Cabin on the Mountain

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We were invited to design and and construct a small cabin on a private mountain. We had the oppportunity to work with some of the most wild wood we've ever seen.

This is a mixture of live and white oak that was cut in the 19th century. It was pit sawn, charred, and then sent to the Charleston, MA Navy Yard. There it was sunk in swamps under granite blocks for decades. The yard closed in the 1970s, and the wood was then buried in fill. During redevelopment of the land, the wood was dug up, and then donated to Mystic Seaport Museum. We purchased some of the precious wood from Jarmak Reclaimed Wood and then had it custom resawn.

Berkshire Pool House Finished Pictures

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Some finished pictures of our pool house conversion. From a dirt-floored art studio to a space to change, get a drink or snack, or spend some time after the pool. The pool house has heated concrete floors, a kitchenette, laundry, and bathroom, and a hammock in the loft. Architecture by James Dixon Architect.

Berkshire Pool House

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We started with a very rustic timber frame art studio. Dirt floor, no insulation, and old windows. We added polished radiant concrete floors, a small kitchen, bathroom, changing room, and sauna. We kept the exposed bedrock. There’s a lovely Cor-ten pent roof outside the front door, and Marvin multi-slide and bi-fold doors open up to the pool. Architecture by James Dixon Architects.

A mentor

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Billy-Dillon-017-v1.jpg

A note from Brad:

At Uncarved Block, we take continuing (continual?) education pretty seriously. We send employees to the Heartwood School and other workshops, we go to trade shows like JLC Live, and there's a good bit of on-the-job training. I've recently been evaluating that training, and it made me think about how I learned carpentry.

That's a long story (that I'm happy to share), but one of my primary mentors for the last 15 years has been Billy Dillon of South Mountain Company. Billy taught me traditional housed stringer stair construction and the German method of building eyebrow dormers, both at Heartwood.

He too, has been devoted to always learning more. We were both in workshops on French developed drawing techniques for crazy roofs (le traite), and then out in Seattle together for a rare opportunity to learn tangent handrailing (the 19th century technique of dealing with stair rails that curve and also twist in profile).

At Uncarved Block, we've built many housed-stringer stairs, cut a lot of crazy stick and timber roofs, and we're about to start our first eyebrow dormer (we'll certainly be posting pictures).

Billy recently retired from SMC, and the link below is a good testament to his work and the people that he has worked with and taught.

I know that if I've got some questions on our next tricky project, I'm sure to call Billy and he can point me in the right direction. I might call him anyways just to see what his latest adventure is...

https://www.southmountain.com/blog/2019/05/stick-a-fork-in-it/#comments

Early December Morning

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Berkshire Custom Kitchen 1

Working through the winter introduces all kinds of difficulties, but every once in a while, it’s not so bad shoveling snow.

This is a small vestibule and kitchen bump out for one of the nicest homes that I’ve ever been in. The house is not fancy, filled with expensive finishes, or terribly ‘high-design.’ It’s just a collection of amazing spaces. It’s a real privilege to work here.

Mountain Top Arboretum Education Center 4

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Lots of scribing and cutting going on in the shop for the Mountain Top Arboretum project.  

Berkshire Log Cabin Remodel

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A fairly drastic before and after of the same room.  We changed the whole building envelope, installed new timber trusses, a gut remodel, and a timber frame gable end with direct glazing.  

Connecticut Timber Frame Gambrel Barn 2

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Progress on the barn in Litchfield County, CT.  There's a full timber frame floor system and basement, and the bents are ready for raising.  The aisle tie beams are 9x16 with large wedged through tenons.   

Mountain Top Arboretum Education Center 3

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Custom sawing and scribing of some funky timbers.  

Connecticut Timber Frame Gambrel Barn 1

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We've been working on a large timber frame gambrel barn, cut entirely in white oak timbers.  Design by Uncarved Block and engineering by Fire Tower.  We'll keep adding pictures, and it will be going up soon.  

Mountain Top Arboretum Education Center 2

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Brad was out in the woods with the loggers, hand-selecting the trees.  They pulled out some amazing curved and forked logs.  We'll be custom sawing them next.  

Mountain Top Arboretum Education Center 1

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We're very excited that Uncarved Block was awarded the timber framing contract for the new Mountain Top Arboretrum Education Center in the Catskills of NY.  Architecture is by Jack Sobon, and shows his characteristic funky curvy framing.  The whole frame will be scribed.  All 23 species present in the Arboretum will be used in this timber frame.