"No Nail" Garage Built With Cordwood

"No Nail" Garage Built With Cordwood BUILDINGS New Techniques 33-6-34 When Greg Van Winkle decided to build a garage, he had plenty of raw material to work with. His "hobby" is clearing his neighbors' land of trees, mostly cedars. "I bought a chainsaw to clear out some old fence lines, and pretty soon I was helping others," explains Van Winkle. With plenty of trees to work with, he bought a Logosol M7 sawmill to make his own lumber. His first project was an 18 by 18-ft. saltbox timber frame shed to house his sawmill out of the weather. Soon he was studying timber frame design and the use of cordwood walls. "With the M7 I'm supposed to be able to cut logs up to 14 ft. long, but when you get over 10 ft. the blade starts to wander," says Van Winkle. "As long as I keep my logs to 8 ft., I'm all right." Even if limited to less than 10-ft. logs, Van Winkle prefers the chainsaw sawmill with ripping chains to a bandsaw. He notes that while the kerf is larger, the chainsaw can handle surprises better like nails in the wood. "I've cut through nails with my saw and not even known it," he says. "A bandsaw would have been ripped up." Building the garage was easy, once he got started, he says. The first step was to lay an 18-in. wide rock foundation. Then he began the frame. "My goal was to build it without a single nail," he says. "I had never tried anything like it before." Once he had his timber frame up, Van Winkle filled in wall spaces with cordwood and a concrete mix that included sawdust. He credits Rob Roy, noted cordwood builder, for the mortar formula and tips on building. Van Winkle says he spent lots of time watching the builder's videos and reading his books for ideas. He recommends Roy's website (www.cordwoodmasonry.com) as a good resource. "The sawdust provides needed moisture," he explains. "Without it, the cordwood will absorb moisture from the mortar, and it will dry out too fast to cure properly." Van Winkle used 40 8 ft. 6 by 6-in. timbers for the frame and 13 cords of wood for the garage. "I'm fixing to build a house with cordwood and timber frame," he says. "I may start next spring. I'll use all cedar for that, too." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Greg Van Winkle, P.O. Box 1855, Alma, Ark. 17921 (ph 479 632-0609)

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