Swedish Logbuilding - Hewn And Round Notches
MAKING NOTCHES IN HEWN AND ROUND LOGS
The course in brief
In this course you will learn how to make notches in hewn and round logs. Through an introduction (lecture) and two series of tutorials you will learn in detail how to make the notches step by step. You can stop the tutorials in your smartphone while training and check the information for each moment.
Argument
Making houses in log-constructions has been the dominant building method in Sweden, Norway and Finland, starting in the Viking Age and until the beginning of the 20th century. There are still very many preserved timber buildings that are used or taken out of use. They are important to preserve in order for us to understand the needs and use of the surrounding landscape by previous generations. Log houses are today regarded as an environmentally friendly construction where the traditional log house comes from renewable raw materials, can be reused and leaves few harmful residues. Getting to know the construction method is therefore important both to understand history and to be able to renew it for the future.
Previous knowledge
You shall be a bit used to manual tools and have education/ experience of practical work including measuring, marking and performing smaller constructions (not necessary wood constructions).
Description of content
In this course you can watch and learn from eleven films/modules in total. The first film is an introduction with a short talk about why this is important to learn, something about your work environment and in the end some words about the tools you need.
The tutorials are about making notches with slanting sides in hewn and round logs with two slightly different marking methods. The first notch is the double joint notch with the threshold in the middle and the second, in round logs, is the single joint notch with the threshold to one side. Both notches have been used in Sweden from the 16th century and onwards, most frequently in the region of Dalarna. Making notches with slanting sides requires a certain level of the craftspersons assessment and skill and therefore a lot of training is needed.
Learning objectives and how to study
After completing the course, you should be able to:
- make a construction in hewn logs with notches and grooves to a dense construction
- understand and explain the key concepts in traditional log-house construction0
- put the constructions in a functional and historical context
Craft knowledge are sometimes considered as simple or not advanced. Don't bother about that. There are always difficult parts in all knowledge and learning. You need to practice pretty much. And you must do things wrong or less good to learn what is the right and good way. Traditional craft is always about doing a good, functional and sometimes beautiful product in the end. But there could be different ways to reach that goal. That can be variants within a tradition or between single craftspeople. So, make your own discoveries while training. Always try to find the best material, tools and working methods for you. Try, fail, try a little bit better, repeat.