The Journal
What we've learned, written down.
Preservation notes, finishing guidance, design decisions, and the occasional story about a building. Written by the people who cut the timber.
Craft & Preservation · March 2026
The Preservation and Repair of Historic Log Buildings
What fifty-five years of taking old buildings apart has taught us about putting them back together — rot, chinking, sill logs, and knowing when to leave well alone.
Read — 9 min
Craft & Preservation · February 2026 · 7 min
Staining Interior Logs and Timbers 101
Sheen, sample boards, spray versus wipe, and why the color you pick on a two-inch chip is never the color you get on a thirty-foot wall.
Projects · January 2026 · 5 min
Take a Virtual Tour of Savage River Lodge and the Sleeping Cabins
A timber lodge and a cluster of cabins in the Maryland highlands — how the sleeping cabins were laid out so every one of them feels like the only one in the woods.
In the Press · December 2025 · 4 min
Hearthstone and Barnwood Builders
The reclaimed timber trade got a television audience, and the phone started ringing. What the show gets right, and what it has to leave out.
The Company We Keep · November 2025 · 4 min
The Deep Roots of the Cash Cabin
Johnny Cash's cabin in Hendersonville became a recording studio, survived a fire, and kept its logs. A note on the building and the work.
Design & Planning · October 2025 · 6 min
Choosing Between a Log Home and a Timber Frame
The two questions that actually decide it: how you want the walls to read from the inside, and how much wall you want to give up to insulation.
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