Timber Framing
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Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
The standard in MA is Int. 1/4", unless otherwise agreed upon by both parties. I know Doyle is used in NY more. I use only Int. 1/4" There are calculators in the Forestry Forum toolbox to calculate footage in boards, logs, trees, etc. Actual yield will vary. I always get more footage out of a log on the bandmill than it scales. logs are always scaled small end, inside the bark.
Al Smith
Mac Daddy
I have my maternal grandfathers " Chapins lumber reckoner " published prior to 1900 . He was a small sawmill operator among other things .
squisher
THE CALM ONE!!!!
You need to get with the cubic meters man.
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
Yeah, cubic meters is how wood is generally sold here. One cubic meter is one ryubei, as it is called.
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
I finished a project today and got it installed. It's a black locust pergola at the local botanical garden. Originally I wasn't supposed to be too involved in the construction of it, but ended up doing 98% of it.
The lens on my cell phone must have been full of sawdust, it usually does a better job in good light.
It's basically my trestle blown up with rafters on it. The one neat feature is the half-lap through dovetail braces. There will be two in each end, but we didn't have time so we just did one for now.
Half-lap. I've never cut any of these before. They were probably originally developed before efficient boring methods were available. Everything can be cut with a saw.
The lens on my cell phone must have been full of sawdust, it usually does a better job in good light.
It's basically my trestle blown up with rafters on it. The one neat feature is the half-lap through dovetail braces. There will be two in each end, but we didn't have time so we just did one for now.
Half-lap. I've never cut any of these before. They were probably originally developed before efficient boring methods were available. Everything can be cut with a saw.
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
Thanks.
You should be building them and selling them to customers. Take the tree down, mill it up and sell it back to them.
You should be building them and selling them to customers. Take the tree down, mill it up and sell it back to them.
PCTREE
Treehouser
I did those half lap dovetails on my shop rafters. Turned out to be a mistake, when I put it together I had to hammer them in, now they all have about a 1/4 gap in the joints, just holding on the pegs. Lesson learned is captive joinery doesnt work too well with green timbers.......
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
We can fix that.
Paul, yeah, not the best joint out there, probably why the more typical mortised brace was developed. It should work ok for this project. The rafters are attached with Headloks, so I don't think it's going to move too much. We may do another one of these, and there are a few things we will change. Hopefully we won't be under the gun for that one.
Burnham
Woods walker
Pretty, Dave.
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
I finished sawing the last of the nice pine logs for planking today. The side aisles of the Canajoharie Barn are a finished 2" and the threshing floor is 3". Both will be splined. Rough dimensions are 2 1/2" and 3 1/2" I don't know when I'll get to start building the floor system, but I'll have plenty of pics of that. I know the extension on the mill will be set up early next week and if we get the logs moved, I'll get the 46 footers sawn asap. I'll get pics of the log moving as well. We're getting a 37 ton crane to get them loaded safely.
2 1/2" 16', 8" to 16" width, mostly 14".
3 1/2" 12', 10" to 20" width, mostly 16". There are four 20" on top, and two of them are dead clear. A lot of dead clear planks in all dimensions.
2 1/2" 16', 8" to 16" width, mostly 14".
3 1/2" 12', 10" to 20" width, mostly 16". There are four 20" on top, and two of them are dead clear.
A lot of dead clear planks in all dimensions.
SkwerI
Treehouser
I've never seen lumber that pretty at my local Home Depot. 
MasterBlaster
Administrator Emeritus
Beautiful wood!!!
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
We finished sawing our long stuff last week. Got everything organized on Monday. We're going to build a temporary roof over them for now as I've got to get all of that oak from earlier in the thread inside and get all of the hewing and joinery done before it dries out. 11 47' and 9 27'. Will have to repeat most of it when we get the plans for the other barn. Maybe it will be in cold weather next time.
Al Smith
Mac Daddy
What would happen if you drenched the stuff in anchor seal to keep it moist ?
Dave Shepard
Square peg, round world.
Not sure. Most of the moisture leaves through the end grain, and we put anchorseal on the oak. We sawed a bunch of it today, and it's been laying in the field over three months now, and it didn't seem to degrade at all in the log. It will dry out just a little on the outside of the timber, unfortunately, that's the part I've got to hew.
Burnham
Woods walker
Those old school timber framers back 150 years ago never had no stinkin' Anchorseal ...or did they 
??
...or did they ??
Al Smith
Mac Daddy
Actualy I've found roofing tar to be the best but that's on stuff you cut a cookie off the end before you saw it . If you don't cut a cookie the saw streaks the tar through the lumber .
After thought : Some of that ash I cut about 7 years ago and did not seal has splits up to a foot long in it .Still good lumber but wasted ends .High priced firewood ,so to speak .
After thought : Some of that ash I cut about 7 years ago and did not seal has splits up to a foot long in it .Still good lumber but wasted ends .High priced firewood ,so to speak .
Burnham
Woods walker
Maybe back in the day they used pine tar to seal timbers that needed to be stored.
Al Smith
Mac Daddy
Well more times than not they dumped the stuff in the river and floated it into a pond .It never had a chance to dry out .What they did after it was sawn I have not a clue .
However I remember as a young boy at my granddads' mill piles of hardwood with split ends .Evidently granddad didn't do anything with it .One must remember that stuff was barn siding,feed bunkers and stuff to make stock gates out of .
However I remember as a young boy at my granddads' mill piles of hardwood with split ends .Evidently granddad didn't do anything with it .One must remember that stuff was barn siding,feed bunkers and stuff to make stock gates out of .
woodworkingboy
TreeHouser
The timber frame structures in these parts, the general rule of thumb was using green material, frame it up and get the roof on, then let the wind blow through for around three months before the next steps on to completion. Carpenters help each other out when framing up, there might be a dozen guys on site with a crane. Your average house was framed up with a roof on in 2-3 days, all the joinery done before hand. You would often see places going through the seasoning period, and they might tack a light sheet up on some parts that best not be exposed to rain. One of the reasons for the demise of timber frame construction here, once a high art, is that the consumer doesn't want to wait to get into the new structure. Timber framers are too often bad salesmen in conveying the merits of the traditional approach, expensive glossy brochures showing quick start to completion junk are more persuasive to folks who are uninformed. I would find the waiting period exciting.
Al Smith
Mac Daddy
Well on that some of those old timber framed barns have weathered the test of time and are solid as a rock after 100-120 years .The demise of them was not keeping a good roof on them . They are dropping like flies in these parts because they aren't usefull with todays farming methods .
The better built ones used slate roofs with copper nails which almost last forever .Those are still intact .The lessers used shake roofs or later nailed on sheet metal for repairs on the former and those are just a pile of kindling wood .The standing seam metal roofs if they had a frequent coat of paint have held up well too .
The better built ones used slate roofs with copper nails which almost last forever .Those are still intact .The lessers used shake roofs or later nailed on sheet metal for repairs on the former and those are just a pile of kindling wood .The standing seam metal roofs if they had a frequent coat of paint have held up well too .
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