We can’t all be sexy. Sometimes it’s about getting the heavy lifting done. Safely, efficiently, and without damaging the timber. Our new Combilift does that in spades. It has all the power and lift of an old fashioned forklift, but without all the drama—less work stoppage while the load goes past, fewer pieces of equipment and operators to bring in the long and heavy loads, less gagging on the fumes and shouting over the noise..

And at the end of the workday it’s recharging quietly in the corner, getting ready to work its little butt off again tomorrow.

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Is West Jefferson (Ashe County) one of the best places to live, raise a family, and work in Western North Carolina?

Carolina Timberworks thinks so.

What Are the Key Statistics About Ashe County and West Jefferson?

Where is Ashe County Located?

Completed in early 2021 at an estimated cost of $154.7 million, the widening of U.S. 221 from U.S. 421 in Deep Gap to West Jefferson to a four-lane median-divided highway is game-changing. Boone to West Jefferson is approximately 30 minutes away, NC, 2 hours from Charlotte, NC, and 2-1/2 hrs. from Asheville, NC.

Who is the Best Realtor in Ashe County?

Theresa DeMarco. Hands down. And she’s a Carolina Timberworks alumni.

What Can You Do in West Jefferson, NC and Ashe County?

1. Take a good book to bed with you: Ashe County Public Library
2. People-watch downtown West Jefferson
3. Visit America’s longest park, the Blue Ridge Parkway
4. See for yourself why Outdoor Magazine named Boone, NC (30 min. away) in its Top Ten Places to Live in the U.S.
5. Bicycle 10.8 miles on a unusually flat (and scenic) road: Railroad Grade Road
6. How about a 3 hr. family bike ride…downhill? Virginia Creeper Trail
7. Float/kayak/canoe/flyfish the North Fork or the South Fork of the New River: Ashe County New River Map
8. See Time transformed into Space: Museum of Ashe County History
9. Unlike sausage-making, you’ll enjoy seeing cheese made: Ashe County Cheese (hint: 5 year old super sharp Cheddar)
10. Hike to Canada in an afternoon: Grandfather Mountain, at 5,945′ is the highest peak on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and as you ascend, you’ll transition from Rich Cove Forests to Northern Hardwood Forests, and finally reach a section of Canadian hemlock forest.
11. Not to be outdone by neighboring Watauga County, Ashe County has its very own Grandfather Mountain. It’s called Mount Jefferson State Natural area. For a great 1 hour hike, take 2 vehicles, leave one at the parking area at the top of the mountain, and drive the other back down to the ranger station at the base. Park, and hike (up) the Mountain Ridge Trail to your other vehicle.

What Makes the Ashe County Airport Unique?

You may be surprised to learn that private jets regularly land and take off only 3 miles from downtown West Jefferson. Ashe County Airport (KGEV, GEV) is a county-owned public airport with a 5,002′ long runway.

What Communities Are in Ashe County?

West Jefferson is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the largest town in Ashe County, while Jefferson is the county seat. Lansing rounds out the list of towns (our favorite pizza comes from Pie on the Mountain in Lansing). Some of the other places you might like to explore are Todd, Fleetwood, Creston, Helton, and Glendale Springs.

What Communities Neighbor Ashe County?

Trouble choosing where to explore next from your home base of West Jefferson? Here’s one great day trip: From West Jefferson, take 221 S to 421 N to Boone, a busy college town about 30 minutes from West Jefferson, home to Appalachian State University, and a vibrant downtown. From Boone, take 105 S for 5 miles, then turn right on Broadstone Road. In 3 miles you’ll travel back in time 100 years and arrive in Valle Crucis, home to the original Mast General Store. Now for an achingly beautiful (and twisty) road take 194 S to Banner Elk. Take 184 S to 105 S to Linville, then 221 N to Grandfather Mountain. From there, get on the Blue Ridge Parkway and head north for 12 miles to the village of Blowing Rock. Finally, after you’re tired of shopping, take 321 N to Boone, then 421 S to 221 N back to West Jefferson.

Where Can You Find the Best Local Weather Forecast for Ashe County?

RaysWeather.com

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1. Building a state-of-the-art new manufacturing building this year.
2. Relocating from Boone to West Jefferson, North Carolina, once the building is finished.

Next up: a radical investment

Carolina Timberworks is making a radical investment in order to make every tree count. It’s radical for two reasons:

1. There is an inherent conflict with our passionate 16 year commitment to hand-cut traditional timber framing.
2. The cost of this investment is significant.

Why do it then?

…worldwide, we are building… “the equivalent of an entire New York City (all five boroughs) every 35 days” …and plan to continue to do so for the next 30 years.

Bruce King, The New Carbon Architecture

Constructing and operating buildings accounts for nearly half of all US energy consumption and fossil fuel emissions.

–US Energy Information Administration

A look in the mirror

For 16 years we’ve cut our timber frames mostly by hand using a combination of power and hand tools. This process results in what we timber framers call “drops” – the left-over pieces that drop to the ground when a timber is cut to length. We used to heat our building with some of our drops, but now they go into a bin which is regularly emptied by locals wanting firewood. Here’s a look at our scrap bin last Friday:

We fill this bin up with drops about once a month. Put into context, over the course of a year, this bin will contain 15,185 board feet of wood–more than enough to build this timber frame every year:

It gets worse: drops aren’t our only waste.

For one thing, we’re human and we make mistakes: we lay out or cut timbers wrong from time-to-time. In some cases they can be reused–for example, we’re putting some into our new building. Usually, however, they are not reused, and become waste.

A shift in thinking about the cutting process

Early next year, we will be cutting our timbers differently. Imagine a German-made state-of-the-art computerized milling machine extending the full 80′ length of our new building. After the operator loads our 3D drawings into it, this new machine will load one timber at a time, and begin work by cutting a perfectly square cut on one end. Then it will advance the timber automatically and cut with incredible precision all the timber frame joinery for that particular piece. Finally the saw finishes up by cutting it exactly to length, and loads the next piece.

Software keeps getting smarter and smarter

This investment is going to cut our waste because it does something humans can’t do very well–optimization. Before we order wood, the software will create a sawmill list. Once the timber arrives at our timber frame shop, we’ll upload the sawmill list for the project (or it can even utilize a list of inventory on hand). Then, according to parameters we set, the software will sort through all the 150 or so parts for that particular timber frame and determines exactly which 2 or 3 parts could be cut from that particular beam which will result in the least possible loss of wood.

Now to blow your mind. Suppose 3 of our upcoming timber frames are White Oak. The way we do things now is to move all the wood for the first job into our building and work on that job until we finish it. Suppose the optimization software optimized all 3 White Oak jobs at once–and the machine cut all 3 at the same time?

So how is this going to make the planet a better place?

Scientists refer to the process as carbon sequestration, but we like to think of wood as a carbon sponge. A tree is nature’s solar-powered CO₂ storage machine, until the day it dies. Then, if left to rot–whether in a forest or landfill, or the wood burned–the sponge is wrung out and the CO₂ returned to the atmosphere.

Here’s the interesting thing: take that same tree and keep it dry, perhaps as part of a building in the form of a timber frame or your great grandfather’s dining table, and it will last indefinitely. Hundreds of years. Longer than concrete.

So, timber frames are part of the solution to our climate change problem.

So too is reducing the amount of wood that is burned or allowed to rot.

Through the acquisition of computerized cutting equipment and material optimization software, we estimate our wood waste will decrease by between half and two-thirds.

This is not the end, just the beginning…

We’re not giving up traditional craftsmanship–in fact we’re growing and plan to hire even more craftspeople. Instead, we think of this machine as one more tool in what is already a pretty well-equipped timber frame shop. To be honest, after you’ve cut a 1,000 mortises and tenons by hand, cutting the next one isn’t that much of a thrill. We’re all getting older, and timber framing is hard on a timber framer’s body. We’d rather put our hard-earned hand crafted skills and experience to work designing better timber frames that last longer and go up quicker. And when we have the urge to put chisel and hammer to wood, we’d rather choose what we cut by hand (machines have trouble with curves, not to mention twisted, irregular, nail-filled, and totally gorgeous, hand-hewn antique beams).

One more thing

Over the years, we’ve noticed that our customers plan their lives around the schedule for their project. This investment is part of our continued commitment to present and future customers to ensure reliable delivery dates as Carolina Timberworks grows.

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Follow us on the journey…

Groundbreaking 2.0

There’s just something about watching heavy equipment do its thing…it awakens the little child in all of us. Our friends at Maurice Jordan Builders are doing our grading, foundation, and slab. In addition to bringing a level of attention to detail and quality that is simply uncommon in the general construction industry, they’ve branched out into the reclaimed lumber, cast iron and rustic furnishings business.

A Unexpected Benefit: Compassion

We didn’t see this one coming, but one benefit of our new building in West Jefferson, North Carolina is that it’s helping us walk in our clients’ shoes. We’re experiencing, right now, the joys and the pain of building…and it’s good for us. It reminds us what an inherently creative and fun process building can, and should, be. So too, it reminds us how expensive it is to build, how busy the construction trades are, and how many decisions there are to make!

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