Gable, the whole party should go into the woods, mom, dad, kids, builders, designer, architect, the neighbors. Did I leave anyone out? Our homes should start from the trees not an office. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling when I have used timber directly for the house site clearing. I am now doing a small job in which the material was cut and converted into timber in the woods and dragged by hand to the house. It was converted via a chain saw mill, the one with the 2x4 tacked to the log. It is rough but that allows me to be a bit rough. I have even walked on the timbers.

Can the essay be put up as a link?

Tim

Tim,

I can't find that essay right now, but here is one by Wendell Berry that I did find that you might enjoy.

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/160/

and one about local forest economies...

http://home2.btconnect.com/tipiglen/berryfc.html

Here is a link to more online essays...

http://brtom.typepad.com/wberry/wb-online-prose.html

I recommend any of Berry's works, especially these:

The Gift of Good Earth;
The Art of the Commonplace;
Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Religion
The Unsettling of America


I, for one, also enjoy his fiction and poetry.

Also an online interview, Episode 8

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/science/index.html

Hi,
The author has done a great work. I appreciate his work.


joe

My policy...I figure for whatever timbers I use, I should plant at least an equal amount of trees. I'm planning to use a lot of reclaim for my house and future workshop, but I'm still gonna plant replacement trees. There's not any timber harvesting to speak of where I live, flat land Illinois that is quite windy at times, but I'm still planting black walnut, red oak, white oak, and white ash. I've got a dozen seedlings in my basement window now that I started last week. In june black walnut seedlings will come up in my yard, and I transplant them to the back pasture.

Nice idea Brad.

One small step...The trees are what it's all about. We cannot always take; sometimes we must also put back.

I agree being better builders. So far, for woodworking projects I end up using almost all my "scrap" for one thing or another. I've denailed some old stuff I had and recut or planed it for reuse in projects. It's a shame when people tear things down and don't reclaim the wood, even if it is just 2X4's. I see a lot of tearing down here in IL where they don't reclaim. I've got an old shed on the farm now that is probaby 35 wide X 200. I am afraid that one day a good wind storm will get it. It's built with a lot of 2X6 and 2X8, mostly in the truses etc. It's dark wood, not sure if it's the species or just time, but If it has to come down one day, I plan to reclaim the lumber and either I or someone else will be able to use it. It's probably better wood than you go buy today at a big box. Maybe some of it can end up as furniture or ?

Here in the driftless area of Wisconsin I am a part of a group of builders that are taking the River Valley school forest and sustainably harvesting the timber to use to educate the the students in Timber framing and log home construction. Taking all of the dead, dying and diseased trees is yeilding us 10 semi loads of timber a Year! The trees area also growing too closely together so we are selectively harvesting those trees also. Doing this is also educating the community and getting them involved and helping them realize the resources are in our back yard.

And imagine if timber framing could be a high school elective that could be offered to the students!

I don't websites often but here is one worth checking out.
www.timbergrowers.com
Jim may be far out sometimes but we are planning on building a timber bridge in the near future with the students.

bryan

Hey Brian, great link, thanks. Here's the text of the email I just sent to TimberGrowers.com :

I like your message, I've been saying the same for years. And I admire your work.

Brian from Dodgeville linked to you on the Timber Framers Guild website.

Steve Miller
www.karriaussies.com

pics:

1st is footbridge we built 10 yrs ago of locust, cedar, stone, and st steel fasteners

2 - 4, "live edge" cherry tops on pine bookshelves and on plywood cab w drawers to get cherry face frame and draw fronts