HeathRobinson
Established Member
Long time no speak fellow woodworkers. That doesn't mean I've lost sight of the hobby. I recently spent a week in a Swiss chalet with my family. My parents made the trip over from South Africa so we decided to do something a little bit different. The alps are just as beautiful in the low season as they are in the high. We stayed in the corner that is the French / Italian border of Switzerland under the menacing gaze of Glaciers d'Orny and Seleina. Some attempts were made at reaching said glaciers but the onset of Winter weather hampered our progress. Still a good time was had by all and I felt warmed returning to an all wood chalet at the end of each day.
Here she is from the outside. Of course the entire structure is of wood but some of the details really stuck out for me. I would never have thought, for instance, that they'd use wooden rain guttering. The 4 walls of the main chalet seem to be built up from the ground with lapped joints at the corners. The excess wood seemingly cut as an after thought resulting in a 90 degree V shape of random lengths of wood at each corner.
Most of the windows were double glazed and wood framed but this one in the Kitchen I found interesting. The corners of the frame being made with a bridle joint that is very visible as the frame protrudes so far inside the building.
This picture may not come out too well but it is a closeup of a section of a support beam. Hopefully you are able to make out the splices in the laminations. I found another beam that was solid wood instead of laminations but noticed it had a crack forming in it where it was bearing the load of the upstairs. Laminations superior to solid beam in that regard ...
In my home in the UK the door frames all have rabbets onto which the closed doors settle. In the chalet I was amused to find that the doors themselves were the ones with rabbets. Again, not a great quality picture but hopefully you can make out the rabbet along the length.
Most interesting of all, for me, was the stair case. A spiral of steps each of which was wedged mortise and tenoned into to a sturdy central post which was made of many laminations and presumably shaped and mortised after lamination.
And a closeup of the stairs ...
Hopefully not so long before my next post :lol: I guess I'm more the sort who visits this forum to learn things rather than to offer opinion and advice - very much the amateur still but felt this was probably worth sharing. Hopefully you enjoyed it
Simon
Here she is from the outside. Of course the entire structure is of wood but some of the details really stuck out for me. I would never have thought, for instance, that they'd use wooden rain guttering. The 4 walls of the main chalet seem to be built up from the ground with lapped joints at the corners. The excess wood seemingly cut as an after thought resulting in a 90 degree V shape of random lengths of wood at each corner.
Most of the windows were double glazed and wood framed but this one in the Kitchen I found interesting. The corners of the frame being made with a bridle joint that is very visible as the frame protrudes so far inside the building.
This picture may not come out too well but it is a closeup of a section of a support beam. Hopefully you are able to make out the splices in the laminations. I found another beam that was solid wood instead of laminations but noticed it had a crack forming in it where it was bearing the load of the upstairs. Laminations superior to solid beam in that regard ...
In my home in the UK the door frames all have rabbets onto which the closed doors settle. In the chalet I was amused to find that the doors themselves were the ones with rabbets. Again, not a great quality picture but hopefully you can make out the rabbet along the length.
Most interesting of all, for me, was the stair case. A spiral of steps each of which was wedged mortise and tenoned into to a sturdy central post which was made of many laminations and presumably shaped and mortised after lamination.
And a closeup of the stairs ...
Hopefully not so long before my next post :lol: I guess I'm more the sort who visits this forum to learn things rather than to offer opinion and advice - very much the amateur still but felt this was probably worth sharing. Hopefully you enjoyed it
Simon
