Mora Spoon Knives for sale
UPDATE: Sold! Thank you!
Okay, I normally do not post items for sale here, but why not. Are you interested? Post a comment or contact me and the first one gets them! Read ahead for more.
I’m a sucker for cutting tenons. Maybe because it provides me with a great excuse to swing an axe. Maybe because once I get into the groove, I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I’m able to cut and clean up a tenon swiftly. Cutting a tenon — by hand — is a great skill to learn and practice, and I want to make the argument that it can be done by hand rather quickly, too. After cutting tenon after tenon, I got to the point of being able to do the bulk of the work with a saw and axe. I skipped the chisel altogether at some point. Here’s my process for cutting tenons by hand, perhaps my favorite “grunt work” of timber framing. Actually, I like it so much I wish I had an excuse to cut some right now…
Understanding layout — the most important part of timber framing
I’m going to be very honest here — I will not be making any in-depth attempt to describe timber frame joinery layout here on this blog as part of my documentation for building our timber frame and straw bale house. I don’t feel fully qualified, and besides, you can find some pretty good documentation elsewhere. Personally, I’m in the camp of really needing to see and do layout to actually understand it. Reading about it, and having someone describe it to me makes my brain slowly turn off. Call me visual.
However, I can say a few things about the two systems we employed when building our timber frame. They are Square Rule and Scribe Rule layout. They are two singular approaches to achieving the same basic effect — making two different pieces of wood relate to each other, and join in a logical way.
Now that my Windsor chair is done, I have bonus time to work on extracurricular woodworking and carving projects at Greg’s. Right now I’m in the midst of a Peter Galbert-style sawhorse with ratcheting head. Oh boy, this is a treat. But more on that later, since I have nothing to show just yet.
Above is a spoon I carved a few weeks back. It’s one of a handful I carved in the last month, and my favorite spoon so far. I have plans to continue making more, and my new shaving horse will be extremely useful once I get back home to continue the carving work.
Well, I’ve got a good excuse to post more Hobbit house pictures from The Hobbit set, so I’m going to go ahead and do it. They’re just so pretty to look at… I just love all the little details. Anyway, reader Jamie Morgan messaged me with some information after visiting the location in New Zealand. Read ahead for more pictures — and yes, the new sets have real building elements (and not just gross foam).
Finished Windsor chair with milk paint and oil finish
Wow, I can finally claim that the Windsor chair I have been working on is… 100% done. In fact, I’m sitting on it as I type this. What a great feeling! (For my rear end, and my morale!)
Here’s a few photos of the final milk paint job. I’m really digging the bayberry green color.
Painting the Windsor chair with milk paint
Paint has historically conjured some nasty feelings and sensations for me — that chemical smell oh-so liable to induce headaches, the almost plastic appearance of the finished product, the worry that washing brushes in the sink or out on the lawn is going to kill something, somewhere down the line… Well, it doesn’t have to be that way! Enter good old fashioned, homemade milk paint. Yes, paint… made with milk. It’s really that simple.
Milk is a brilliant natural alternative to synthetic binders, and has been used for thousands of years, and is perhaps a superior product to anything you would typically find in the store. I’ve learned that milk paint is a traditional finish for Windsor chairs, and you can actually buy it in powder form. I’ve made it myself in the past, but buying it is a convenient alternative to souring and stirring milk with your own pigment — see Old Fashioned Milk Paint.
Windsor chair… complete!
Many hours later, and my first chairmaking project is complete — check out these pictures of my hoop back Windsor chair. April and I have been visiting Greg in his timber frame shop here in Hendersonville, TN for several weeks now, making steady progress on our chairs under Greg’s expert guidance. It has been really, really fun, and it is thrilling to see the (almost) complete product. All that is left is painting the chair (with traditional milk paint, of course).
Check out these photos of the Windsor chair!
Using reclaimed material for our flooring installation
Our wood flooring installation was a race against the clock — back in June, we had but a few short days to install over 300 square feet of our wood subfloor before the start of our Timber Framing Workshop. No pneumatic nailers here, no big sheets of plywood — only a huge pile of nail-y, reclaimed yellow pine tongue and groove flooring, full sun blasting down on us, and a few great helping hands to see us through to victory.
Here is the story of our wood flooring installation, and why I think we chose the best wood floor for the job.
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The pier and beam foundation of our timber frame house
Earlier in the year, I discussed the idea of “replacing concrete with wood” in our pier and beam foundation design. For the construction of our timber frame house, we decided to go high and dry, and eliminate as much concrete as possible with this style foundation. I wanted to take this opportunity to go more in-depth about the plans for our pier and beam foundation, with a bunch of images to illustrate the design.
Read ahead more for details.
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 website 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. In 2012, we started offering Natural Building Workshops, so you can learn essential hands-on skills to build your own natural home.
