Here’s one last round of photos of our 2014 Timber Frame Workshop that ended a couple short weeks ago. If you’re interested in getting a firsthand look at our finished pavilion, the building will be up and in use during the Clear Creek Festival from August 29-31. We’ll likely be making pizza during that same festival out of our new cob oven, too… so look out. Anyway, click ahead for the slideshow.
Photos of the completed structure should be up soon, too!
Our work comes together during the assembly process
On our final Timber Frame Workshop day, we saw the fruits of our labor come together, quite literally. Having cut all the pieces for at least one bent, we assembled the posts, beams, and braces to see just how well we did on our layout and cutting. Thankfully, we did a really good job and things came together quite well.
Pam works on her chisel skills on a tenon
Carpenter’s squares and tape measures are handy and all that, but they don’t carry nearly the same appeal as say, a sharpened chisel, an antique boring machine, or a Swedish axe. Marking and measuring, though arguably one of most important steps of timber framing, lacks the “cool” factor that comes with cutting joinery. People’s eyes tend to light up as soon as they see the ol’ Millers Falls boring machine come out, what with its fancy gears, the double handle, and the amazing wood chips it produces once set to motion.
Needless to say, enthusiasm ramped up on day two of our Timber Frame Workshop as people got a chance to saw and waste tenons, bore holes for mortises, and get busy with chisel and mallet.
Getting timber layout complete and ready for cutting
We packed in a lot of action during our four days of the 2014 Timber Frame Workshop last week. This was our first official course in our new home location in the Berea, Kentucky area, and I couldn’t be more pleased! The mountains, trees (and accompanying abundant shade), fresh spring water, and wildlife made an excellent backdrop to learning about timber frame layout, cutting, and assembly. It was great to meet new folks and reconnect with some ‘alumni’ from previous classes, too.
White oak 8x8s for the upcoming timber frame pavilion
Last week, we got our timber delivery for the pavilion we’ll be building in our Timber Frame Workshop next week. It’s beautiful stuff! It’s all white oak, very clear wood, and sawn on a portable bandsaw. It smells really good since it’s so fresh. We will be working this material very green, as it was literally felled and sawn a mere day or two before its final delivery.
We have begun some prep work, doing some layout and cutting on a few pieces to ensure that we can make good headway in the four days of our course. Our goal is to demonstrate layout, cutting, assembly, and ideally raising, too (if the stars align, you know.) This past week and the few days ahead are busy busy busy. More news when I find time to write!
Towering timber frames and hot pizza pie… oh my! (Sorry, that was a weak attempt at poetry.) But hopefully it paints a colorful picture of our upcoming natural building courses this year in 2014. Our full schedule is up, and we’ve added a Timber Frame Workshop and Cob Oven Workshop to our offerings. Both of these classes are in our new and beautiful location of Berea, Kentucky. Specifically, these two workshops are being hosted at the Clear Creek Festival grounds, home to an incredible arts & music festival and a developing off-grid homestead.
Perhaps you’ll join us this summer in raising an old school timber frame pavilion? Or building an outdoor oven with cob?
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This website is a collection of personal stories and experiences building with clay, straw, and wood over the past 15+ years. A few of the things that get me fired up are natural plasters, timber framing, & Japanese architecture. In 2012, we started offering Natural Building Workshops, so you can learn essential hands-on skills to build your own natural home.