Pemberton - Revisted

Last week I went out to the west coast for some sailing with friends.  On the way there we took the long way around and I took the opportunity to check in on the timber frame barn in Pemberton on which I worked earlier this year.  It was really neat to see the finished building with the roofing installed and the finish applied.  

The Big Open Spans Really do Make for a Spacious Building

One of the Pieces I Worked on Hard at Work.

I'm in the Fine Print Down there Somewhere

 

The Finished Barn

Timber Frame Barn - Pemberton

For a while now I've been a member of the Timber Framers Guild; the guild has been active since 1985 and regularly holds conferences and such.  They also organize community building projects. 

I've wanted to participate in one of the big community builds ever since joining but many of the projects seemed to be in the Eastern and Southern States.  Then one day while perusing the guild website I found one in BC!  Pemberton lies just 20 minutes to the north of Whistler, well within acceptable driving distances for a Calgarian like myself.  

Artists Rendition of the Project

There were about 50 volunteer working on the barn for two weeks to cut all the joinery, assemble the bents and raise the frame.  We were split up into about eight work teams, and I worked primarily on the principal posts.  These posts were 12"x16"x25' and we figured they each weighed 1300 lbs, which is absolutely massive.  That is one of the fun things about working on a big project like this, the scale of everything involved impresses every day. 

For the most part I'm just going to let the captions of the photos tell the story here. 

The 16" Circular Saw is Always Fun to Use, a Good Workout Too, it Weighs 32 lbs.

Turning Forks used to Roll the Big Timbers

Drilling a Through Hole for the Steel Tie Rods

Beams for the Clear Span are 45' Long

Probably my Favorite Photo, Big Timber, a Big Saw, and Snow Dusted Mountains

A Set of Six Cross Beams Partway Through Production

Cleaning Up the Walls of a Mortise

Cleaning Bevels for the Support Blades

It took about a week before we were able to start assembling some of the parts and was well in to the next week before everything was cut and ready to assemble.  We had access to a 120 tonne crane to take care of the heavy lifting for the job. 

A Couple Bents Ready for Raising

One Bent in the Air Being Brought Into Place

The Finished Barn

The Finished Barn and Volunteer Crew

This was my first time working with the Timber Framers Guild on a project.  It was fun working on a project which is bigger than I could organize on my own and knowing that it is providing a space for the Pemberton community to live is satisfying as well.  I really enjoyed getting to know everyone and as it turns out my team lead lives only a block away from me so we'll be able to roast smokies and drink beer around the off-cut fire.  What a small world it is when you travel 11 hours from home to meet someone who lives right around the corner. 

If you're interested in seeing much much more about the project, the Timber Framers Guild also wrote a blog about the event and there are many photos and some videos of the raising. 

SAWS Timber Framing Presentation

On February 20th I gave a presentation on timber frame construction and in particular center line layout techniques. As promised, here is the power point presentation I used in the first half of the presentation.

Download Presentation

New Members in the Chisel Family

So it has been a little while since I posted anything.  After the timber framing course things were pretty hectic through Christmas and afterwards.  A bunch of my family chipped in and gave me a pair of timber framing chisels for Christmas which is really exciting. 

I've been anxiously waiting their arrival, each day checking the status of their delivery on the USPS website.  My friend Jamie said it reminded of him of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip where Calvin orders a propeller beanie in the mail and it takes 6 weeks to arrive.  It's worth checking because it is actually quite accurate.  

Today they finally arrived!!!  Thanks to my generous family I now have 1.5" and 2" Barr Quarton timber framing chisels in my arsenal.

The New Chisels, 1.5" on the left, 2" on the right

The Quartons measure 17.5" long but are no match for the Smith original that my brother made for me for Christmas.  The Smith original is 6" in width and has a new home on the wall in the shop where I will see it every day.  Thanks bro for one of the coolest Christmas presents ever!!! 

The Smith Original in its New Home

A small addendum on setting up the new chisels; To truly make a chisel sharp both the back and bevel need to be sharpened to a high degree.  The edge can only be as good as the worse of the two planes which intersect.  As a result when I get a new chisel I try to take the time to flatten the back, which, luckily only needs to be done once.  Often this means putting on a movie and lapping the back of a set of small chisels in an evening.  However, these chisels are much larger than my others and thus I knew it would take longer.  How much longer was a mystery I was going to have to find out the long way.  Over the past week I have had a couple of late nights and watched more movies than I normally care to.  It turns out I could have almost watched the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended edition) in the time it took to fully lap the backs of these beauties.  I wound up putting a little more that five hours into each one. 
 

Before lapping the back.

The slurry produced in a few hours of lapping.

After lapping the back.

Timber Framing 8 - Raising the Frame

After all the joint cutting, test fitting, hole drilling, chamfering, end sealing, and much much more... the frame is getting ready to be assembled.  While some of us are finishing off the test fitting of bent 2, we have brought the components of bent 1 over to the erection site to be assembled.  

Unloading Bent 1 with the Crane

The first thing we needed to do was unload the parts off the flat deck and move them into their approximate positions.  Once done, it is on to final assembly.  Thanks to the test fitting we did while in the shop Jamie and I were able to assemble bent 1 in about an hour.  

Once the bents have been assembled the first frame is raised with the assistance of a crane.  It is plumbed with a level and then braced in place.  The connecting girts along with their knee braces are attached next.  When the girts and such are ready the next bent is tilted into place, this one goes more slowly because the previously attached connecting girts and knee braces must be fitted to the bent while it is being raised.  

Traditionally, raising a frame was a community event, when a barn was built and raised it would require hundreds of people using pulleys, and poles.  Often an all day event it concluded with a huge barbecue and a dance that would run through the night.  This frame is somewhat smaller and so is the crew.  We celebrated with pizza and beer. 

The Whetting Tree - A Timberframer's tradition to give thanks at the end of a raising.

Principal post seen from the outside.

Principal post seen from the inside.

The Pendant at the end of the Hammer Post. 

Pretty sweet project - I've really enjoyed working on this one and getting to know the guys I built it with.  Cheers to all of them and their future frames.

Timber Framing 7 - More Scantlings

After the full fitting of the entire bent there are a few things that still need to be done.  

While the come alongs are still in place and keeping alignment perfect we go around to all the joints and drill the pegging holes.  The knee braces all receive three holes 3/4", and the rest of the joints receive one or two 1" holes.  

Knee brace with 3/4" holes drilled for pegging.

Hammer Post and Rafter joint with 1" holes. 

Additionally, the edges of the timbers receive chamfers, the through tenons all get an end treatment, the ends of the hammer posts get a pendant carved onto them, and in our case, the principal posts needed to be shortened to match one which was cut too short by mistake. 

Jamie routing a chamfer profile onto a hammer girt.

The curves on the knee braces are drawn out using a quarter point technique.  Quarter point allows for scribing a perfect arc without the need for a large trammel so it works great in this situation where the knee brace arc has a large radius.  A chainsaw is used to rough out the curve to about a quarter inch from the scribed line.  Then, a curved base planner makes short work of shaving down to the line. 

Roughing out the curve with a chainsaw.

When all the odds and ends have been taken care and the timbers are ready to go the end grain is coated with end seal to help preserve it.  This is particularly important when working with green wood as it will help slow the seasoning process and thus reduce checking and other deformation.  Once threated with end seal the components are stacked up and will wait for pickup.  

Ends are sealed and the timbers are ready to go. 

Timber Framing 6 - More Test Fitting

So there is actually quite a bit of test fitting to be done before the whole structure can come together.  A joint which contains a knee brace has 4 fittings to be done.  The connection below is of a principal post and a connecting girt and their knee brace.  

These three joints require four fittings. 

- The knee brace with the principal post. 

- The knee brace with the connecting girt.   

- The connecting girt to the principal post.  

- Lastly, the knee brace with the principal post with the connecting girt.  

While this may sound a bit tedious, it is necessary so that small problems can be located at each individual connection and there is less of a chance for a large unknown error to show up later.

Of course there are a total of 54 joints in the structure, and with all the testing it takes days of to peice the project together. 

My joint from above, drilled and ready for pegging upon assembly.  

A tight fitting joint with a 3-4-5 closing under 1/32"

We work together to bring the components together.  The pieces are large and it takes a couple people maneuver them.  That being said I did get quite a bit of personal satisfaction when this joint came together.  I built the components (principal post, connecting girt, and knee brace) that are joined together here, so when it came together with ease on the first attempt I was pretty happy.

Jamie dancing upon a tight fitting joint. 

Richard persuading a joint to come together. 

Test fitting a set of rafters with their purlins. 

We cleared out the sawhorses and components under construction to make room for the assembly of the first bent.  We are building a set of sub-assemblies which will be joined together.  The anchor beam with two knee braces and the hammer posts are one assembly and the principal post with hammer girt and knee brace on each side are additional sub assemblies.  These three sub assemblies are then connected and the rafters are joined on to complete the bent.

Most of the components from bent 1 laid out for fitting. 

The three sub-assemblies are brought together into one assembly.  The rafters are then joined onto the assembly, which pulls any slight misalignment into place.  The use of center lines creates a series of way points at each of the joints.  These way points can be measured and referenced against each other to ensure triangulation and that the frame is true. 

Bent #1 completely assembled. 

Pretty Satisfying to see it come together.

Timber Framing 5 - Centerline Layout

In the first timber framing post I mentioned that we are using center-line layout techniques.  This is somewhat different from how I have traditionally done woodworking because for furniture most of the time I use face layout.  As it has been so new to me I thought all my other woodworking buddies would be interested in how to use this technique.  I have tried to take some picture of the process but gave up and decided to make three short videos that capture the process.  One of the good things about this technique is that it does not require stock with is true.  It will work on timbers which are true, those that are askew, and logs too. 

Before any layout can begin the timber must be leveled and well supported.  In this situation level refers to leveling one face of the timber, generally the one with the most joinery, the rest need not be true.   

Step 1.  An approximate center point from which to start working.  

Step 2.  Use the center point and a level to trace a horizontal center line. 

Step 3.  Find the mid point of this line as a reference point to trace a vertical center line.  

Step 4.  From these vertical and horizontal center lines work outwards to create a full square grid. 

Step 5.  Repeat on the other end of the timber.  

In the video I am working on an 8 x 8 timber so the offset lines from center are 3 3/4 inches.  This gives us theoretical timber of 7 1/2 x 7 1/2.  It is this theoretical timber which we will cut our joinery to.  The extra outside the theoretical will remain attached but will  be worked around. 

The second phase of center line layout prep is to connect the grids from end to end using a string line.  The three lines on each of the four faces of the timber are connected to draw out the full length 7.5x7.5 theoretical timber we will be working on.  Once done, accuracy can be easily checked by ensuring the measurements between the lines remain the same for their entire length.  Also, in the case of a bowed timber the locations of the lines can be adjusted to allow for changes in joinery. 

The third component of timber layout prep is a squaring line.  This is done at each location where joinery will be done.  A point is selected which will be a reference point for the joint we will make.  A carpenter's square is referenced true against one of the reference lines drawn in the previous step.  Then a line is drawn perpendicular to the reference lines through the point and off both edges of the timber.  The timber is rolled and the line is continued around from side to side to side returning to the side it started from.  The key is to always reference the lines and not the edge of the timber.  When the line returns to its starting point it should meet itself exactly. 

I am now ready to start drawing out the joint, in this case a shouldered tenon.  The joint is drawn completely from the reference lines looking only at the theoretical 7.5x7.5 timber.  Any extra wood that is outside those lines will be removed along the way. 

Timber Framing 4 - Some Test Fitting

As we have started to complete some of the components we are starting to test fit the joints.  So here's an overview of the work.  We are building two bents and associated connecting girts and kneebraces.  To provide a point of reference for the following photos of joint testing there is a diagram of one of the bents we are building. 

Plan for one Bent.

The scale and tight fitting nature of the joinery requires using large mallets called beetles and come-alongs to close the joints.  

Testing the left principal post with rafter. 

Testing the anchor beam and the two hammer posts.

Bringing together the Anchor Beam with the Left Hammer Post and their Knee Brace. 

Final Product.