No one will ever call me a purist.
Now, I have done my share of historic restorations, but my preference is building new homes that are traditionally designed while also incorporating antique and locally available materials wherever I can.
Here we see in this photo huge 19th century oak logs, nearly eight inches thick and each well over a foot in height. And, you can see plenty of new lumber as well. I use the best of materials that are available, from whatever era they were made.
And, the same strategy holds true for the tools we use. If you look closely you will see a modern chainsaw, and next to it a Japanese hand saw, then on top of a log you will see a large antique chisel known as a slick, for the fine shaving of large pieces of wood such as the notching of a log cabin. And next to that slick, is a large sledge hammer for those times when a log needs convincing who is the boss.
Originally posted 2015-07-07 21:50:13.