29 06, 2019

Stone or brick?

2019-06-29T09:59:41+00:00

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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?

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Logchimney

modern chimney

Originally posted 2015-08-10 14:40:21.

Stone or brick?2019-06-29T09:59:41+00:00
29 06, 2019

Log cabin mill

2019-06-29T09:59:40+00:00

cabin

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.

Log cabin mill2019-06-29T09:59:40+00:00
29 06, 2019

The Pit Saw

2019-06-29T09:59:37+00:00

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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.

The Pit Saw2019-06-29T09:59:37+00:00
29 06, 2019

An alternative method of hewing a log

2019-06-29T09:59:36+00:00

Swinging axe

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.

Railroad ties

Originally posted 2015-08-07 19:04:50.

An alternative method of hewing a log2019-06-29T09:59:36+00:00
29 06, 2019

The adze

2019-06-29T09:59:35+00:00

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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.

The adze2019-06-29T09:59:35+00:00
29 06, 2019

Finished interior where timber frame meets log cabin

2019-06-29T09:59:24+00:00

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Here’s the finished room made from that old house. You can see the posts exposed in the corner where it meets with the log cabin, and you can see the antique joists above. (we not only built the log cabin, and this timber frame addition, but also the cabinetry, and even… the kitchen table)

Originally posted 2015-07-31 11:59:05.

Finished interior where timber frame meets log cabin2019-06-29T09:59:24+00:00
29 06, 2019

Stick-built and timber-frame combined

2019-06-29T09:59:23+00:00

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Okay… it’s time to put the old house back up.

We decided here not to use stress skin panels but rather we would built standard 2by6 exterior walls and then build the old timber frame on the interior of those walls to be seen and appreciated for decades to come. (no real reason for that… I guess there just wasn’t enough of material needed to bother ordering panels)

For all the stone work enthusiasts out there let me point out one feature of the stone that makes it attractive… depth and roughness. Smooth surface stone will never give you the play on light as do rough faced, jagged stone.

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Once the walls were all framed up we started with the rafters.

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We could then start to get a sense of what the finished kitchen would look like.

 

Originally posted 2015-07-30 14:18:51.

Stick-built and timber-frame combined2019-06-29T09:59:23+00:00
29 06, 2019

The slow demise of timber framing

2019-06-29T09:59:21+00:00

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This is how the addition off of the log cabin started out… with a worn out mid-1800’s home scheduled to be torn down.

She wasn’t much to look at… but her frame was built well (which is why she was still standing) and I needed a frame.

Notice the original siding on the chimney end.

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The frame of this home was like nothing I had seen before. It clearly was built in a transitional time of construction.

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The timbers were smaller than in the older homes that we had previously experienced but the mortise-and-tenon joints were still each carefully marked with roman numerals, (as seen in the photo above). Each of these joints was held in place with a wooden peg (many of which we had to drill out).

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But what made this frame unique, in my experience at least, was the grid type appearance. So many horizontal framing members… hmmm… why would they be there?

The only time I ever install horizontal framing is when I know I’m going to put up board-and-batten siding. And that’s what this house had… but… the board-and-batten found here was a form of underlayment on this house which was then to be covered up with horizontal siding.

This is the oldest house that I have ever seen with a layer of underlayment under the siding. This layer contributes greatly in sealing out air infiltration and strengthens our homes today. And I guess that’s what it was doing here… the timbers were getting smaller and an added layer of wood was giving the house the added strength that it would need.

Soon the timbers of our houses would shrink to the size of two-by-fours and the fancy joinery would be eliminated, replaced by a few nails.

 

Originally posted 2015-07-29 13:25:17.

The slow demise of timber framing2019-06-29T09:59:21+00:00
29 06, 2019

The raising of a timber frame

2019-06-29T09:59:08+00:00

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Once we completed the floor deck above the basement we set to work assembling the timber-framed wall sections.

All was going like clockwork.

We scheduled for a crane to come in the following day. Within 24 hours we would have a completed standing frame for the world to see!

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As fate would have it, when the morning came to raise the timber-frame that the sky opened up and poured upon us.

The forecast called for the rain to pass quickly so we held to our schedule.

The crane was on the way.

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Within minutes of the crane’s arrival the assembled timber-frame walls began to rise.

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The heavy duty forklift begins hauling the trusses to the area where the crane can lift them into place. Each of these trusses weighs about the same as a small car so without all of this heavy equipment we would be assembling this frame one piece at a time… or be calling in a hundred of our closest Amish friends.

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The first of four timbered trusses floats down onto the top plates. I’ve always loved these moments when men reach out as far as they can and first touch a timber as it is set into place.

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One after another the trusses are set in place.

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Originally posted 2015-07-19 16:07:01.

The raising of a timber frame2019-06-29T09:59:08+00:00
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