Tom shows off three different antique boring machines

The first two full days of the Timber Frame Workshop have already come and gone, and it’s going great! We’ve got a great group of participants, the weather is just lovely, and we’re cranking away on some good ol’ fashioned joinery using a whole bunch of sweet hand tools from Tom’s collection. Chris Newman arrived yesterday and will be a great backup to Tom in guiding our group through the process of building the rest of the timber frame.

A highlight for me yesterday was getting a look at Tom’s collection of three antique boring machines, including a Boss Double Eagle (that name cracks me up), an Ajax, and a Millers Falls. We were all blown away by one of the massive boring bits he brought along, strictly for show. The thing is over 3″ in diameter!

A huge old boring machine, over 3" in diameter!

People have been getting on just fine with all the hand saws, chisels, slicks, and more, and I am impressed that folks are getting into cutting and carving so quickly.

Laying out, chiseling, cleaning tools

The first day was dedicated strictly to layout, and learning some of the principles of square rule layout, and scribing, choosing timbers, and listening to a lot of Tom’s crazy stories about traveling around the country doing timber framing work.

Our awesome shade tent that we are working in during the course -- love it!

Yesterday was much more physical as we worked on four of the main posts in the frame, which also happen to have the most amount of joinery going on. The plan is to raise half the frame by the weekend, and after that move on to some of the roundwood timber and compound framing, and finally, the spiral staircase.

Head to head boring machine work

More updates coming as they happen!