Timber Framing
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PCTREE
Treehouser
Ive got those sitting in my field!! You know you are welcome to them.
It still amazes me on occasion that you have the energy to be so neat.
It still amazes me on occasion that you have the energy to be so neat.
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
What do you use that super sack in the background for?
PCTREE
Treehouser
we all have that, just manifests in different ways
How thick do you need em? Im cutting a bunch of pines tomorrow, none of em are huge and some are multi leader junk, but some might fit the bill. I didn't look at em like that, just envisioned a chipper and a dumpster.
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
Always reference your reference edge. Jim Rogers made a big deal about calling it a 1/2" reduction, when you might only be reducing 3/8" if your timber wasn't exactly 8".
If you are using 1/2" reductions, just subtract that from the nominal dimension of your timber. If you've milled 8"x8" timbers, then you reduce them to 7.5" at the joint, regardless if they are 7 3/4" or 8 1/4". That is the beauty of square rule, you don't have to maintain exactly perfect timber dimensions. One side of your Big Al layout tool is in .5" increments. Just hook that on your reference edge and mark the housing at 7.5".
When you are getting ready to lay out a timber, you want to pick your best face and best edge. Sight down the timber to see that it is straight, or if it has some bow to it. Usually the bow goes up or out. For instance, a floor joist or rafter would have the bow up so the load pushes it flat. You also want the intersection of your best face and best edge to be as square as possible, as it is the reference for the joints that land on the non-reference faces. I picked up some carpenters chalk at the hardware store. It is a half sphere about 2" across, and I use it to mark the best edge with a triangle. Sidewalk chalk works just as well. The triangle is good to have there so you know where to hook the Big Al tool or framing square.
If you are using 1/2" reductions, just subtract that from the nominal dimension of your timber. If you've milled 8"x8" timbers, then you reduce them to 7.5" at the joint, regardless if they are 7 3/4" or 8 1/4". That is the beauty of square rule, you don't have to maintain exactly perfect timber dimensions. One side of your Big Al layout tool is in .5" increments. Just hook that on your reference edge and mark the housing at 7.5". When you are getting ready to lay out a timber, you want to pick your best face and best edge. Sight down the timber to see that it is straight, or if it has some bow to it. Usually the bow goes up or out. For instance, a floor joist or rafter would have the bow up so the load pushes it flat. You also want the intersection of your best face and best edge to be as square as possible, as it is the reference for the joints that land on the non-reference faces. I picked up some carpenters chalk at the hardware store. It is a half sphere about 2" across, and I use it to mark the best edge with a triangle. Sidewalk chalk works just as well. The triangle is good to have there so you know where to hook the Big Al tool or framing square.
rskybiz
TreeHouser
Sure is one can learn a lot just in reading this thread!
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
I think with just about all woodwork that incorporates different pieces constructed together, you reference off an edge that will be on the same side as the edges of the other parts. Sometimes you may reference off your mortise or tenon. People wonder how you work with curves and such and still keep everything square and symmetrical at the end. Generally it is from referencing off an edge, and often before the curves are cut into it. Keeping a certain base going throughout the work is the secret to doing woodwork that stays in control. If you don't do that, chaos can intervene. Marking gauges that cut a reference line are a big help in the process. People sometimes find them in their dad's or grandfather's woodworking kit and wonder what they are for. 
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
I bought both of Jack's books first, in '05. I took my first workshop in '06. It was the Sobon/Carlon one at Hancock Shaker Village. That was in September, and in December I started working for a guy with a Wood-Mizer. In '08 I started working for the guy that bought my Wood-Mizer new. In '09 he asked me if I could restore a Dutch barn he had in storage. I said I could do the work, as long as Jack Sobon did the architectural work. I took a Cruck frame workhop at Heartwood followed the next week by a scribing workshop. Restoring that barn was my first timber framing outside of a workshop. I got pointers from Jack throughout the process, but for the most part, it was just going to work everyday and figuring out how to go about it using the knowledge I had gained from the workshops. The guy I was working for had zero tf experience, and did not participate in any of the work. So, in total, I've taken seven workshops, Sobon/Carlon '06, Heartwood Cruck and Scribe '09, TFG Geometric Design '09, Heartwood Raising and Rigging '10, Heartwood Cruck '11, Heartwood Joinery and Design Decisions '12. I highly recommend the Sobon/Carlon or a basic Heartwood timber framing workshop to get started. Seeing it happen in front of you really makes a huge difference. Believe it or not, one of the biggest advantages of a workshop is being shown what the right tools are, and to experience what a sharp chisel is really like. If you are using the wrong tools, you are fighting an uphill battle from the beginning.
FireFighterZero
Captain Zero!
Great write up! This is a fascinating thread. I am not aware of any timber framing out here. Maybe this area was settled too late. \
Apparently we had a group of German immigrants that traveled around and built barns and grain bins.
Apparently we had a group of German immigrants that traveled around and built barns and grain bins.
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
For the peg hole? Yes. Your peg hole will be referenced off of the face of the mortise. In the photo below the left side of the post is the reference edge of an 8"x8". The face of the brace mortise is 7.5" away. The peg hole is 1.5" away from the mortise face, and 2" up from the nose of the brace. Your brace layout is measured from the shoulder at the top of the post to the nose of the brace. If it's a 3' by 3' brace, then you pull your tape 3' to the nose. That is probably covered in either of the Sobon books.
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