It’s pretty moist at my new home in Southern Oregon, but no matter where you live, you need to be sure to check the moisture content of your material before you install it, especially if you get a second shipment! Read the full article…
It’s pretty moist at my new home in Southern Oregon, but no matter where you live, you need to be sure to check the moisture content of your material before you install it, especially if you get a second shipment! Read the full article…
When I started to install the WindsorONE fascia on my shop, I learned that WindsorONE recommends using butt joints. Some of us has probably learned the hard way that manufacturer recommendations typically mean the product won’t be under warranty unless those recommendations are followed! Read the full article…
Since I began work on my new home and shop, I’ve been learning a lot about new materials. I didn’t want to do this job on my own—I can’t even begin to keep track of all the new instructions and methods to ensure proper installs. Even if it came out in the last five or ten years, it’s still brand new to the way our industry works. Read the full article…
A long time ago, I lived in Prescott, Arizona and built new homes from the ground up. Being from California, the ground in Arizona was new to me. Through footings, framing, and finish, I struggled to bring those houses out of the rocks and trees without damaging the landscape—and still make a profit. Read the full article…
Up until a few years ago, nearly all the exterior entry doors I installed were made of wood. Every time I finished an install I packed up my tools and left the job knowing the door wouldn’t last long—especially if it was on the south side of a home. Read the full article…
Early last winter, after searching for more than two years, I finally found a new home in Oregon, outside of Medford, near the small town of Ruch. It took a long time to find this place because I couldn’t decide where I wanted to live and once I did, I had a hard time finding a place I could afford—a small, older home that hadn’t been remodeled. After the “big boom,” houses like that became pretty rare. Read the full article…
…and a Deck Ledger
The most important thing I’ve learned about installing doors and windows—and of course I learned it the hard way—is this: Look at the Whole Picture, then always start at the bottom and get the sill perfectly level. That lesson paid off big time while setting a French door and sidelights in my own home. Read the full article…
In the not-too-distant past, all boats were made out of wood. It was a highly refined art that required proper materials, extensive knowledge, and patience. Today, this skill survives among an elite group of craftsmen. Read the full article…
A few years ago, I was riding on a plane to Columbus for JLC LIVE. I was working away on my laptop, oblivious to the fellow sitting beside me who was reading every word I wrote over my shoulder. When he asked if I was a carpenter, I may have exhaled audibly. I was sure that he’d start telling me about his most recent remodel, the molding he installed in his dining room, or the screen door he hung on the back porch. I couldn’t have been further off the mark. Read the full article…
Like a lot of guys I meet, I’ve spent years fighting to build cabinets and furniture, and mill custom moldings, in my garage shop—working around the 1951 Mack fire truck I restored, and the 1954 Harley I’m working on, and my newer bike—plus, I have to store all this crap for Gary and Mike’s Roadshows…well, you get the picture. I wanted a real shop, a place I could spread out and get some work done without having to move stuff every time I wanted to build something. Read the full article…
About two weeks before leaving for three days of Roadshows in New Jersey a while back, I got a call from a friend in North Carolina: “Hey,” he said, “I know this guy in New Jersey who turns 16-ft. columns and tall porch posts on a 19th-century lathe!” I couldn’t pass that up. Read the full article…
In the modern world, we value college degrees over trade-school know-how; and our educational system—and our country—pays the price. The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades is a good example of effective education, education that actually works, where, truly, no child is left behind; and where success—both for educators and students—is easy to track: at Williamson, nearly every graduate who wants a job gets a job, and that is a great measure of success. Read the full article…
(with Gary Katz)
Not long ago, Gary Katz and I visited the William Thorsen House in Berkeley, CA. Built in 1909—one year after the Gamble House—the Thorsen House represents the “last of the large and elaborate wooden houses designed by Greene and Greene,” (Edward Bosley), for which Randall Makinson, in his book Greene & Greene: Architecture as a Fine Art, coined the term, “Ultimate Bungalows.” Read the full article…
Hull-Oakes Lumber may be the last steam-powered commercial saw mill in the country, and they’re one of the few mills capable of cutting large timbers up to 85 ft. long. The mill has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1996. Large long timbers are still used in railroad trestles, the restoration of historic structures, and for the spars and masts of ships. By coincidence, the day I arrived the mill was cutting an 80-ft. long timber for the restoration of the C.A. Thayer, an early 20th century three-masted schooner used to transport lumber along the West Coast. Read the full article…