Another Work is Possible

Overview

Since 2002, Charpentiers Sans Frontières (CSF, “Carpenters Without Borders”) have traveled around the world to build, using the old ways. With axe, saw, plumb bob, and chisel, this diverse group of skilled craftspeople restored a medieval bridge at a castle in France, built a new hewn-truss roof system on a blacksmith shop in Romania, and even ventured as far afield as China – but they had never before done a project in the United States. In 2019, CSF traveled to the rural Maine coast to construct a blacksmith shop for Mortise & Tenon Magazine. “Another Work is Possible” documents this ambitious project, from the sourcing of logs in the forest and their harvest using horse power; to peeling, hewing, scribing, and cutting joinery with simple, ancient hand tools; sharing communal meals made with local ingredients; and finally, the raising of the structure – all accomplished in less than two weeks of labor.