer to be the man under the timber, you do not want to be the person at the bottom of this pit who is showered upon with sawdust all day.
Notice the saw patterns that this form of cutting lumber creates.
When salvaging a house this is often a great indicator of the age of the home. Circular saws came into existence around 1800 (which of course created circular patterns). The type of saw pattern seen on a houses framing members can clue a person in as to which side of that century mark the home is from.
The appreciation for these vertical markings on lumber leads “old house guys” today to seek out new lumber (when it is needed) from sawmills that cut their lumber with band-saw mills which create similar vertical markings to that of the 18th century and earlier.
Often squared timbers were taken to a pit saw and these hewn members would be sawn into three ceiling joists. This would create one joist which would have sawn marks on two sides, and two joists that would each have a sawn face on one side and an axe hewn face on the other. It’s a treat to go into an 18th century house and spot this two to one ratio. I’ve pointed this feature out to both architectural historians and tour guides who had never heard of this.
This sketch is from Eric Sloane’s book “Museum of Early American Tools” which is one the books on my recommended reading list (the link to which can be found on the home page). This will be my last posting of Sloane’s sketches. I hope you have enjoyed them.
Originally posted 2015-08-08 13:07:02.
Railroad ties used to be all hewn with an axe also, very much like log cabins were built.
I’ve seen some of these ties still in use when I have “walked the tracks”.
Often, because these railroad ties were short in length, men could skip the step chopping the wood into sections and rather split out an entire side in one large piece as seen in these photos.
Originally posted 2015-08-07 19:04:50.
If you want to take a rough hewn beam or log and make it smooth the tool to use is an adze. I have seen men who were talented with this tool smooth out a rough piece of wood so nicely you would think it was machined and sanded.
In this crazy world that we live in today the adze is used by log cabin kit manufacturers not to create a smoother surface but to roughen up their previously smooth “logs”. Go figure.
An adze is also a dangerous tool, one that I prefer to operate as little as possible. It needs to be razor sharp and swung through a complete overhead motion between your legs. The famous woodworker Roy Underhill operates his by ending his swing under his boot… no thank you Roy!
This sketch is from Eric Sloane’s book “Museum of Early American Tools” which is one the books on my recommended reading list that I offered a few weeks ago. I’d like to share a few more of Sloane’s sketches with you in the coming day or two… I think you’ll enjoy them.
BTW… I have four duplicate copies of four different books of Sloane’s (one that is out of print) that I’m giving away to four different people that sign up by Monday. I’m going to do a random drawing of those on the list… I’ll shoot the winners an email and ask for an address. (The sign up button is at the top of my FB page or on my blog handmadehouses.com OR… if you get my free list of the books I recommend reading you will be automatically signed up. Oh… one last thing… those that signed up to get the free guide prior to this last weekend, there was a technical issue… you did receive your guide, but you weren’t signed up… sorry about that… please, try again, thanks… I’m afraid that I am a much better builder than I am a techie. Noah
Originally posted 2015-08-07 18:11:40.
