1500 sq ft workroom
This cordwood woodworking shop was constructed in 1973 with about $850 of UI winnings and the best of 5 barns and two houses I tore down that year. The construction was rudimentary and functional. I operated my first real woodworking cabinet shop from this facility until we sold the property in late 1981 on an adventure to live in New Zealand.
jayöh‘s first business name and sign
From my university philosophy days, I named the business Wood Synthesis. For those not schooled in such things, it works like this: thesis~antithesis~synthesis. Near the bottom of the sign, I carved my then tagline: custom anything as long as it’s wood. Synthesis has been my life-long karma. I no longer wrestle with what The Universe wishes of me.
taken in late 2008
Many kitchen cabinets, sofa frames, wingback mahogany show wood chairs, red pine fence posts for Glanmore House Museum in Belleville, ON
http://www.glanmore.org/glanmoreind.html
and other furniture items were produced here during that 9 year period. (9 is completion in numerology & time to move on)
These are a few contemporary images in the digital domain I snapped on a recent visit in Oct 2025.
The building was hardly novel, since many cordwood structures were made in rural ON over the past 100 yrs. It was enough of a curiosity, though to garner a write up in the 1976 Harrowsmith magazine. It also won a posting in the first Harrowsmith Reader of 1977. http://www.harrowsmithcountrylife.ca/ As the magazine has undergone several ownership changes over the past 34 years, this article is not archived.
The galvanized steel roof shown here, is newly redone by the present owner.
The shop was constructed of disused telephone poles, highway guardrails and the poles from one abandoned log cabin. Steel roof was used. Only new lumber employed were the 2x6x20′ spruce rafters for the roof. Even the maple flooring was scrounged from an old school. I straightened many nails during the construction and that habit has stuck with me today, for better or for worse. I have both Jewish and Scottish blood coursing through my veins. I suspect that there must be some Dutch in there someplace too.
jayöh perched on a wooden ladder. . . what else?
Since much of the ‘cordwood’ was cedar, which develops a characteristic heart-check upon drying, I needed to insulate the inside. Once again ˜low velocity’ 2″ styrofoam was chosen. In those dayzes, it was likely only about R6. On top, I nailed 1/8″ masonite to cover the whiteness. The ceiling was insulated with styrofoam skins, which come off the 3′ thick bales before they are slit into sheets with a hot wire. As I said earlier . . . rudimentary. During that time, many of us had little evolved consciousness about the ecology of the planet, energy consumption, let alone conservation. That was to come.
She riseth
Heating was with an ancient, but extremely efficient cast iron furnace with twin circulating heat chambers on top of the firebox. The exterior un-insulated chimney was fabricated from 3 galvanized hot water tanks, welded on site by a local tradesperson. Baseboard heaters were pressed into action for overnight curing of finishes.
garage entrance for unloading dust collector bin
Up ’til now, all my buildings were fashioned with a fancy facer board. This one was a simple design with the cutouts on the board made in hard maple, from a job making paper cutters for the Domtar beer carton factory in Trenton, ON.
all of us
It was in this building that I made my first-ever loudspeakers that graced the cover of Speaker Builder magazine back in 1980. 2 pairs, 4′ high, constructed of 1″ solid red oak and red oak veneer.
All of the concrete and mortar were mixed in a portable self-driven mixer made and invented by an itinerant inventor named Sam Ray near Madoc, ON.
Sam Ray’s house
Sam’s home, with found stones at gravel pits and two rows of logs with his own ON white cedar shingles.
I paid the princely sum of $750 for it new and wished I’d kept it. We had a stream at the bottom of the hill, which was my water supply. Sam taught me much and inspired me to make my own cedar shingles with a taper jig on a bandsaw and wide blade. I am enormously indebted to him, now long deceased, but forever in my heart’s memory, for the essential goodness and kindness of the man. Later . . .
I am, John Ötvös aka jayöh.
22 Responses to “Cordwood woodworking shop 1973”
-
Veneers says:
Thanks for writing! Ich danke dir für deinen Beitrag, Lovely Greetings from Germany
-
greenerb says:
You may or may not be aware of the fact that the concept of Passivhaus began in your country in 1995, by a university prof . . .I believe that’s what I read.
-
-
Local SEO Vermont says:
Thank you for your great ideas and techniques – your’s are better than most of what I’ve run across so far on the web.
-
Barrett Roese says:
Rather good article. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I’ve truly loved browsing your blog posts. In any case I??ll be subscribing to your feed and i hope you create again soon!
-
Crewneck Sweater says:
Nice article. It is truly a very good article. I noticed all your important points. Thanks!
-
instantempo says:
Seriously – great blog, just looking around some web sites, seems to be a really nice platform you are using. I’m currently utilizing WordPress for several of my websites but searching to change 1 of them over to a platform very much the same to yours as a trial run.
-
This *is* a WordPress format although highly customized by my webmaster.
-
-
Work and Travel says:
you made me feel like I should look for more about this.
-
Pozycjonowanie says:
Once I discussed with one of my friends, not only about the significance you talked about, but also to how to write communicative artice. Your work is the magnificent example.
-
fotografia ślubna kraków says:
It is truely nice post, but I do not see everything completely clear, especially for someone not involved in that topic. Anyway very interesting to me.
-
developer poznań says:
Thanks a lot for your great post. I have been searching for such content for a very long time. Not all your content is fully clear to me, but it is definitely interesting and worth reading.
-
suknie ślubne says:
Thank you a lot for your interesting article. I have been searching for such information for a very long time. Not all your content is fully easy to understand to me, even though it is definitely interesting and worth reading.
-
Prawo jazdy Wrocław says:
I like it! Greetings! Things you brought up a lot of sense.
-
kodeki winamp says:
Very interesting 🙂 Greetings from Europe.
-
Ciekawe strony www says:
Thank you for your post. I like it! Greetings!
-
Catering says:
Good writing never goes out of style!
-
kodeki rmvb says:
Your website is very very cool ! Greetings.
-
skulptra białystok says:
This is hilarious! You made me smile!
-
statystyka ściągi says:
Man, i like your webiste much 🙂
-
Przeprowadzki Warszawa says:
OH MY GOD… That’s all I got to say …
-
CORDWOODGUY says:
DROP BY MY SITE TO GET MORE INFO ON CORDWOOD. I HAVE OVER 40 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND I THINK I`M THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE HAD AN ACTUAL TEACHING LICENSE TO TEACH CORDWOOD.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cordwood
-
Hello there and thank you for dropping by my site. I have taken the time to look at some of your writing and quite admire your round house structure. I must say that I find your typing technique to be visually disorienting. We are taught from a courtesy standpoint, that when one types using all caps, that this is a form of yelling.
On top of this, to view an entire page with no paragraph breaks and all caps is not worth the effort, since there is a plethora of words on the Net. I did read what you have written and found some new information. Kudos!
I would agree that the only way forward is to build a double wall. Then again, the R value of the wall is still quite limited to the entrained air within the log and the insulation material and methodology employed to erect that wall. What about a continuous vapour barrier and wind prevention system? All log species develop checks around their circumference. Ideal cracks for the winds of winter to howl through.
Trouble is, if the inside of the building will be only log ends, that is a ‘rusti-Cana’ form of finishing that will have limited appeal. I repeat, there is not a wrong way to build. You can only build so as to increase or decrease your carbon load on the environment. best regards, John Otvos
-