I spent a good part of the summer and a bit of the fall of 2005 helping Thomas, a former student of Grand Oaks Academy of Timber Framing, cut his own 3900 square foot timber frame. This is a massive 12" x 16" oak post.
To match the above post, you need an equally large and impressive 10" x 16" brace!
The oak rafters were covered with 2" x 8" rough cut cypress boards. The owner was looking for a rustic effect so the oak timbers were also unplaned. The roof will be covered with clay tiles.
Above is a housed dovetail mortise. Thomas was very traditional in his joinery. Every floor joist and purlin was dovetailed. To the right is the pendant that goes to the top of an 8 sided, 3 story timber frame tower. Below is an example of draw boring. Thomas draw bored all of his brace mortise and tenons for a tight joint.
There were a lot of interesting timbers and joinery in this project. To the left is a yellow poplar summer beam with the bottom still left round. Above is the brace mortise for the bottom of the yellow poplar. Below is the top of a king post.
This is the BIG HONKING POST that I am cutting the joinery for. The bottom of the post was left round and will support the summer beam in the photo above. On the back side of the post not shown is a mortised book shelf that Thomas can put his timber frame books in.
Thomas has his own logging and sawmill operation. All of the timbers that are in this frame came from trees logged on his property. There are at least a dozen species of trees represented in this timber frame.
I helped Thomas with the raising of his first floor of the timber frame. The part of the frame that is in the basement looks incredible. I cannot wait to see what the rest looks like after it is standing!
Thomas driving those draw bore joints together with the "Son of a Beech". This timber frame project started around Thanksgiving of 2004 and almost 1 year later he has his first timbers on the foundation. Thomas is just about ready to start raising his first bents. I hope to get back up to that part of Kentucky, if not to help finish with the raising to at least see this most impressive timber frame!
Thomas has started a web blog on the story of building his timber frame. If you would like to see more photos and learn more about his timber frame click on this link!
