The house that Axe built.....

[gben]

The owner of a house built in the early 1850s close to me let me into the basement to take a look around.

 

[RixAxe]

The plywood steps are interesting...and dangerous.

 

[Square_peg]

Really well preserved! So cool to see those old hewing marks.

 

[rjdankert]

The owner of a house built in the early 1850s close to me let me into the basement to take a look around.

. . .

Love to see the old axe work. Thanks for posting.

Here are some more of a barn built at about the same time.

The barn was on a 260 acre property owned by the Girl Scouts. They used the property as a camp. The barn was used primarily as a theater by the scouts. I knew the ranger who ran the camp and had access to it until 2010 when the property was broken up and sold. They had records that the property/farm originated sometime in the 1850s. I don't know what became of the barn since I haven't been by there since the sale.

Bob

 

[pommie]

Love to see the old axe work. Thanks for posting.

Here are some more of a barn built at about the same time.

The barn was on a 260 acre property owned by the Girl Scouts. They used the property as a camp. The barn was used primarily as a theater by the scouts. I knew the ranger who ran the camp and had access to it until 2010 when the property was broken up and sold. They had records that the property/farm originated sometime in the 1850s. I don't know what became of the barn since I haven't been by there since the sale.

Bob

Love the look of the old building but these days they are worth more as Flooring for some ones house than as a barn with history to it.

thanks for the pictures

 

[garry3]

That's really cool. I love looking at things like that, even the newer ones made out of dimensional lumber can be interesting. Some of the boards they used back then would high quality veneer today.

 

[Dusty One]

My son bought a house built in the late 1800's Had some great lumber in it....

 

[Chignecto Woodsman]

My grandmother's house is similar. In much better shape than most of the houses built in the 1990s, probably even the new houses considering the crap they're made of now.

 

[BG_Farmer]

GBen, thanks for posting! I love seeing those kinds of houses.

RJ, I can't ever seem to see your pictures, must be Google+ (I am resisting)?! Too bad, I love barns, especially pegged timber ones! The only better barn is a cantilevered barn, especially if the logs are squared.

 

[rjdankert]

. . . Some of the boards they used back then would high quality veneer today.

I got some sections of beams used in the barn and some floor boards from the hayloft. I took a picture of the barn and made two picture frames from one of the boards. I gave the ranger and his assistant each a framed picture of the barn. The boards were White Oak. Here are some offcuts:

IIRC those boards were all clear and solid. Unfortunately, only one of the boards made it to my house. That story is too off topic to get into.:grumpy:

 

[rjdankert]

. . .
RJ, I can't ever seem to see your pictures, . . .

A couple of others have mentioned in other threads they could not see my photos. I have recently switched to Google Photos.

Here is the url to my photos.
https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipNF4Muht3nH1mOyGskYQocYjn65rhjNQrTsWZwh

If this page comes up for you, scroll to the right to see the rest of the photos.

 

[300Six]

Thank you for posting this. Practical carpenters of yore were 'one, two or three dimensional-oriented' in order to save time, and aimed to leave as much real wood as possible. Those basement beams (presuming the upper floor is still straight/flat) was the work of an ordinary tradesman that knew exactly what was needed and what was not. Dimensional lumber was invented to take the guesswork out of this skill and dressed wood has made for gov't regulation, a tech engineer and licensed carpenter only type of work, instead of asking what the tradesman is doing.

 

[gben]

Dimensional lumber was invented to take the guesswork out of this skill and dressed wood has made for gov't regulation, a tech engineer and licensed carpenter only type of work, instead of asking what the tradesman is doing.

The regulation of our goods and services does not come from some imaginary "government" that is separate from we the people. Regulation comes from corporate interests. Insurance companies are behind most of it. The writing of the National Electrical Code for one is overseen by insurance companies who like charging premiums, but do not like paying out when a house burns down. I have an 85-year old friend who has been an architect and a structural engineer since the 1950s. He goes onto a job and makes sure buildings are soundly built or altered. If he does not sign off on something as being structurally sound then an insurance company is not going to insure it, and if a building is not insurable then nobody is going to be able to buy, sell or use it.

If I could get rid of any entity in our society I would start with for-profit insurance companies who lobby to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure our laws are written to favor their business profits. My brother and his wife are multi-millionaire lobbyists in Washington D.C. politics and have worked directly for insurance companies and other large corporations.....no we do not get along.

 

[300Six]

The regulation of our goods and services does not come from some imaginary "government" that is separate from we the people. Regulation comes from corporate interests. Insurance companies are behind most of it. The writing of the National Electrical Code for one is overseen by insurance companies who like charging premiums, but do not like paying out when a house burns down. I have an 85-year old friend who has been an architect and a structural engineer since the 1950s. He goes onto a job and makes sure buildings are soundly built or altered. If he does not sign off on something as being structurally sound then an insurance company is not going to insure it, and if a building is not insurable then nobody is going to be able to buy, sell or use it.

If I could get rid of any entity in our society I would start with for-profit insurance companies who lobby to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure our laws are written to favor their business profits. My brother and his wife are multi-millionaire lobbyists in Washington D.C. politics and have worked directly for insurance companies and other large corporations.....no we do not get along.

I cannot disagree with how safety and insurance issues have affected the building industry. Here in Ontario for instance a rural property owner can no longer erect outbuildings using wood milled on site; the lumber has to be dressed to spec and grader stamped. Sometimes regulations get out of hand; a fellow capable of milling his own wood from trees is also likely to know how knots and the like affect the strength of a piece of wood.

 

[gben]

If there are laws preventing the common man from using lumber he produces himself, you can bet that large lumber corporations or other business interests are the ones behind it in an attempt to eliminate competition and increase profits.

Down here in Pennsylvania we are lucky. My sister needed wood to re-side her house, so my father and brother-in-law felled a 100-foot tall tulip-poplar that was on my father's property, cut it into logs and hauled it to an Amish saw mill where they cut it into new siding. My cousin had his own bandsaw mill and he cut his own trees and milled lumber and put up his barn.

I am sure we need safety laws for certain things like public buildings, and if you are going to sell a house you built yourself or even made from your own lumber, then it really has to be inspected by an engineer before it is sold to anyone else.

For personal use though, if somebody wants to make a building for their own use on their own property, then nobody should be able to tell them what to do. If they kill themselves or their family that is their responsibility and choice.

100 years ago and more apprenticeships were in place for most skilled trades where you worked for several years for little or nothing before you had a name and credentials people would trust and hire to do work.

I went through an apprenticeship under the IBEW to get a journeyman's license to do electrical work. I have seen the work of electricians that had no or only high-school educations and some pretty scary stuff they did. I have also seen scary things done by large supposedly good contractors that was dangerous or faulty because they were cutting corners to increase profits.

In the end it is always the individual or corporation that is chasing the almighty dollar that degrades craftsmanship and makes things unsafe for the worker and consumer both.

 

[300Six]

100 years ago and more apprenticeships were in place for most skilled trades where you worked for several years for little or nothing before you had a name and credentials people would trust and hire to do work.
I went through an apprenticeship under the IBEW to get a journeyman's license to do electrical work. I have seen the work of electricians that had no or only high-school educations and some pretty scary stuff they did. I have also seen scary things done by large supposedly good contractors that was dangerous or faulty because they were cutting corners to increase profits.
In the end it is always the individual or corporation that is chasing the almighty dollar that degrades craftsmanship and makes things unsafe for the worker and consumer both.

I achieved General Carpenter certification 25 years ago (just for a lark) by writing 5 Provincial exams, Notary Public declaring 10 years experience, all without ever having to attend a trade school. Kids aren't so lucky these days. I was a college professor of building construction technician trades (carpentry!) for a short spell (one year) a couple of years ago and was dismayed with all the program padding and paperwork courses that constitute 'trades programs' now. 50 years ago the majority of carpenters would have a firm grasp and understanding of how to select an axe handle or a structural beam, rafter or lintel but not the graduates of today.

 

[Square_peg]

A couple of others have mentioned in other threads they could not see my photos. I have recently switched to Google Photos.

Here is the url to my photos.
https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipNF4Muht3nH1mOyGskYQocYjn65rhjNQrTsWZwh

If this page comes up for you, scroll to the right to see the rest of the photos.

I don't see anything there, either.

 

[Square_peg]

The regulation of our goods and services does not come from some imaginary "government" that is separate from we the people. Regulation comes from corporate interests. Insurance companies are behind most of it. The writing of the National Electrical Code for one is overseen by insurance companies who like charging premiums, but do not like paying out when a house burns down. I have an 85-year old friend who has been an architect and a structural engineer since the 1950s. He goes onto a job and makes sure buildings are soundly built or altered. If he does not sign off on something as being structurally sound then an insurance company is not going to insure it, and if a building is not insurable then nobody is going to be able to buy, sell or use it.

If I could get rid of any entity in our society I would start with for-profit insurance companies who lobby to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure our laws are written to favor their business profits. My brother and his wife are multi-millionaire lobbyists in Washington D.C. politics and have worked directly for insurance companies and other large corporations.....no we do not get along.

Truth.

 

[rjdankert]

I don't see anything there, either.

Did a new window or tab open when you clicked on the link? If so, what did you see?

In my post #4 what did you see between

Here are some more of a barn built at about the same time.

and

The barn was . . .

?

Did you see the pictures repeated on pommie's post #5?

Do you see this picture?


thanks, Bob

 

[Chignecto Woodsman]

The other side of government lumber is that a stamp is required for the lumber in many places now. This largely comes down to corporate incentives for the government, gifts, promise of jobs for upcoming elections, etc. In turn the government requires a stamp for lumber and rigid building codes, and this gives additional competitiveness for the corporate lumbermills (while of course destroying the remaining small guys).

Maybe you are ahead of us in the States, but that's what's been happening here. Recently a man tried building a new home for his wife so she could get proper care for cancer treatment. He milled his whole life, and used lumber from his own woods. No doubt the house was properly built as he used old-style beams and proper 2 x10s. Nothing coming out of Irving or the other stamp mills compares with their poorly dried, twisted, trash farm wood. And guess what, no stamp and they ordered the place torn down (think they held out and public backlash forced the government to give in).

That has very little to do with proper inspections and simply contracts between insurance companies, corporate industry, and the government.