As I finished reading the book, I am trying to give you a synopsis of it with my opinion.
It is 243 pages richly illustrated (332 illustrations) with the author's pen and ink illustrations (Daniel C. Beard got his reputation as a great illustrator by making the illustrations for Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"). Published by Shelter Publications INC. ( http://www.shelterpub.com )(who also published Wildwood Wisdom by Ellsworth Jaeger), it is under ISBN 0-936070-13-7 and available for $10.95.
The author (nicknamed as Uncle Dan) is one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America. He wrote and illustrated many books: Outdoor Handy Book (1900), Field and Forest Handy Book (1906), Boat Building and Boating (1911), Wisdom of the Woods (1927), Buckskin Book for Men and Boys (1927). His intentions misunderstood, in 1985, Esquire magazine referred to one of his books as a "fat catalog of misbehavior." In this book (chapter on treetop houses), he criticizes NYC police for "interfering" with a boy's treehouse on the 169th street and another one on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
The book goes through various constructs in the order of complexity. It starts with balsam fir bedding, cave shelters and lean-to and ends with log cabins and houses, fire places and totem-poles. Again, the illustrations are rich but the technical descriptions are a bit simplified in the case of more complex buildings. It also teaches briefly about the use of ax and saw as well as procuring. It gives some knowledge in roofing with different materials and goes into details about fabricating locks and hidden opening devices for doors. The fireplace chapter gives some idea about building and firing a fireplace.
A quick overview of the chapters:
-Balsam fir beds.
-Half cave shelters.
-Fallen tree shelter, selecting and peeling bark, using bark.
-Lean-to, wick-up.
-Huts and shacks using mats (e.g. from reed).
-Dome shape Indian shacks (like sweat lodge), adobe roofing, rain-proof roofing.
-Birch bark/tar paper shacks.
-Iroquois and Pawnee hogans.
-Sawed-lumber shanty.
-Sod and adobe house.
-Elevated (platform) shelters.
-Bog ken: foundation building on marsh ground, framework, how to use mud fireplace on wooden platform.
-Over-water camps: foundations for platform.
-Lookout tower.
-Treetop houses: very romantic but a bit oversimplified. Also, get a good insurance, in my opinion!!!!!!
-Caches for storage.
-Falling trees with axe: short intro, nothing fancy.
-Using axe: splitting logs, splitting boards, trimming tree, flattening a log with axe.
-Railroad-tie shack, barrel shack.
-Navajo hogan, dugouts and sod house.
-How to cut and notch logs for log cabin. Notched log ladder.
-Pole house (with vertical poles). Sawing and using froe. Log rolling.
-Adirondack open log camp and cabin. Log tent.
-More log cabins. (Oh, Gosh....)
-Cabin doors, thumb and foot latches, spring latches.
-Secret cabin door locks. (Huhh?!)
-More locks.......
-American log cabin, hunter's cabin.
-More cabins plus roofing and fireplace.
-Totem poles.
-Chimney, fireplaces.
-Proper fire building in fireplace.
-Roofing with tar paper, birch bark. How to patch, fix roof.
-How to build your ranch gate.
I found foundation building and mat shacks the most useful new tricks. Tree houses seemed to be not very well-planned out. Log cabins are good but lack technological details. For log cabins, I would prefer Foxfire's description.
Illustrations are really nice and the book is a good general overview of the various dwellings.
It gave me some good time of reading and will give to others too hopefully.
Best,
HM
It is 243 pages richly illustrated (332 illustrations) with the author's pen and ink illustrations (Daniel C. Beard got his reputation as a great illustrator by making the illustrations for Mark Twain's "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"). Published by Shelter Publications INC. ( http://www.shelterpub.com )(who also published Wildwood Wisdom by Ellsworth Jaeger), it is under ISBN 0-936070-13-7 and available for $10.95.
The author (nicknamed as Uncle Dan) is one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America. He wrote and illustrated many books: Outdoor Handy Book (1900), Field and Forest Handy Book (1906), Boat Building and Boating (1911), Wisdom of the Woods (1927), Buckskin Book for Men and Boys (1927). His intentions misunderstood, in 1985, Esquire magazine referred to one of his books as a "fat catalog of misbehavior." In this book (chapter on treetop houses), he criticizes NYC police for "interfering" with a boy's treehouse on the 169th street and another one on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
The book goes through various constructs in the order of complexity. It starts with balsam fir bedding, cave shelters and lean-to and ends with log cabins and houses, fire places and totem-poles. Again, the illustrations are rich but the technical descriptions are a bit simplified in the case of more complex buildings. It also teaches briefly about the use of ax and saw as well as procuring. It gives some knowledge in roofing with different materials and goes into details about fabricating locks and hidden opening devices for doors. The fireplace chapter gives some idea about building and firing a fireplace.
A quick overview of the chapters:
-Balsam fir beds.
-Half cave shelters.
-Fallen tree shelter, selecting and peeling bark, using bark.
-Lean-to, wick-up.
-Huts and shacks using mats (e.g. from reed).
-Dome shape Indian shacks (like sweat lodge), adobe roofing, rain-proof roofing.
-Birch bark/tar paper shacks.
-Iroquois and Pawnee hogans.
-Sawed-lumber shanty.
-Sod and adobe house.
-Elevated (platform) shelters.
-Bog ken: foundation building on marsh ground, framework, how to use mud fireplace on wooden platform.
-Over-water camps: foundations for platform.
-Lookout tower.
-Treetop houses: very romantic but a bit oversimplified. Also, get a good insurance, in my opinion!!!!!!
-Caches for storage.
-Falling trees with axe: short intro, nothing fancy.
-Using axe: splitting logs, splitting boards, trimming tree, flattening a log with axe.
-Railroad-tie shack, barrel shack.
-Navajo hogan, dugouts and sod house.
-How to cut and notch logs for log cabin. Notched log ladder.
-Pole house (with vertical poles). Sawing and using froe. Log rolling.
-Adirondack open log camp and cabin. Log tent.
-More log cabins. (Oh, Gosh....)
-Cabin doors, thumb and foot latches, spring latches.
-Secret cabin door locks. (Huhh?!)
-More locks.......
-American log cabin, hunter's cabin.
-More cabins plus roofing and fireplace.
-Totem poles.
-Chimney, fireplaces.
-Proper fire building in fireplace.
-Roofing with tar paper, birch bark. How to patch, fix roof.
-How to build your ranch gate.
I found foundation building and mat shacks the most useful new tricks. Tree houses seemed to be not very well-planned out. Log cabins are good but lack technological details. For log cabins, I would prefer Foxfire's description.
Illustrations are really nice and the book is a good general overview of the various dwellings.
It gave me some good time of reading and will give to others too hopefully.
Best,
HM