SHRINK TO FIT

PALMER — What to do with those pesky cottonwood trees is a question many property owners ponder each spring. Maybe they’re encroaching on your garden, or perhaps it’s their prodigious floating seeds you find a nuisance.

At the Palmer Center for Sustainable Living, formerly known as the University of Alaska Fairbanks Experiment Farm, these “nuisance” trees are finding a new application. A 14-day work project is nearly finished to build a log cabin out of cottonwoods harvested from the UAF property at the center along Trunk Road near Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.

Although cottonwood is not normally used as a building material for log houses, “we’re trying to showcase what you can do with cottonwood,” said Val Barber, director of the Forest Products Program for UAF. “A lot of people think it’s just a weed and don’t use it for anything. But I think it looks great and we’ve had a lot of people stop by and comment on it. They’re a little surprised (to learn its cottonwood), but they like it.”

Aside from the construction of the 16-by-20-foot cabin, those passing by the site see a small team of 13 working hard on its construction. All but two of those workers are actually students learning log-home-building techniques from one of the industry’s best — Robert Chambers.

“Robert Chambers is the draw,” Barber said. “It’s so cool and amazing to have him here. When it comes to log building, he’s way up there and has been doing it for a long time. He’s the Rolling Stones of log building.”

Chambers, from Wisconsin, has been building and teaching log building for nearly 30 years, but said he was a little stumped when UAF told him they wanted to use cottonwood.

“This is the first time I’ve used this,” he said. “No. 1, I think it’s beautiful. Just look at these logs in the sun, and their natural shapes. Those aren’t draw-knife marks on them, that’s their natural shape. In appearance, I am surprised and think it looks great.”

Along with experimenting with cottonwood as a building material, Chambers is teaching a technique know as “chinkless,” which means the logs are put together in a way that they tighten up without the help of chinking, steel bolts or other fasteners.

“Well, we’re not doing any experiments on making logs tight. We already know how to do that,” Chambers said. “We’re applying what we know (to cottonwood.” It’s called chinkless or full-scribed fit or handcrafted, and it does not require chinking or calking when done properly.”

Executing that properly is the true artistry that has drawn students from around the globe to the Valley to learn from Chambers. They hail from England, Australia, Switzerland, Hawaii, Colorado and other parts of Alaska, Barber said.

For Ian Cotton, the 33-hour flight from his home in Australia was worth the education he’s receiving from Chambers.

“It’s all to do about sustainable living,” he said. “I’m an environmental scientist, so I want to build a house on my farm. This is the perfect place to learn, and with Robert Chambers, who’s the guru of log building in North America.”

So far, he’s learned quite a bit, including how to cut notches in the logs and the technique to scribe and cut the logs so they fit tightly together.

Like Chambers, Cotton said he is surprised how well the cottonwood is holding up to the process. “I didn’t think cottonwood would be that good of a wood, but it’s beautiful.”

Another aspect that Cotton finds interesting is that the logs don’t have to be aged or dried. In fact, the cottonwood being used for the project is green. When they’re stacked, over time the logs will contract and shrink as they dry, which allows them to pull together and become tight.

“That was really surprising,” Cotton said. “These trees just came in off the hills right to be cut and put into position. That’s a fallacy a lot of people have that you need to use dry wood, but you can use it straightaway.”

Pascal Annen traveled to the Valley from Switzerland to learn Chambers’ techniques. He also plans to attend a workshop in Canada on fireplace building before returning home. For him, the goal is to learn valuable techniques he can use in the building industry in his home country.

“I like how they look and I probably want to build my own cabin someday,” he said. “It will be way cheaper than buying one. I’ve learned so much. You actually learn how to build the whole house. I’ve always wondered about the technique and how it works, and now I’m pretty happy that I know that.”

He also is impressed with Alaska.

“I really like the mountains here,” Annen said. “But I definitely don’t like the mosquitoes.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.