Three Ten Timber

If you know Jeff, you know he likes old stuff. Every restaurant he’s owned in the Cedar Valley has been filled with antique signs, old tools, and vintage artwork.

We’ve supplied reclaimed material for several of his restaurant projects over the years. This was the first time we supplied something for his own home, and we were excited to stop by and see how it turned out!

On the front and back porches, Jeff used solid rough-sawn mixed softwood posts and headers. You can still see the old mortise pockets and peg holes. He stained the timbers darker while keeping much of the original patina.

In the kitchen, hand-hewn sleeper beams run across the ceiling around antique metal ceiling panels. Those beams once supported floor joists in a barn. Now they’re part of the room where Jeff cooks and gathers with family.

Jeff has always had an eye for old materials, and it was fun to see what he did with them at home. Take a look!

Check out this project we provided beams for, and hear what the homeowner, Becca, had to say about the finished space!

“Three Ten Timber supplied us with multiple beams for our new house. They are one of the first things people notice when they walk into our home, and always bring many compliments and conversations. We love the authentic charm and character they add it’s so cool to have this piece of American history as a part of our home now.”

Today was a first for Three Ten Timber.

This workshop actually started as an idea for some internal training with our own crew. As we talked about it, we started hearing from other people who were interested in learning more about timber framing too. So we opened it up, and Elias ended up spending the morning with six people from our local community who wanted to learn more about the craft.

The workshop started with the fundamentals, what separates timber framing from post-and-beam and conventional framing, how timber behaves, the members that make up a timber frame, and the traditional tools and joinery that hold it all together.

From there, the group worked through layout methods, including the Square Rule system we use in our own shop, before putting tools to timber and getting some hands-on practice laying out and cutting joinery.

Timber framing is an old craft. Much of what we know exists because generations of craftsmen took the time to pass it on. It was pretty special to spend a morning doing a small part of the same thing.

We have invested a lot of time and energy into learning this craft, and being able to share some of that knowledge with people in our own community feels like an important milestone for us.

Hopefully this is the first of many! We’d be curious to know how many others would be interested in joining us for a future timber framing workshop.

Here’s a basement project we finished last year in the Cedar Falls area. Our client wanted a family hangout with some character, and reclaimed naily roof board was a great fit!

The boards came from several historic Midwest barns. We cleaned them up and left the natural color, saw marks, and old nail holes intact. There’s a lot of variation from one board to the next, which is a big part of why we like this material.

We used it along the lower walls, across a full accent wall, and around a beam. It fits right in with the movie posters and sports memorabilia the family has collected.

They had a good vision for this room. It was fun to help put it together!

WE’RE HIRING PART-TIME HELP

Three Ten Timber is looking for a dependable person to help prepare reclaimed material at our Cedar Falls shop.

Responsibilities include:
- Power washing timbers
- Pulling nails
- Moving and stacking material with equipment
- Brushing reclaimed boards with a wire-brush machine
- Inventorying and organizing material
- Other material-preparation work
- Other shop related work

This can be an entry-level position for someone interested in learning about timber framing, reclaimed materials, and traveling construction, or a job for someone who just want's to get their hands dirty.

Pay: $20 per hour

Hours: At least 20 hours per week, with the possibility of more
We are looking for someone who works hard, shows up when expected, and takes responsibility for their work. Equipment-operating experience is helpful but not required.

Interested?

Email: [email protected]
Call or Text: 319-318-6156.

Long post incoming.

Recently, Elias and I officially became owners of the place our business has called home for the past four years, warmly known as “the Swamp.”

This has been a long time coming, and we’re excited to finally share part of the story. I can’t fit every detail into one post, but we plan to tell the full story later in video form.

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Like all great businesses, ours started in a garage, my garage to be precise.

There’s a great photo of Elias and me sitting in the middle of a freshly swept garage, thighs unapologetically spread, proud of the shelves we had just built to hold lumber from our first deconstruction project. The space that housed our business always seemed to match the size of the idea behind Three Ten Timber. At first, it was something we did for fun while we both waited for our careers to begin. But after we took down a few more structures and Elias hit his head on the undersized garage door one too many times, we started looking for something bigger. Along the way, the idea grew too. What started as something fun became a side hustle.

After six months, we moved into about 20 feet of unused space beneath a friend’s lean-to. We quickly filled it because we had a bad habit of reclaiming more material than we could sell. This was before we were selling semi-loads at a time. Twenty feet became 50, then 100, followed by part of the outdoor lot. After three years of slowly outgrowing our welcome, we had both quit our jobs to pursue Three Ten Timber full time, and the idea had outgrown the space again. We wanted to sell more material to distributors across the country, one semi-load at a time. To do that, we needed more inventory and a lot more room to store it.

We moved our growing pile of material to a friend’s in-laws’ unused two-acre lot. Shortly after that move, we reconnected with an old friend who had been classically trained to build dovetail log structures. We completed a handful of projects together and fell in love with the building side of the business. That was when we made the deliberate decision to become builders. We wanted to create beautiful structures like those we had spent years taking down, structures that future generations would admire and preserve. The idea grew again, and so did our need for space. We needed a permanent home where we could build to our hearts’ content and showcase what we were capable of creating.

On June 11, 2022, Chelsea and I were taking one of our usual Saturday drives around Cedar Falls. While driving toward Big Woods Lake, I noticed a property to the south that I had never seen before. Vines covered the fence, but I could vaguely make out a white concrete-block building behind it. I pulled over to get a closer look. Standing at that fence, I had an overwhelming thought: This could be Three Ten Timber’s home. I didn’t know who owned it. I didn’t know whether it was still being used. Piles of pallets suggested someone was keeping things there. I only knew I needed to find out.

As I walked the fence line, I found a sign buried behind the vines. It read “Ronan Industries” and included a phone number. A few days later, I told Elias what I had found. In typical Elias fashion, he said it sounded interesting, but unlikely to be available for lease or purchase.

“But you should call them.”

We called the number on the sign. I still remember listening to the phone ring and feeling like my heart was louder than the ringing.

A man answered, “Ronan Industries.”

I asked to speak with the owner. He asked why, and I explained what I had seen. I told him we were interested in a lease-to-own opportunity. There was a pause.

Then he said, “Well, you’re in luck. This is Ronan, the owner.”

Soon after that call, we moved in as tenants. Four years later, we now own the property.

For the first time, it feels like the space has room to grow with the idea.

More than seven acres of land and a 37,000-square-foot warehouse in the town we both call home have given the ideas behind Three Ten Timber room to grow without forcing us to move again. We’ve already completed many projects to make the property our own, with plenty more on the docket. If you’re local, drive by and say hello. We love sharing our work, and we’re excited to begin the next part of our reclamation journey by bringing new life to land and buildings that sat vacant for a long time.

When Ronan and Lisa purchased the property, it was a former junkyard. They reclaimed it for their business, and now they have given us the opportunity to continue that work.

A special thank-you goes to Ronan and Lisa. I don’t know if there is a better example of paying it forward in the Cedar Valley. They started their business at this address, and over the past four years, they have done everything they could to help us build a successful future here. We will always be grateful for the opportunity they gave us.

Most importantly, a lot of prayer went into this property as we tried to determine our next step. God has been faithful throughout the entire process. I clearly remember telling myself that if He gave us this property, we needed to give Him all the credit. Credit where credit is due. Thank you, Lord!