theslateman asked for more, so here it is. Most of these have appeared on Breaktime before, but never all in one place. My greatest regret from the times I spent working in a timberframe shop is that I don’t have more pictures. Oh well, here are a few random ones.
The first is cut from logs that we milled. They are all dead standing fire killed doug fir from a drainage visible from the house. I did not enjoy spending that much time on the Woodmizer.
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Whoa, cut and pasted wrong with that kayaking shot. Oh well. Editing stuff with html always screws my stuff up, so I won't do it.
Here are a few shots of me cutting a different frame. This fir is coastal and you can see the quality of the wood is far higher than the previous frame.
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Notice the kickass sawhorses that can literally hold tons.
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Here is a deck with all timberframe joinery in the handrail system. The deck is western red cedar and the free tenons and pegs are white oak. The free tenons are actually reclaimed, you can see the original hewn edge on the bottom of some of them.
I built it for my inlaws before we got married...like a reverse dowry I guess.
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I also thought this might be a good opportunity to say that I am looking for some work right now. :)
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Edited 1/15/2008 4:06 pm ET by jesse
Very nice, always enjoyable to see craftsmanship on such a high plane. Thank you for posting those.View Image “Good work costs much more than poor imitation or factory product†– Charles GreeneCaliforniaRemodelingContractor.com
NIce Stuff! What are the "ribs" left on the end of the two pieces in the last photo for?
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Are you talking about this picture?
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If so, those are tenons. This piece is sort of like a collar tie...there are corresponding mortises in the rafters/bottom chords.
John...sorry, not sure why. They work for me and seem to be working for others..anyone else having a problem?
jesse, Thanks , I had a tough time picturing the pieces in place. Makes perfect sense now. Pics open fine for me obviously.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
WOW, really nice and as frenchy says, the cheapest way to build a house.
And I am sure there is a whole lot less wood used in those 12 x 12 - overkill rafters vs. stick built.
LMAO!
jesse, Good idea! Very good idea. The next thinig frenchy will be telling us is that OSB can be left in hte rain for four years. Oh ... wait ... he already told us that. Never mind.
I'm just getting red "X" instead of pics.
jt8
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." --Upton Sinclair
Nice shots Slateman!
I especially like the deck timberframe style, different from the usual, your given me some ideas:)
That Kayak does not look like it is on the Penobscot, where is it??
Tad2
Tad,
Those aren't my shots in this thread, but Jesse's.
I've taken a bunch in the waiting for a crane thread
Tad, heh, actually, I started the thread as a response to slateman's post in a different thread.The kayak shot is on Big Timber Creek in the Crazy Mountains of Montana.
jesse,
I've never worked with doug fir, have you worked with White oak?
How would you compare the two?
Well, frenchy is a glass window, I will give you that.
As for photos, well I am not much of an egomaniac or photography for that matter.
Sphere see a doctor or take a pill for your stress.
How have I pick apart anything? I have never built a timber frame. I love the art. I think I may build a simple one for an outdoor patio/fireplace do-hicky someday.
I have been told that timber frames are dirt cheap to build. Perhaps you have heard this too? And, been told that OSB can be left in the rain for four years. Perhaps you have heard this as well? Not my experience, but then again I am not a god and don't say more than my prayers. I find this all too humorous. If my pointing out what has been said on this boards is not humorous to you, so be it. I will continue with a good laugh.
Now if you can to show how I have "picked anything apart", or are you just blowing stuf o . . .
Thanks for jacking up my thread. I won't mind if you delete all your posts so far, and everyone who is responding to you does the same.
Frenchy, I have worked with some large white oak (like maybe 14x20) that were air dried for three years...MUCH easier to work with hand tools than doug fir. It's like chiseling butter compared to fir. Fir blows out, chips, and causes nasty splinters.
jesse,
Cool! thanks! I thought working with oak and black walnut was relatively simple. Did you find it hard on edges and blades?
I air dried all my timbers about three years and found that doing so made eight times the amount of work that working with green wood did..
I used two sets of planner blades per timber on dried stuff whereas I could keep going thru about 10 timbers when I worked green.. oak was massively harder on blades and edges than black walnut was..
As for do-right he got so obnoxious I finally put him on ignore. He hasn't bothered me since! ;-)
Thanks for the thread. Between you and slateman, i've developed a richer appreciation of both timbers and slates. (I was going to guess Kootenai Creek with the kayak, down near the trailhead. Guess i'd have been wrong. <G>)Is there any competition between the TFrs and the log home companies in the Valley? Do you think people 'shop' both styles for value, or just pick a type and pay whatever it takes? Do the Timberframers and log home folks collaborate at all?
We paddle Kootenai and Bear creek quite a bit...As far as competition...I don't really know. I never sold timberframes, so I can't really speculate on that side of it. As far as collaboration, lots of timber shops will do log work, and vice versa, so there isn't usually a need to collaborate. It does happen occasionally, however. I am in real estate now, and LOTS of people have an idea that they want a log home. You couldn't give me one, though. Well, ok, maybe you could, but I'd probably just sell it and build a timberframe.
A friend of mine is trying to sell a log home presently. The basic unit is small but well done. Once they started adding on to it with frame construction, however, it got ugly quick. Were it mine, i'd tear it back to the logs and start over. See what you can do about finding a buyer for 516 Blue Grouse Lane, would you? <G>I grew up in a cabin made of lodgepole over by Boulder. You couldn't give me one, either. In summertime, it hatched flies, flies, more flies...
That's nice work Jesse! If you don't mind my asking, how do you cut your dovetail tendons for joists - housed or not, how deep, etc. Post some more pictures if you have them!
There aren't actually any dovetails in that joinery, just pegged mortise and tenon joinery, and free tenons (the tenons in the deck posts run all the way through the post). As far as finishes go, most everyone out here just uses clear penetrating oils. It's so dry that there is normally no rot or moss issues to deal with. Eventually, the timbers will fade to a sort of greyish brown.
Here are a few more shots. I have been building a set of timber stairs for my buddies timberframe/door shop. They just bought a new facility...and it needs some serious work. These stairs go to a loft...they are a little steep, like maybe a 10 19/32" rise and a 8 9/16" run. The stringers and treads are all reclaimed fir, 3x12 (full dimension).
Reclaimed fir is a serious pain to work. I scribed the treads onto the stringer, and here is what it looks like after routing but before chiseling.
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Test fit. I'll take it.
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One stringer done, the other underway.
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Installed pics tomorrow.
And two details from another project. I tore down two sections of wall at a friends house and put up a little timberframe support instead. I also installed a whole house worth of prefinished maple flooring, a bunch of slate, and did a tile shower.
The second pic is a detail of the center of the fireplace hearth. The story with the inlay...by the time I got to this point, there wasn't a long enough piece of of the prefinished maple to do it in one piece, so the cherry inlay was my solution.
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jesse, maybe you need a stress pill too.
As for timber frames or homes with much exposed natural wood for that matter, what do people do to maintain the beautiful color year after year. Of course, like OSB, it can just weather for four or so years in the rain with no effect but seriously, beyond that. . . .
"As for timber frames or homes with much exposed natural wood for that matter, what do people do to maintain the beautiful color year after year."
I'll second that question.
Yes, they look nice, but really, how does this exterior xposed wood get properly cared for? What about pigeon droppings, carpenter bees and the hoard of other natural disasters wiating to happen?
Recoat every 3 years? with what?
Edited 1/16/2008 8:30 pm ET by peteshlagor
peteschlagor,
I'll answer that,, I built mine with balck walnut because I didn't want the inside of the house to get too dark from all that walnut. Instead I put white oak inside and black walnut outside.. . big mistake..
I gave everything three heavy coats of spar varnish, the best I could buy.. (epiphanes)
After about six years the walnut is bleaching out in the sunlight and you can no longer tell it's walnut (varnish is still solid) What I will do is next time I'll paint all those timbers with a redish brown paint.. all those black walnut timbers and trim will be covered up in a paint..
Or I can spend $10,000 plus every few years sanding off the varnish and faded wood and recovering it again. Come to think of it I doubt it could be done for $10,000!