building (454)

April 19, 2012 at 5:30 am

“Hi Lloyd & Lew,

On some of my recent wanders I have been finding bush crafter debris shelters within the woodlands. If you have a moment I thought these might give you a smile. It looks like some of the local kids have been building some of them (the one I call the tree hugge r) but the latest batch have been quite

large and well made. Perhaps it is a group of bushcrafters or scouts getting some practice or the kids are getting really good at them. I enjoy the fact that the ancient art of den building is still alive and well, it brings back fond childhood memories for me.…

https://thequietofnight.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/branches-smoke-little-falcon.html

https://thequietofnight.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/tree-huggers-shelter.html

As always, I am enjoying your blog and the shelter twitter feed. They both make a great bit of escapism in a working day!

Best wishes,

Alan”

Tags: ,
Post a comment

Radio Interview With Me by Mike Litchfield Thursday Feb 9th

February 6, 2012 at 7:54 pm

Mike Litchfield, author of the excellent book In-laws, Outlaws, and Granny Flats (Taunton Books), is going to interview me on the subject of tiny homes on the local West Marin radio station, KWMR, this Thursday at  9 AM, Pacific Time (PST -0800): https://www.kwmr.org/

   A great review of Tiny Homes appeared on the flagship of the tiny house movement, the Tiny House Blog, run by Kent Griswold.

   Due to that, and the Wall Street Journal’s and New York Times‘ article last week, we had web orders for 41 books today.

   More on the tiny homes front: Our neighbor. fisherman Todd, told me that a few weeks ago he gave a book to a farmer friend, and the guy is already building something he saw in the book. Last night I saw John Korty, the filmmaker, at a movie in San Rafael and he said that his son was looking at the book and getting ready to build something out of it. It never occurred to me that the book would be such a motivator.

Tags: , , ,
Post a comment

Roundwood Timber Framing by Ben Law

February 1, 2012 at 9:31 pm

This is a review I wrote for the Mother Earth News in December:

If I’d had Ben Law’s book Roundwood Timber Framing (Published by Chelsea Green) back when I was learning how to build in the ’60s, I would have been inspired to plant and tend trees suitable for house framing — I could have framed several buildings by now as a result. Filled with beautiful color photographs and detailed drawings, this one-of-a-kind, practical guide will likely evoke the same “if only” reaction in many of its readers.

One of the unique features of this book is its step-by-step description of the process for creating your own building materials. Another is that every building shown within was constructed using a modified cruck frame. This method consists of using two or more A-frames, and was used in medieval times to build houses, barns and halls. Law has adapted it structurally to triangulate, and therefore brace, rectilinear buildings. In the back of the book are sequential photos of the construction of seven different round-pole buildings.

Read More …

Tags: , , ,
Post a comment (1 comment)

SunRay Kelley

January 22, 2012 at 12:13 pm

SunRay Kelley in “Hani’s Man Cave,” which he built last year in the hills near Middleton (Clear Lake Area), Calif. (His friend Hani has a wife and 4 daughters, and SunRay thought he needed some yang space.)

   I got there on a misty December morning, just as he was in the finishing stages. It’s a lovely little building. It improves on the nature surrounding it.

   He calls this a “kit.” He cut trees and milled lumber for the 12-sided, 14-½’ wooden yurt on his property in Washington and trucked it down to California. SunRay says he can ship kits like this anywhere: https://www.sunraykelley.com

   This interior wall is sculpted cob, a SunRay specialty (the secret is clay), but it’s essentially a wooden building. The porch is framed with locally-harvested manzanita, bay, and pine.

More on pp. 100-101, Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Post a comment (1 comment)