Our timber framed cabin Pt. 1

[Tynyyn]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moR0hlP6FF4


Mr. Chickadee (Josh) along with his wife are in the middle of building a timber frame house in the hills of Kentucky.  His video style is very unique because he lets his craftsmanship speak for itself.  I've watched a number of his videos and he NEVER says a word, yet though his camera lens you are able to follow his work and lust after his workmanship.

He has tackled other projects, yet this is the most ambitious of his building career.  He begins with creating handles for his slick chisels.  Everything he works on, from felling trees, to debarking, to splitting, to hewing is all done with shear human effort.  I have congratulated him several times on his workmanship and effort to tackle this project.  He is always appreciative of comments and it just makes a person wish you could be there to give him a hand.

The videos are about fifteen minutes long and if you are snowed in on a long weekend, this series would be a very pleasant watch.

Terry.

[John Clifford]

I like his hat :b

[Steve N]

Mr Chickadee blog for those who like to follow along.

At the very bottom, or "the start" of the blog he has a bench build, which always seem to capture the clicks around here.

I would like to know where in Eastern Ky he is located. My best friend and his lovely wife eek out the same type of existence East of Berea, and there are many other lively couples doing similar in their area. Drop outs/grads from the College for the most part. Boat load of hand crafted whatever down there.

[AHill]

In Part II, we discover the reason for the nib on a handsaw.  Pretty good work, and very interesting.  I get the impression that he won't be finished with his cabin until around the same time Lie Nielsen releases the plow plane for sale. It appears Mr. Chickadee works alone, and he's quite deliberate in his methods.

[Steve N]

I'm thinking unlike us, he isn't hampered by that J O B thing, where much of his day is driving to and from, and at least 8 hours is doing whatever his BOSS wants him to. He can get up, eat breakfast and be making a truss before we have our first coffee. Plus looking at his blog there are entries where he is mudding walls, and others where it is but a frame. Possibly there are more than 1 cabins being built, and like the Amish, he may have an army of friends to help. Moving from site to site? My friend has always bought homes down there, and rehabbed them, but a lot of his co-op friends have done barn, or cabin builds. On big projects Mike has used help from the co-op. A lot of cooperation to be had down there if you want it, but you'll quickly be called and named if you're a taker, and never give back

[BaileyNo5]

And he's making it from hardwoods, no less.  That would make it even tougher, but I'm sure it works better green than dry.  

Lots of pith in those timbers, hope they don't twist before he gets around to putting things together.

Interesting stuff, and ambitious.  I'm hoping to build a timber frame shed one day, but doubt I would ever tackle a house.

[Tynyyn]

At one time I knew where he lived in Eastern Kentucky but I've forgotten where. His wife is from Peru and is as cute as a button. Josh began a woodshop build with lathe and mud plaster. That was quite interesting. He put a brick floor in it and then a huge fireplace which took up about 1/3 of the floor space. They lived in it one winter and found that the lathe did not block the cold night temps and the house/shop was abandoned as a living space. He then tore out the fireplace because it was too big for the small area he needed to heat.

I think he lives the way the Amish live. No electrical or running water. Pretty primitive lifestyle yet he seems to do all right for himself.

My only concern about his current house build is the small size of the house. Sure, when he laid out the foundation it looked huge. Yet when he started raising the walls and putting the siding on, the visual dimensions changed considerably. It looks like a small cabin. But it's his and he won't have a mortgage and that is saying something for a young couple. Good work, Josh.

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

I watched a good portion of the cabin build videos today. I tried to picture myself doing something similar and the first thing that stood out was how young he is. I wonder what his craftsman or construction background is? He's well versed with a variety of skills. I wonder how much land he owns and where his income is generated? He may live a semi primative lifestyle but he's still quite tech savy. It would be neat to wake up in the country and not have to punch a time clock. The most difficult part of his build is the mental aspect, IMO. He has invested dearly and I hope he's pleased with his efforts when finished. He is a very skilled man and his work ethic is admirable.

[Tynyyn]

KC fireslayer, if you fastforward to #24 or so you will see him making trusses. In the opening clip he walks in front of his stash of lumber needed for the trusses. All I can say is Wow. He did a lot of hand sawing to get the notches in the trusses.

I believe his background was pretty simple. Soon after high school I "think" he went into the military. Did his stint in South America (where he probably met the Mrs.) and then got out. Between getting out of the military and building his house he did different woodworking projects. The Mr.Chickadee wordpress blog spells out a bunch of his personal life. But it is a long read.

I do not believe he apprenticed with anybody. Probably just watched a bunch of youtube vids and then gathered a collection of tools. The only modern tools I've seen him utilize, if you can even call it that (and I don't think he used the tool) was to mill logs into dimensional logs. But he will take those 4 x 8 posts and fashion them into trusses, posts, beams and other items.