Timber framing

[TraditionalTool]

So let me get this straight - You got beams from the mill and your just chopping them up with an adz so they'll look hand hewn?

Absolutely, do you know how much time is saved in doing so? The alternative is to hewn 1/3rd off each side (that would be brutal with the adz), preferably with the Broad ax.

Adzin' ain't easy work...no sireeeeeeee....but it looks great, IMO.

My logs have had the sides milled off, and planed after. I'm not adzing the logs themselves. Only the timber, so in that sense I am only adzing milled timber off the sawmill as you ask above.

But NO, I didn't get beams from the mill, I got logs, cut the sides off on a saw mill (similar to the one I own), and the roof timber was also cut on that saw mill, which I am adzing. I have to cut the rafters on my sawmill still, they are still in log form as seen in this pic:

 

[gemniii]

Absolutely, do you know how much time is saved in doing so?

No - and I don't want to find out. I use to fell trees up to about a foot DBH with an ax. Then I moved up to a 2 man crosscut saw. Then I bought a Stihl 021 and never looked back.

The alternative is to hewn 1/3rd off each side (that would be brutal with the adz), preferably with the Broad ax.

Adzin' ain't easy work...no sireeeeeeee....but it looks great, IMO.

My logs have had the sides milled off, and planed after. I'm not adzing the logs themselves. Only the timber, so in that sense I am only adzing milled timber off the sawmill as you ask above.

But NO, I didn't get beams from the mill, I got logs, cut the sides off on a saw mill (similar to the one I own), and the roof timber was also cut on that saw mill, which I am adzing. I have to cut the rafters on my sawmill still, they are still in log form as seen in this pic:

I apologize for the post, I just had to use the pun "distressing" as in "Give (furniture, leather, or clothing) simulated marks of age and wear".

Looks decent but I can imagine someone looking at the beams 30 years from now and thinking "Wonder why he didn't use milled beams".

Have you thought of using a CSM and doing a bad job. Start and stop the mill a lot, "sawing" the mill back and forth, so it looks like real rough cut lumber.

My grandfather used to make large household furniture, and cabinetry. He took great pains to get a beautiful finish on all his work and thought it "just wrong" when people would distress it so it looked old.

 

[TraditionalTool]

No - and I don't want to find out. I use to fell trees up to about a foot DBH with an ax. Then I moved up to a 2 man crosscut saw. Then I bought a Stihl 021 and never looked back.

I will say that it is back breaking work...and you would gain so much respect for our forefathers, it will damn near make your cry!

Looks decent but I can imagine someone looking at the beams 30 years from now and thinking "Wonder why he didn't use milled beams".

That someone just might be my kids, they will end up with this log home, and they will know that their Dad built this house with his own hands. They will know that every dovetail was laid out and handcrafted, just as the kitchen cabinets will have hand cut dovetails on the drawers.

Have you thought of using a CSM and doing a bad job. Start and stop the mill a lot, "sawing" the mill back and forth, so it looks like real rough cut lumber.

Some things in life are just not done the easy way, and this is one of them. The look will just not be the same. I have pondered making a machine that would spin adz heads around with a motor to automate it, but at the end of the day it seems too much work for this one house.

My grandfather used to make large household furniture, and cabinetry. He took great pains to get a beautiful finish on all his work and thought it "just wrong" when people would distress it so it looked old.

Well, how many log homes did he build?

 

[sachsmo]

Books, books, books,

I need to get my list done soon.


Thanks,


mo

 

[betterbuilt]

Timber Framing for the Rest of Us: A Guide to Contemporary Post and Beam Construction
Looks kinda like it might have some useful info.
http://www.amazon.com/Timber-Framing-Rest-Contemporary-Construction/dp/0865715084

I did read this one and i remember it being a pretty good book.

The Craft of Modular Post & Beam: Building log and timber homes affordably

http://www.amazon.com/Craft-Modular-Post-Beam-affordably/dp/0881791318

 

[losttheplot]

Yeah, it will give you an appreciation for the modern tools...no doubt...and to be fair, these were cants that came off a mill. The other style besides the adz is the broad axe, it looks quite different. I like this adz work better, although it is more difficult...it looks great, IMO.

You could get a blunt chisel and carve a Faux date into the lintel over the front door.
Something like 1888

 

[rangergord]

I have Rob Roy's book Timber Framing for the rest of Us. It is good for showing how to use metal fasteners instead of complex wood joints and dowels. It comes up short on overall timberframe design. Next on my list is timberframers workshop by steve chappell. Not very many practical books on the subject. There are old books from the 70's and 80's (outdated). New coffeetable books that are for dreamers and the mortgage your future and pay someone else to build it crowd. Just a few to guide the do it your self person without an apprenticeship in traditional timberframe joinery.

http://www.amazon.com/Timber-Framer...ageNumber=2&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

 

[TraditionalTool]

I haven't replied to this thread, as I haven't read any good books, nor do I have any books on timber framing.

Worth noting are B.Allan Mackie's books on building with logs, and you can pick these up really cheap on the used book market.

The best one IMO is "Building with Logs", and he also discusses some basics on moving/lifting logs and such like that.

Mackie also has a book on notches that is good, but is out of print and is fetches premium prices. It is called "Notches of All Kinds: A Book of Timber Joinery" and shows joinery for various styles of building with logs and timber. Some fascinating notches. Some are for timber as I recall, but most are focused around building with logs.

Another great Mackie book is titled, "The Owner-Built Log House". It discusses various related issues in building a house, but focuses on doing it debt free.

Another book that is good, IMO, is the McRaven book, "Building and Restoring the Hewn Log House", which kinda focuses on building the dovetail home, but it doesn't show how to cut the dovetail, unfortunately. He used to give workshops but died a few years back. Nice guy, I've spoken to him in the past. Mackie's book "Building with Logs" shows the same style as well as how to cut it, but more specific like was popular in the Georgian Bay area of Ontario. It uses flat logs on both faces, live edge between the logs, corners dovetailed. Same as Appalacian, but the logs are bigger. I believe French influenced in the Ontario area.

All of that said, much of the notches used are common, and mortise and tenon are commonly used. In furniture the m&t is used slightly different, I've noticed in timber they will often mortise the entire log in, such as having a top plate and the floor joists mortised in. On furniture you would create a shoulder around the tenon, so that it hides the joint, but in timber framing most people mortise the entire end, and there is no shoulder.

Timber framing is easier than building with logs in the sense that the timber is not as big and is easier to move. While not required, a larger mill such as a band mill would be nicer than a CSM.

The Benson book is certainly worth pursuing, but get the one on building the timber frame home, not the coffee table book with pics of timber framed homes.

It is a shame that more people do not build with timber, in regard to how many use it for firewood. I see some beautiful trees being turned into ashes...guys cutting up perfectly good logs that they could build with...

Even so, timber framing is not easy in many cases either, unless you keep the sizes really small. For instance I have a 28' cant that is 12"x14", and I bet it weighs 4000 lbs. Lifting and moving timber is a topic in itself.

 

[sachsmo]

Thanks Alan,

Lots of good info there.
I have enough EAB killed ash to do a couple Timber Framed buildings.

The "Silver lining" is; the bark just falls off to reveal a very intricate roving pattern of the larvae.

Other than the tops, small DBH, and curvy ones, mine will be put to good use.

 

[TraditionalTool]

Lots of good info there.
I have enough EAB killed ash to do a couple Timber Framed buildings.

There was just an article a month or two ago in Sawmill & Woodlot magazine on the East Asian Beetle. I don't know too much about it, but does the larva stay inside the tree like the other beetles that live in lodgepole? I don't know what type those are, but do know those live inside and have been known to bore out in the first couple years after people build with them.

Other than the tops, small DBH, and curvy ones, mine will be put to good use.

That's good to hear! I'm so glad I pursued learning how to build with logs/timber. I wish I would have discovered it some years ago, but I'm happy learning now in life and hope that I can build at least the log house I'm working on and a garage/carriage_house.

 

[betterbuilt]

There was just an article a month or two ago in Sawmill & Woodlot magazine on the East Asian Beetle. I don't know too much about it, but does the larva stay inside the tree like the other beetles that live in lodgepole?

I read an article that said they were only in the outer two inches or so. The article said if they ran it through a special bark removal machine, That took off the bark and the cambium. It said they could remove almost 100% of the beetles on the butt logs(I think BobL is putting one on his mill). The only draw back was the next log up they could get most of them but there was still a small amount around branches and crevases.

 

[Hlakegollum]

So Ted IS the guru?

By the way,

do you sell ice fishin' gear?

I bought some cool stuff from a guy many years back.

Me thinks he lived there.

mo

Sorry I don't know him and haven't done any ice fishing. I do see guys out all winter, the lake freezes over about Jan. 15th.

 

[BobL]

I read an article that said they were only in the outer two inches or so. The article said if they ran it through a special bark removal machine, That took off the bark and the cambium. It said they could remove almost 100% of the beetles on the butt logs(I think BobL is putting one on his mill). The only draw back was the next log up they could get most of them but there was still a small amount around branches and crevases.

Those bark removal machines are way out of my league and look something like this at the mill Brad works at.

 

[TraditionalTool]

I read an article that said they were only in the outer two inches or so. The article said if they ran it through a special bark removal machine, That took off the bark and the cambium. It said they could remove almost 100% of the beetles on the butt logs(I think BobL is putting one on his mill). The only draw back was the next log up they could get most of them but there was still a small amount around branches and crevases.

I don't know if that is true or not, the article I read in Sawmill & Woodlot magazine says the Asian Longhorn Beetle destroys the structure of the wood. In the article it says:

"Over time, the tunneling of the larvae through the trunk and branches weakens the structure of the tree. The tree then becomes a hazard, as branches can fall off and the entire tree can come down unexpectedly. The wood is ruined for wood products and sap production is reduced. The damage also opens the tree up to attack from disease organisms."

The article goes on to talk about the Worcester Incident which happened around 2008 and the ALB was spotted in an area around Worcester MA.

I would check into the ALB more before you use the wood for a timber frame structure, and make sure the wood is structurally sound. Chances are that it is isolated to the outer 2" like you say, but this article doesn't imply such.

 

[sachsmo]

I read an article that said they were only in the outer two inches or so. The article said if they ran it through a special bark removal machine, That took off the bark and the cambium. It said they could remove almost 100% of the beetles on the butt logs(I think BobL is putting one on his mill). The only draw back was the next log up they could get most of them but there was still a small amount around branches and crevases.

Think we're talkin' two different bugs here.

My ash are afflicted with "Emereld Ash Borer", The larvae just eat the cambium layer and do nothing to the "structure" of the wood.

Bet those larvae "roving" marks will look very interesting on the Timbers eh?

 

[TraditionalTool]

Think we're talkin' two different bugs here.

My ash are afflicted with "Emereld Ash Borer", The larvae just eat the cambium layer and do nothing to the "structure" of the wood.

Bet those larvae "roving" marks will look very interesting on the Timbers eh?

Yes, different than I thought you were talking about, I thought you were talking about the Asian Longhorn Beetle. These are two different borers entirely.