Building a Hobbit style root cellar with stone Part I

In this episode we begin our Hobbit root cellar by splitting and laying sandstone blocks for the walls. Following a traditional approach seen in several 100+ year old cellars, we stack most of the stones using the natural clay subsoil as a kind of "mortar". The front wall is laid up using lime mortar as it will see the most weathering.

The round door frame is cut out of 3 1/2" thick heart pine timbers, using a felloes saw. These felloes are joined with a walnut dovetail key, then split white oak saplings, about 2", are steamed and bent to form the door jamb inside the frame. All is burned deeply and oiled with a mixture of Pine tar, citrus solvent and canola oil.

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