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Maple and Larch for timber frame.

Started by mastiffluvins, September 07, 2011, 09:17:11 PM

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mastiffluvins

Can anyone direct me to any previous threads regarding the following please.

I am starting a workshop as my first timber framing project. I am extremely looking forward to it. My question is I will be cutting my own lumber. I do not want to use the red oak, white oak or cherry. So my other option is to use an abundant supply of Maple. Will this be OK.
Secondly, I will be using Larch for the sills. How are these 2 species for working with.

I apologize if this subject as been thrashed out earlier but I could not find any info.

Thanks. And I will be posting pics of my winter project as it progresses.

Jim_Rogers

At the recent weekend workshop I held, we cut joints in Maple timbers. This was my first experiences working with Maple.

The wood was heavy, it did cut and wasn't really hard to shape with sharp tools.

The larch I have milled at my sawmill seemed to twist a lot. But I only milled one or two logs for a customer. Not for any timber framing project.

I can't really comment on Larch for timber framing.

Good luck with your research.

Jim Rogers
Whatever you do, have fun doing it!
Woodmizer 1994 LT30HDG24 with 6' Bed Extension

Rooster

What species of maple?
Can you get clear logs long enough for you cut list? 
Have you started any drawings/plans?
Do yo have photos of the tools that you got at the auction?

(And the list goes on and on and on....)
"We talk about creating millions of "shovel ready" jobs, for a society that doesn't really encourage anybody to pick up a shovel." 
Mike Rowe

"Old barns are a reminder of when I was young,
       and new barns are a reminder that I am not so young."
                          Rooster

Satamax

Larch is a good wood.

Over here, in the French alps, i's mostly what i work with. Twists like mad sometimes. Big trees cut in four quarters at first tend to move less. I mean if the heart is on the edge of the beam or there's none at all, you're better off. But if it risks moving, you bolt!  ;D



This is all larch, top to bottom, even the old rafters underneath. Often, the botom purlins twist. They're screwed down with huge roofing screws.
French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

Ianab

There are very few woods that you can't use. Some are certainly better than others, but very few are unusable.

Most traditional structures were built of whatever happened to grow locally. If the local trees are Larch, you built with larch because that's what you had.

Like Satamax suggests, you will need to pay attention to how you cut larch. Either have the heart centred if the logs are smaller. That helps balance out the drying stress and keeps the beam straighter. OR, with a bigger log, cut the beam totally free of the heart. The further you can get away from that unstable heart, the more stable the beam will be.

Maple isn't as durable as some other woods, but if the application is enclosed, protected from the weather and passing bugs, then it should be OK.

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

mastiffluvins

I plan on using the Larch for the sills only. Maybe siding also. Maple will be the main structure totally enclosed. It will be a Sobon shed design. Slightly modified to be my wood shop.
Have I said how much I am looking forward to this project. Recently picked up the relevant tools I needed. Thanks to Jims list of tools needed and read the main books that are out there. Now putting it to the test.
This weekend is felling the Larch.

Thanks for your help. I may need more in the future.

Dave Shepard

I believe Moonhill uses a lot of larch up in Maine. I don't think he is around the FF much anymore, however. We used it for the curved braces in the frame in my avatar. We hewed the curved log and then pit sawed the four braces out. :)

Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!


SwampDonkey

"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

bigshow

When we're talking maple, we talking soft or hard maple?  The only trees in number in my area other than cottonwood are silver maple.  You can find some trunks that are 10' or so tall and many feet in circumference.  It would be interesting to know if soft maple is usable at all.  Typically, you see a tree service crew feeding them to a giant chipper.
I never try anything, I just do it.

Dave Shepard

That frame was the one we built in the 2009 TFG Geometric Design workshop with Jack Sobon and Laurie Smith. The log Jack brought to cut the braces out of had cross grain in it, so we couldn't use the braces. We cut the larch on site. The rest of the frame I is pine.
Wood-Mizer LT40HDD51-WR Wireless, Kubota L48, Honda Rincon 650, TJ208 G-S, and a 60"LogRite!

frwinks

We used a 25' 14x11 sugar maple stick as one of the ridge beams.... it was one heavy sucker  ;D


I know a local mill which buys larch from Upstate NY for cheaper than they can buy local Ontario white pine ::)  He told me that the stuff grows much faster than pine. 

SwampDonkey

It does grow faster than any northern pine.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))


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