On Sunday, November 12, Lud McCrary and his grandson, Dennis Webb, a fifth generation redwood shake splitter and a Forester at Big Creek Lumber by trade, demonstrated wood shake splitting.

Redwood shakes were commonly used in the 1850’s – 1930’s. The main difference between shakes and shingles are that shakes are split rather than sawn. Shakes were desirable for ranchers, farmers and lumberman because they only required one person to make them and didn’t need any machinery or steam engines to produce. They are light weight, durable and a shake barn could last with little maintenance in excess of 50 years.

Their demonstration took place after a lecture on logging history by Lisa Robinson from the SLV Museum at the opening of the exhibit, “A Rough and Perilous Life – The Redwood Loggers of Woodside”, put on by The Friends of Huddart & Wunderlich Parks in Woodside, CA.

Shake splitting used to be a widely used skill and Lud relishes the opportunity to educate others on this lost trade.

Lisa Kurz was diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder in 2012 that left her weak and largely immobile. Unable to move back into her three-story condo filled with staircases, Kurz was desperate for a solution.

Luckily, Peter and Lauren Cowan, owners of Agewise Design, knew exactly what to do.

“I couldn’t even handle the stair that led from the sidewalk into the condo,” Lisa sighed. “Agewise Design built a platform with graduated stairs to accommodate my walker and put a second railing on the staircase and grab bars in the bathroom.”

In 2014 the firm tackled the kitchen, which Lisa described as “claustrophobic” adding, “It was not ergonomically well-designed. I couldn’t stand at the sink and open the dishwasher at the same time.”

“The new kitchen configuration is similar to the previous one, but we took space to create 5-foot turnaround radius for a wheelchair by shrinking the laundry closet,” Lauren noted. “We also put in a smaller dishwasher and cabinetry designed to provide kneeholes under the sink for wheelchair functionality.”

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Simply contact your local yard about how to get pre-delivery notifications for your deliveries to your site or home.

You pick the notification lead time – if you want 30 minutes notice great, if you’d prefer 10 minutes notice, we can do that too!