My Story
Barns have always been special to me. For my three brothers and myself, the one on our family's dairy farm in Minnesota was our hideout, our gymnasium, our refuge and our workplace. Whenever I had the chance I'd enjoy exploring those of our neighbors and friends, seeing differences and finding out how others were getting the same jobs done. I find barns to be a connection with those both good and sometimes very difficult days. Somehow many of the memories connected to the barn seem positive from the prospective of years.
Maybe most significant to me now is seeing one of those noble old giants and sensing them calling out their story to anyone who'll listen. The invitation is to come inside where the real telling begins. The smells, textures and changing light, mingling with the groaning of the structure bracing into the wind, all serve to tell their part of the generations who lived and worked there. To sense the joy and pain, and to appreciate the struggle and feel the longing for days gone by is both compelling and sad.
I wanted to build one on our property, but since that wasn't practical at the time, my wife suggested that I build a model. I've collected or read just about every book on the history of barns, covering the changes over the years and the development of form following function, different ethnic styles and the changes in materials and construction techniques. Photographs, paintings, poetry and prose have done a wonderful job of preserving as much as they can. I thought the form of a replica could fill more of the gap between art and reality.
A model needs to be as large as possible to allow for examination of detail and projecting the feel and atmosphere to the observer. I chose the 1/24 scale because it seemed the most practical for building (not too small), but not too large for moving and display.
Maybe most significant to me now is seeing one of those noble old giants and sensing them calling out their story to anyone who'll listen. The invitation is to come inside where the real telling begins. The smells, textures and changing light, mingling with the groaning of the structure bracing into the wind, all serve to tell their part of the generations who lived and worked there. To sense the joy and pain, and to appreciate the struggle and feel the longing for days gone by is both compelling and sad.
I wanted to build one on our property, but since that wasn't practical at the time, my wife suggested that I build a model. I've collected or read just about every book on the history of barns, covering the changes over the years and the development of form following function, different ethnic styles and the changes in materials and construction techniques. Photographs, paintings, poetry and prose have done a wonderful job of preserving as much as they can. I thought the form of a replica could fill more of the gap between art and reality.
A model needs to be as large as possible to allow for examination of detail and projecting the feel and atmosphere to the observer. I chose the 1/24 scale because it seemed the most practical for building (not too small), but not too large for moving and display.
The first barn is a reproduction of an early 1800's English gable end with a prow front and having the drive through "threshing floor" feature. It's real life measurements would be 24X36. It features tracks for the sliding doors and a full layout of cattle and horse stalls.
I entered it in the Polk County, Wisconsin "Year of The Barn" at the county fair in 2003 and was awarded 1st place in the division and "Best In Show" over all other entries.
I entered it in the Polk County, Wisconsin "Year of The Barn" at the county fair in 2003 and was awarded 1st place in the division and "Best In Show" over all other entries.
My next project and a larger barn would be 36' X 72' in real life. It's a Dutch Gambrel design common in the mid 1800's in the Northeast and upper Midwest. It features the prow and the drive through "threshing floor", giving access to the hay mow from two directions. This one also has a variation of cattle and horse stalls including a large foaling stall.
Both were built without plans, though I recorded my work and took pictures during construction of the second one. I used pine for all the framing timbers, boards and battens. They're post and beam, mortise and tenon joinery with pegs whenever required. I started with the sill and floor joists and constructed each bent, tying the structure together with girts and purlins before installing plates, rafters and ridgepole.
I finished the inside next, (so I could get at it), putting tie stalls, box stalls, mangers, harness hooks and tie rings as well as ladders to each mow. Next came the board and batten siding and then the roof boards and shingles. The shingles are hand split cedar using a "froe" I designed for the purpose. There are over 2600 shingles on the small barn and over 6900 on the large one. The final phase was the outside doors and then the painting. I adapted available hinges for the swinging doors and designed and fabricated tracks and carriers for the sliding doors. All doors inside and out operate smoothly. Both barns are built with a concealed lift off section to allow the observer to "enter" the building. They took about 200 hours each to complete. I recorded the steps in the building of the Dutch Gambrel and produced a "Plan Book" so you can build your own model of this nice barn. Contact me about getting your copy.
I selected these designs because they held the most appeal to me at the time and also because some of the features are more artistic. Today barns vary only in size, color and perhaps function. I found that there are as many variations in design of these historic buildings as there are builders.
Both were built without plans, though I recorded my work and took pictures during construction of the second one. I used pine for all the framing timbers, boards and battens. They're post and beam, mortise and tenon joinery with pegs whenever required. I started with the sill and floor joists and constructed each bent, tying the structure together with girts and purlins before installing plates, rafters and ridgepole.
I finished the inside next, (so I could get at it), putting tie stalls, box stalls, mangers, harness hooks and tie rings as well as ladders to each mow. Next came the board and batten siding and then the roof boards and shingles. The shingles are hand split cedar using a "froe" I designed for the purpose. There are over 2600 shingles on the small barn and over 6900 on the large one. The final phase was the outside doors and then the painting. I adapted available hinges for the swinging doors and designed and fabricated tracks and carriers for the sliding doors. All doors inside and out operate smoothly. Both barns are built with a concealed lift off section to allow the observer to "enter" the building. They took about 200 hours each to complete. I recorded the steps in the building of the Dutch Gambrel and produced a "Plan Book" so you can build your own model of this nice barn. Contact me about getting your copy.
I selected these designs because they held the most appeal to me at the time and also because some of the features are more artistic. Today barns vary only in size, color and perhaps function. I found that there are as many variations in design of these historic buildings as there are builders.
After an article in Farm Ranch Living magazine I was contacted about building a model of a New World Dutch barn, the type that was common from the late 1600's through the 1800's in area of upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Northern New Jersey. It was my first commissioned work
Using the resource of drawings and photos I combined different features from several existing barns and many that no longer exist, to produce what it's new owner is delighted with. All of the features of the barn are to scale and function as though they are full size. The "feel" of the real thing as in all my models comes through in color, texture, space and scale inside and out.
Using the resource of drawings and photos I combined different features from several existing barns and many that no longer exist, to produce what it's new owner is delighted with. All of the features of the barn are to scale and function as though they are full size. The "feel" of the real thing as in all my models comes through in color, texture, space and scale inside and out.
The "L" Barn is considered by my commissioner to be the ultimate in my artistic work. This model is a circa 1920 dairy barn set up for 20 milk cows. You can see the complexity of the details in the gallery of pictures. The features include; besides the attached horse barn, there is a complete water system including a redwood water tank, filled by windmill or pump jack, drinking cups for each of the twenty pipe milking stalls with working stanchions. Bull pen, calf pen, feed room, milk room with cooling tank and of course working box stalls and harnessing racks in the horse barn. It has good natural lighting with hooks for lanterns for night work, concrete floor with gutters, there's room to drive a team and spreader through the double doors on each end. All door latches work from inside and out. Inside walls are cedar lined. The haymow has ladders and hay chutes doors weighted to open and close with ease.