VMI Timberframing, 2013

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So last year I went with MassArt to Virginia to take part in a collaborative project between said school, the Virginia Military Institute, and the Timber Framer’s Guild.  And this year we did it again.  Most students, more cadets, and more fun.  The students designed the structure for a Habitat for Humanity community that was being built not far from where we all stayed and worked, on the Mullen’s property in Rockbridge County.  It’s always a treat to do these projects, a real escape from life into something idyllic and workmanlike, and this was no exception.  Check out some photos below.

Straps smithed on-site

Straps smithed on-site

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A Barn for the Old Stone House

Brownington, VT.  The Old Stone House was constructed back in the 1800s by Alexander Twilight, the first black college graduate of the U.S., out of massive stones, to be a schoolhouse for the children of Brownington.  A barn used house the students’ animals which they would use for food and money for their schooling, but had fallen into disrepair and was disassembled in the early 1900s.

Raw;

Finished

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Footstool (as birthday present)

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One of my roommates had a birthday recently, and when I thought about gifts it ocurred to me that she reclined in her family’s old armchair pretty often.  She’d told us a story of how it had once had a matching footstool, but nobody in the family could seem to remember what happened to it, so I decided to make her one.  Full of figuring and learning the lathe (yay!), this project brought some challenges, but was an overall good learning experience.

Upholstery?

Upholstery?

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