Things are progressing smoothly for us here in Nacogdoches. We have fairly quickly moved on from layout to cutting the joinery for the Lake Naconiche timber frame pavilion. I personally haven’t spent much time around the more specialized timber framing power tools, and it’s been a sight to see…. and an experience to use them, …
Yesterday, the Timber Framers Guild Lake Naconiche Workshop officially began, and we starting chipping away at the layout work for the 32×48 timber frame pavilion. It’s hard to believe in a little over a week, the building we’re looking at on paper should be up in the air… continues…” – Ziggy
September 5-7, 2014 for a 3 day workshop to learn cob building essentials — we’ll be building a sheltered outdoor bench from the ground up, and an interior wall full of artistic touches in a newly built straw bale home.” – Ziggy Learn more about this workshop…
The second story of our timber frame & straw bale house has shorter than standard wall heights. It is definitely standing height, but the beams (or top plates, more specifically) that support the rafters are at head height, and another curved tie beam is similarly placed. We have two door locations upstairs, one to access …
The completed roundwood spiral staircase At last, I’m here to report that April and I accomplished building the round wood spiral staircase. Over the course of five days, literally up to the day before we left Dancing Rabbit, we installed the risers and treads. The staircase design came from our dearest Tom Cundiff, who instructed …
(Pictured here is) One of 14 finalists in the Wood Stove Design Challenge. The first ever Wood Stove Design Challenge and Decathlon is set to go down soon, hosted by the Alliance for Green Heat. The Decathlon will take place on the National Mall in D.C., and is open to the public Nov.” – Ziggy Read …
A historic day for straw bale construction! Thankfully, we’ve never had to worry ourselves about local building codes, but there are many, many more folks who regularly struggle with codes when attempting to build a natural home in their area. And so the following news is very welcome, not just for those folks, but for …
Our living roof edge detail getting installed The hardest part of building a living roof, other than figuring out how to get all that monstrously heavy soil or sod up there, is designing a good edge detail that will contain the soil at the eaves and gable ends. A good living roof edge detail should …
Ziggy Shares Some Tips for Maintaining a Living Roof Read More »
The current Gobcobatron interior I promised some big news earlier, and here it is! Gobcobatron, one of the most recognized homes at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri, is for sale. It is a cob house that’s been featured in Yes! magazine, Popular Mechanics, Parade Magazine, Treehugger, Lloyd Kahn’s Tiny Homes, overseas magazines, and other media. …
New Owner Needed for Gobcobatron Cob Home at Dancing Rabbit Read More »
Baked bread fresh from the cob oven A few short days ago, our first Cob Oven Workshop came to an end. The workshop was filled with mud, fire, and a whole lot of fun. Thankfully, our participants agreed! Folks got down and dirty as we built an oven from the hearth upwards. We learned all …
Our Inaugural Cob Oven Workshop: Mud, Fire, and Fun! Read More »
The fearless band of roundwood timber framers Our most excellent group of students have disbanded for now, as our 2013 Timber Frame Workshop has come to an end. The group took on the challenge of working with roundwood to construct a traditional mortise and tenon style timber frame, and I must say — they did …
Roundwood Timber Framers Unite: More Timber Frame Workshop Photos Read More »
Recently, one of the timber frame participants wisely said: ‘if some one offers you a drill, take it.’ I think this quote has wide application, and plan on remembering it. Our instructor Tom Cundiff says he prefers to teach students with minimal or no experience with working wood or timber framing. In his view, those …
If Some One Offers You a Drill, Take It (Timber Frame Photo Update) Read More »
