How To Build Your Own Home Without Nails

Can You Build Your Own Home Without Nails??

Every time we build or repair anything in our home or yard, we’re always amazed at the cost of nails. We built our entire chicken coop for free, except for the $50 we spent on screws!

You can find scrap lumber and old pallets aplenty to build with, but you can just as easily go broke on nails, screws, and other seemingly cheap items.  It’s no wonder that building a home nowadays means massive expenses.

We have largely lost the old ways, where building a home was done by first creating the simple tools to use, and then painstakingly crafting each piece to fit together seamlessly, without costly and unsustainable pieces that can rust or become loose.

The ancient Japanese perfected this method of interlocking construction, using large timbers and exacting craftsmanship. In ancient times, clever builders used to use the forbidding thorns of honey locust and black locust trees as sustainably-sourced “nails” for construction. Some people believe that the nails driven into the cross of Christ were actually honey locust thorns.

There’s a small number of dedicated homesteaders who are re-learning these sorts of lost arts. They feel the satisfaction and pride of creating with their hands, using nothing but simple tools like chisels and hammers.

Watch Mr. Chickadee build his own home piece by handcrafted piece, alone in the quiet forest as if it were a a meditative experience (because it is).

He chronicles his entire experience from start to finish, including how to make some of the tools he uses to get the job done!