We are excited to be documenting the progress of an old timber frame from Japan that has now been relocated to Western Massachusetts and after a few repairs will become part of Uncarved Block's new shop space in Tyringham, MA. This is a 150 year-old 'kura' or storehouse that was previously part of a silk mill in Shinshiro. The process was managed by Kominka Collective, a not-for-profit company who specialize in saving Japanese kominka, cottages, studios, and traditional materials that would have otherwise been destroyed. Kominka North America (https://kominkana.squarespace.com/) has now been established to bring more of these structures to the United States.
pull down to refresh
140 sats \ 5 replies \ @Scoresby 9h
Timber framing is such an elegant way to build. There is a world where I would have joined a friend of mine who spent years doing timber framing in Vermont. Sadly, there's not a lot of demand: he's a roofer in North Carolina now, and I'm doing Bitcoin things in Texas.
reply
171 sats \ 1 reply \ @pappasbland OP 8h
That's interesting because we just built our home in western MA (not far from VT) and there was such a shortage of labor here that our GC couldn't do the framing. Instead, we had our design panelized by the incredible Bensonwood in New Hampshire. It's the future of building – every nail and square inch of wood pre-calculated by a company, resulting in zero waste. The walls panels with their windows pre-fitted came on trucks and were assembled by a crane in a few days. It was amazing. Demand seems very high in these parts, right now at least. But I suspect doing Bitcoin things in Texas might lead to a superior outcome.
-Tom
reply
0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby 8h
Panelizing is really neat. I didn't know about Bensonwood.
My friend found that there was demand for framing, but not necessarily for timber framing -- and definitely not at a price point that made sense. But then he was feeling money pressure at the time because of a young family and maybe just needed to stick it out longer.
reply
182 sats \ 2 replies \ @k00b 9h
You can always timber frame your own house after selling a VR startup and become a congressman.
reply
100 sats \ 0 replies \ @Scoresby 9h
At one point I worked at a salvage yard. We specialized in taking apart old houses/barns/warehouses and salvaging the wood. They had a little mill for cutting up the bigger beams that we couldn't sell as beams. Milling is complicated, but cool. I think milling timber is probably even more complicated.
reply
33 sats \ 0 replies \ @pappasbland OP 8h
Cool, I will have to watch this.
-Tom
reply