Hand Hewing — Before easy access to saw mills, builders hewed square timbers from whole logs, with axes. It’s brutal work, but leaves a lovely surface on the timber. It feels, under your fingers, like ripples on a lake on a calm day. Hew enough timbers and you will gain tremendous respect for lumber. You will waste nothing.

Shou Sugi Ban — Many of these old techniques center around wood preservation. In years past, craftsman thought as much about future generations as the currently living. They wanted their buildings to stand. Shou Sugi Ban is a Japanese term for a heat treatment that radically extends the life of wood. The surface was charred, which hardened the wood and also left behind a layer of ash to repel insects. These days a propane torch makes the process easy and satisfying.

Ring Barking — Another preservation technique requires more forward thinking. Centuries ago in Norway, craftsmen would damage the bark of pine trees a little at a time, over several years, tricking the tree into saturating itself with rot-proof pitch. Then, the year before felling the tree, they’d remove all the bark and sap wood in a ring around the base. The pitch-saturated tree would dry on the root, becoming almost like stone. Many of the oldest surviving wooden structures were built with trees harvested in this way.