nice frame

woodmills1 · April 16, 2003, 03:19:09 PM

here are a couple of shots of a carraige house barn that I cut all of the red oak frame material for. notice the big hammer in the second one.

ohsoloco · April 16, 2003, 04:35:50 PM

What a beauty ;D Add one more bay and that's the house I want to live in. I've heard timber framers refer to those big hammers as beetles....I'm not sure where they came up with that name :-/ I need to get a few tapered handles so I can make my own beetle, an 18 inch cutoff from a timber makes a nice "persuader". Used a sledge to fit some of my arbor together, but it can really ding up a post. My best friend when I was raising my frame (well, second to my neighbor ;) ) were the heavy duty ratchet tie downs I use to secure logs and lumber to my trailer. Once the second bent was up and the lot needed pulled together, I just joined the two hooks, ran the webbing around the posts, and cinched it tight til I could drill and peg it ;D

Greg · April 16, 2003, 05:40:55 PM

Big hammer = "a Commander"

Not very good at it (yet!) but I do know some of the lingo...

;-)
Greg

sawinmontana · April 16, 2003, 07:26:25 PM

Woodmills1 do you remember any of the dimensions on the carriage house or of the timbers? I was just curious. Thats very similar to the high posted cape I want to build. I may have alittle bit taller knee walls, and I would have 4 bents instead of 3. I do like the look of the queen posts.

Ohsoloco, have you tried drawboring? On the little shed my brother and I built we drawbored everything because the book we were using said to. since then some of the reading I've done said they like it better because you didn't need to buy a bunch of straps and comealongs and you could do all of your boring on the ground, were its easier and safer.

Scott

ohsoloco · April 16, 2003, 07:56:36 PM

No, I haven't tried drawboring yet. I've heard good arguments for both methods. Did you make your own pegs? I'd love to have a shaving horse...anyone have any plans? I think there's a book at the local library that has plans for one.

The only thing that worries me about drawboring is the relish on the end of the tenon...if the holes are offset too far and you punch that peg in a little too far the little piece of wood btw. the peg hole and the end of the tenon could pop out, rendering the tenon useless :-/ Practice, I guess. The next timberframe project for me is a little 6ftx6ft smokehouse---maybe I could try drawboring that one

I'm always asked if our current smokehouse is an outhouse :D :D :D

Looks like the bays on that carriage house are 12ft. each? Can't get a good enough angle on the bents to guess those...

Bro. Noble · April 16, 2003, 08:43:26 PM

Ohsoloco,

I'm pretty sure there are plans for a shaving horse in one of the Foxfire books.

Noble

Dugsaws · April 16, 2003, 09:09:45 PM

man I love to see nice timbers put to good use, I would soooo like to start timber framing some day, I love seeing old barns like that, the strength and hard work put into them.

sawinmontana · April 16, 2003, 09:58:23 PM

That is a worry when drawboring. On our little shed my brother marked some of the drawbores a little to much. Our problem was driving the peg in far enough. We were worried about the relish holding on the tenon. Some of the pegs we really had to wail on! So far the sheds still standing. We didn't make our own pegs, we bought them from a timberframing company near us and then ordered some from an outfit on the east coast, I can't think of there name. I would think that split pegs would be better because of the locking action you would get from an octagon shaped peg.

sawinmontana · April 16, 2003, 10:01:24 PM

That is a worry when drawboring. On our little shed my brother marked some of the drawbores a little to much. Our problem was driving the peg in far enough. We were worried about the relish holding on the tenon. Some of the pegs we really had to wail on! So far the shed is still standing. We didn't make our own pegs, we bought them from a timberframing company near us and then ordered some from an outfit on the east coast, I can't think of there name. I would think that split pegs would be better because of the locking action you would get from an octagon shaped peg.

I would like to build shaving horse also, if you find plans let me know.

Noble, thanks for info on the Foxfire books.

Scott

DanG · April 16, 2003, 10:48:28 PM

There is an excellent instruction for building a shaving horse in "The Woodwright's Shop" by Roy Underhill.

ohsoloco · April 17, 2003, 09:19:57 AM

Thanks, DanG, I'll have to look into that. The book I was referring to had a few illustrations and some simple (but not so clear) instructions. Roy is pretty good about getting his instructions across...wish they still aired him on our local PBS station :(

sawinmontana, what kind of pegs were the timber framing company using? I mean, what species, and were they turned on a lathe and tapered? Those turned pegs look great in a finished frame (especially if the timbers are planed), but the irregular hand shaved oned would probably work better for drawboring. Actually, the pegs I made would've been perfect for that ;D I clamped the sticks of white oak in the vice and shaved away with my framing chisel. I kept the inch on the end that was in the vice square, but if I did it over again I would've rounded that end as well....some of the pegs I had to pound the whole way in, and when the square piece got to the hole it started to check the timber a little bit. This is why I'm practicing on little things first :D

sawinmontana · April 17, 2003, 11:47:22 AM

I believe they were oak, and they were turned on a lathe. Using turned pegs is pretty handy, when you need a couple of hundred of them, that would be alot to have to make. But the old timers did it I guess. They do look nice and finished like you mentioned. Myself, I prefer the more rustic look, rough sawed and such. One of these days I even want to try hewing a timber, I really like that look. Somebody else mentioned a book called Barn The Art of a Working Building, it has alot of great pictures of timber framed barns, some of them are over 800 years old. They look really cool!

Dan G., is that a book you mentioned, by Underhill?

woodmills1 · April 18, 2003, 06:17:04 AM

I believe the building was either 24 or 26' square. the largest posts were full 8x8 in red oak which I think was a little over kill. the six tallest ones were 18 feet. there was somewhere around 5000' in the whole structure. I cut all the frame stock.

Jeff · April 18, 2003, 02:51:01 PM

Woodsy, can you get inside photos now that it is up?

hydeoutman · April 19, 2003, 03:00:28 PM

That's not a hammer that's a Sledgomatic :D :D

Nice work, something I would like to learn someday.

DeCatt · April 20, 2003, 09:32:13 PM

Hi All,
Just joined, this is my 1st post. What I do on the pegs is to use dry white oak, straight grained as possible. Cut them 8 sided just big enough can't push them in by hand. Point them with a axe. When driven into a green timber they'll git tighter as the timber dries.

ohsoloco · April 20, 2003, 10:06:59 PM

DeCatt, welcome to the forum

What do you shape your pegs with? The timber framing company I did my apprenticeship with used a table saw to make them octagonal. I tried this when I was making mine, but I hate running such small pieces through the table saw...they get really unbalanced once you knock a few corners off. I'm really respectful of my power tools after I made a 13/16" wide dado across my thumb

DanG · April 21, 2003, 08:32:54 AM

Yep, Montana, that's a book. I think it was his first one. My copy has gotten away from me, somehow, so I'm not totally sure of the book's name. You should be able to get it from B&N or Borders, or Amazon. It has a chapter on timberframing and a buncha other stuff.
One thing that might be handy is his crude little device for making pegs. It was in the chapter about making a rake, but a peg is a peg, right? The tool consisted of a piece of plate steel with various sized holes drilled in it. He just drives a white oak split through ever smaller holes, till they are round and the proper size. Wouldn't work for tapered pegs, though.

DeCatt · April 21, 2003, 09:28:15 PM

Ohsoloco, I use a table saw to cut the pegs. Made a sled to ride against the fence out 2x6x18. Rabbet 1 edge, miter under rabbet then add 1x and toggle for clamp on top. Fairly fast and keeps fingers away ffrom blade.

dail_h · May 10, 2003, 10:10:18 PM

All of the frames we took down for flooring had drawbores in them.Most had locust peggs,some oak and some pine,all were cut with an axe or drawknife or something

WyMan · May 18, 2003, 11:14:05 AM

Nice Framing. I love the Timber Frame Look.

Noble, I have built and used several shaving horses. I make rustic furniture and hand peeled siding from the dead standing pine trees I sell. I have made them from a 12" log or 2x6 and 2x4s. If you want to contact me, I can show you how to make them