Tiny Timber Frame Raising

The best part of timber framing is, of course, the finished product. Raising up a timber frame is an exciting prospect, even a tiny project like this. I finally had time in the late summer and early fall to wrap up work on the charred oak timber frame that our intrepid students started in our summer Timber Frame Workshop. My excitement hit a peak when the day came to stand things up.

Raising a Small Timber Frame

This small timber frame is only 10’x10′, with 6×6 white oak posts and 6×8 beams. I could, with just a little bit of trouble, assemble the bents on the ground myself. This is not an intimidating structure in terms of scale. By extension, the raising itself was fairly straightforward. With the help of half a dozen friends, we lifted everything into position by hand, which was great fun and again very satisfying. Especially dropping the top plates into place…. ahhh.

Nothing better than a good ol’ fashioned work party to get folks together and conjure up an authentic sense of accomplishment, ya?

You do need to be extra careful when moving big pieces of wood around. Everyone needs to be on the same page when hundreds of pounds of wood get lifted off the ground. No one wants an accident or injury on the raising day!

Here’s the finished product. Well, there’s more to do of course, but at least this phase is behind us now. Next up are roof rafters and the roofing itself.