Wood is a popular building material for many reasons. It is easy to work, it is light, it has good acoustic qualities, it breathes, it is beautiful… But unfortunately modern builders are not often familiar with the ways our ancestors worked it when they produced the durable and beautiful details that we can admire in their buildings.
It is important to understand the possibilities and the limitations of a material when you plan for the use of it or when you actually execute a building or a detail of it. A lot can be learned by studying and copying historic structures and details of both interiors and exteriors. These are results of centuries of development which the building industry for some reason has put aside as it is concentrated on pre-fab houses, roof trusses, interiors, windows etc. While modern tools are very efficient and handy the details that are made with them are simpler and of inferior quality compared with what can be witnessed in old buildings.
