Our first timber frame bent raising
It’s happening… the timber frame is become more and more of a reality. More later.
Here’s a quick little video of one of our favorite tricks we’ve learned during the Timber Frame Workshop: the so-called “French snap”. After you saw the tenon shoulder one on side of your piece, flip the timber and saw the end cut down to that same shoulder cut depth. Once you’ve got your cuts, you can snap the material off by striking it with a heavy mallet. It works with straight grain and eliminates extra sawing and splitting. It’s very satisfying!
Starting today, we are offering a special discount on the 10 day Straw Bale Workshop at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. Apply today and save $150 off the regular tuition!
If you’ve ever been interested in learning about straw bale construction and getting some solid experience working with natural building materials and techniques, now is your best chance.
Come experience The Year of Mud’s Straw Bale Workshop in a pioneering ecovillage community here in northeast Missouri! It’s going to be a great time. The course runs from July 22 – August 2. Spots are limited — reserve yours today!
p.s.: Contact me with any questions you may have.
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.
Tongue and groove subfloor under the main house is complete!
Wow, what another whirlwind of a week as we prepare for the first Timber Frame Workshop, beginning Sunday, June 10. We had a delivery of tongue & groove subflooring just in the nick of time on Sunday, and got immediately to installing it, and now it is but a few feet shy of completion. I have been so thankful for all of the great help this week from friends, neighbors, and visitors alike.
The latest step: installing reclaimed subflooring material
The major framing of the timber frame house floor platform is complete! All of the sill beams and floor joists are firmly in place, and now we are at the exciting stage of installing our reclaimed tongue and groove subflooring.
Whew.
Here’s a photo update of how things are shaping up at the work site.
We are pleased to have Chris Newman joining the 2012 Timber Frame Workshop team as an assistant instructor to Tom Cundiff. Hailing from Michigan, Chris has 10 years of timber framing experience, making for 30 years of timber framing experience between both Chris and Tom. Wow! Chris is a Timber Framers Guild member and has helped teach several workshops.
Things are shaping up very well, and the two week Timber Frame Workshop promises to be a very comprehensive, packed, and well-rounded event. I can’t wait to meet and work with everyone who is making it out! The excitement is definitely brewing, as we are 10 short days away from the start of the course.
For any latecomers out there, we can still squeeze a couple of participants into the class. If you have any interest whatsoever, please contact me immediately, or send in an application. It’s not too late!
Expect regular updates during the Timber Frame Workshop here on The Year of Mud to catch a glimpse of what we are up to, and how work is proceeding. Oh yea.
When two timbers join to become one unit, they are mated with a so-called “scarf joint”. Scarf joints come in many different styles, some more elaborate than others. This sill beam scarf joint is a rather simple one, as far as layout and cutting, goes and it is wisely located directly above a support pier.
This photo was taken before pegs were driven into each tenon, but if you look carefully you can see on the upper half of the scarf where the peg hole is marked.
Scarf joints were developed when taller trees became scarce and long spans had to be created with shorter pieces of timber. I think that timber framing is beautiful for its ingenuity and effective use of materials.
Standing at the future floor height... we are way up there!
Many people are shocked at the giant size of the sill beam timbers we are using (myself included), as they are very burly 8×12 white oak beams. They are no joke. Lately I’ve been thinking about a concise way to describe our foundation design, and I’ve decided to make clear sense of it by explaining that we are replacing concrete with wood. These are serious pieces of wood, and they ought to be as they are supporting a heavy straw bale house with a living roof.
Anyway, we’ve had a lot of excitement the past week wrangling with the 8×12 beams, and setting the first three onto our concrete pier foundation.
Making wood chips... er, timber framing beings!
Today was a historic day in the “Strawtron” building timeline — we began timber framing and building our house platform. Yahoo! A few nights ago, we got our delivery of massive sill beams and floor joists, including some honking 8×12 white oak beams at 16 feet long each — requiring no less than ten people to carry them 30 feet into our newly erected “wedding tent”, the temporary shade/weather structure we constructed for our Timber Frame Workshop.
About The Year of Mud
Hi there, I’m Ziggy. In 2008, I launched The Year of Mud while building my first natural home. This blog 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. Since 2012, we’ve been hosting Natural Building Workshops so you can learn essential skills to build your own natural home.
