Bark House Newsletter: June 2008
Ask The Experts
We invite you to submit an email and have a Highland Craftsmen expert answer your question. chris@highlandcraftsmen.com
Q: “I understand the advantage of using your pre-fitted or coped moldings for my doors and windows, but how do I deal with crown, base, and chair rail joinery?”
JD Hughes, Circa Construction, Georgia
A: The most important thing to remember in dealing with natural moldings is the observation that every running foot can dramatically change in shape, thickness and texture. Inside corners can be nicely mitered by simply matching the two opposing wall section moldings closely in width. Run your first piece squarely into the corner. Scribe the other wall piece and cut with either a jig saw or coping saw depending on material thickness. A side grinder with heavy grit paper or rotary carver works nicely for cleaning up the fit. For outside corners, nice joints are best achieved by turning the corner with a continuous piece that you have “forty-fived” on your miter saw. This ensures that the material appears to flow around the corner. As for perpendicular joints such as a chair rail intersecting with a door or window casing, you may have to run your chair rail through a joiner to ensure its thickness does not exceed the thickness of trim it’s mating into. This prevents it from “over-running” the other piece. Scribe and fit as from the inside corner techniques. Marty McCurry, “The Bark Man"™
Bark Buddies
share the space we live in
“Bark Buddies” is a fun way to increase our awareness of the world around us. Trees, animals, flowers, bugs, weather, people...all share the space we live in. They fill our lives and make them interesting. The Bark House® lifestyle invites each of us to breathe in the beauty of our natural world. I have asked our expert, Marmon Thompson that is in the field everyday to provide a story for us to enjoy each month. Below are his observations.
The Tulip (Tree) Flower
The tulip tree, or tulip poplar or yellow poplar, is a member of the magnolia family. The similarities in their flowers will indicate that, but tulip poplar flower size (2-3 inches in diameter) and location (usually 50 to 100 feet up) make casual comparisons difficult. In addition, the flower is usually partially green, in beautiful combination with orange and yellow, which camouflages the flower from the occasional viewer. However, if you’re looking, the flowers generally begin to open in May.
The male parts of the flower, or the stamens, are spirally arranged around the central, cone shaped pistil, or female part of the flower. The stamens are composed of anthers, or pollen bearing parts, on the end of a filament. The flowers commonly self-pollinate, but cross-pollinated seed are much larger and healthier. Each flower is only receptive to pollination for 12 to 24 hours after opening.
Bees make good honey from tulip poplar, but much of the pollination, as in others of the magnolia family, is carried out by beetles.
In the Fall, the seed pods ripen and can be observed high in the tops after the leaves are discarded. Unless eaten by bireds and squirrels, the winds disperse winged seeds to the forest floor for propagation.
Bark House® Moldings
integrate in-side and out-side spaces
The natural world was perhaps best romanticized by classic writers such as Burroughs and Thoreau. They understood that something reassuring and peaceful, and yet something deeply stirring occurs when man and nature are joined harmoniously. Today, artists use numerous mediums to express this timeless truth.
Bark House® Moldings bring the natural world into human living spaces subtly. They are not overwhelming in size or color, but can convey the same quiet strength and magnitude of being in a forest. The sun’s rays stream inward through open windows and move across the dappled colors and texture of natural moldings. The eye moves between inside and outside spaces, craftily unified. Nature’s glory touches us and leaves us changed forever.
Growing Green
how poplar Bark House moldings are green
“Greening” is a growing phenomenon. Every company that enters this process should be able to explain and demonstrate how their company’s practices and their community action is green. We would like to take the opportunity each month in this newsletter to share one way that we are greening.
Natural poplar Bark House® moldings are made from suppressed trees harvested in the deep forest under a dominant canopy. Under these conditions, a 6” diameter shade intolerant poplar tree will die on its own due to lack of nutrients and sunlight that the dominant canopy retains. On the contrary, a hickory tree would live much longer in the same setting. HC procures poplar trees that are between 2” to 6” in diameter.
TSI or Timber Stand Improvement removes small trees from the forest stand so that the dominant canopy can thrive. Methods used include controlled burning, use of herbicides or felling. HC does not burn or use herbicides but instead has vendors who cut the trees and removes them by hand so the forest floor is impacted as little as possible. This improves the overall condition of the forest, as well as habitat and food sources for wildlife.
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