We will be holding a course on Blockbau June 18-23

Blockbau is a log-building technique using squared timbers.

More information here:
http://riegelbau.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/blockbau-workshop/

Additional info to come. PM or email me for more info or to reserve your spot,
DLBahler@live.com

definite prices TBA, but we can give you a general idea.

Some additional information on the project:

The Hirschbachli Käserei will be a facility for the production of a traditional, handmade cheese known as Alpkäse. This cheese is made from the unpasteurized milk of cows who eat only grass from unfertilized pastures during the summer, and only hay during the winter. The practices used in this facility are learned directly from a Swiss master cheesemaker with over 40 years of experience, and the culture used for the cheese has been imported directly from the Alps, having been passed down for countless generations.

The cheese produced here will use the same methods and practices that have been passed down for generations, mentioned even during Roman times.

Blockbau is a traditional building method relying on vertically-stacked timbers fitting tightly and joined to each other with pegs so that the entire wall serves as a single load-bearing unit. Blockbau is extremely versatile, and can be used to build large or small structures.

The Chaletbau tradition of the Berner Oberland is a highly refined form of Blockbau. The Chalets of this region are the highest achievement of vernacular architecture, both in practicality and in beauty. It is the Chaletbau style specifically that this workshop will cover.

What is the purpose you may ask...

The principles behind this system are simply ingenious, having been perfected over the course of many generations, yet having been around for long enough to have proven their effectiveness and durability. Blockbau in the Oberland style is an extremely efficient and durable method of building. Many of the problems and difficulties faced with log building have been dealt with in ingenious ways in this style, even if you do not wish to build specifically Blockbau structures, the methods learned here can be of great use to any log or timber builder.

Chaletbau is in many ways akin to log building, but in others is akin to timber framing.

We are currently making arrangements for a tour of a number of local buildings, including a 2-story settlers log cabin and early barns. This tour will be led by a local county Sheriff's deputy, who is also a published historian.

We have our tentative schedule. May be subject to slight change and revision

http://riegelbau.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/introduction-to-swiss-blockbau-june-18-23-2012/

Prices are in.

For 6 days, including lunch each day, teaching and hands-on experience, and a workbook, the price is: $600 for guild members, $660 for non-members.

Guild members are given a discount not because there is any guild sponsoring, but because I want to show my appreciation to the guild.

If you cannot make it all 6 days for some reason, you do not have to pay for the full week. We have daily rates of $115 for members, and $125 for non members. Please note that this equals a $90 discount if you come all 6 days.

Reserve your spot soon, to make sure you get to come!

David L Bähler
765.776.467
DLBahler@live.com
http://riegelbau.wordpress.com/

We have our official plans for the project, and here they are!



This will be a Blockhüttli, based on a traditional Alphüttli, a farmer's hut high in the mountains. The building will feature traditional ornamentation on the front gable, and joints shall be cut primarily by means of hand tools.

Full details and instructions on how to register are available on our blog.
http://riegelbau.wordpress.com/

We will be teaching the specifics of Oberland style Blockbau -but even on this there are so many possible variations. But you may wonder, what reason would I have to learn this?

Well there are many features of this building style that can be applied to your own log and timber building techniques. If you discard the ornamentation specific to the Oberland style (which we will be teaching as a matter of interest) you have an extremely practical and durable -and fast- method of building.

This course can be used to learn the specifics of this style, or also as a means of learning a good approach to general log building, one with over 1000 years of experience behind it to prove its effectiveness.


this picture, courtesy of my cousin, I believe is one of the best advertisements for the strength of these buildings. Note that the regions where these houses are built received in excess of 15 FEET of snow this past winter, without any roofs failing from the excess loads (with the occasional skier shooting over top of them too)

And also note that people still lived in some of these houses buried in snow -and lived quite comfortably.

Cool beans Mr. Bahler. I wish you the best of luck with attendance, the class, and the building.

Jim

Thanks Jim, and feel free to come too! Or send your friends!

Right now we are working on organizing a few activities. We are looking at having 3 planned activities during the 6 day course, and the other 2 nights (yall will probably be headed home on saturday night) will be open to whatever you wish to do.

The workshop itself will be held on our family farm just outside of the small town of Galveston Indiana (that's galVESton, not GALveston). Our farm is about 20 acres, 3 wooded and the rest is pasture. We have about 16 horses on the farm.


If the weather is good, we will work outside. If it rains, we have a large open shed (to the right in the first picture) that is not in use during the summer months that we can use.

Our farm is about 25 miles from camping facilities at Miami State Recreation Area on the Mississenewa Reservoir where there is good fishing. It is 10 to 15 miles from the city of Kokomo where there are good hotels, and stores (including Walmart)

-Mississinewa dam and reservoir.

One confirmed activity is a tour of local historical buildings in Howard County (our farm is in Cass County) by a local historian.

We are planning on a night of music by the Bahler-Graber band.

We are open to any suggestions on this, what other activities would you all like?

Getting things ready...