This post is part of a series revealing the table of contents of upcoming Issue Twenty-One. As is our custom, we’ll be discussing one article per weekday in order to give you a taste of what is to come.
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Joshua A. Klein – “On the Outside: The House by Hand Exterior”
A certain wit once said, “The first 90 percent of any project takes 90 percent of the time, and the last 10 percent takes the other 90 percent.” Surely, that guy was a carpenter. As the excitement and energy wanes after the roughing-out stage of any build, it can be hard to make it to the finish line. Rough work is relatively fast, the tolerances are looser, and the visual before-and-after impact is a constant boon to the craftsman’s spirit. But rough work is not done work.
In Issue Twenty-One, M&T editor Joshua A. Klein describes the transition to this final “90 percent” of the House By Hand project. He explains the cedar shingle roofing procedure, the installation of the linseed-oil painted, radially sawn clapboards, and the fabrication of the classical entrance surround (columns and entablature) based on historical texts and local 18th- and 19th-century examples. The completion of the exterior face of the 1821 house is a significant milestone in this years-long resurrection project.
There are some kinds of tasks that just need to be pushed through as fast as possible, but there are others that require the most careful attention so that the job is done as well as possible. Klein’s research into classical architectural elements with a sympathetic eye to local precedent proved to be a fascinating case of hands-on learning. There are moldings on old houses all over the place, but this furniture maker has learned firsthand that scale matters – handplaning all the ogees and cyma rectas for the Tuscan entablature is not a task for the faint of heart. The result, though, is one that makes it totally worth the effort.
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