Answers for Mr Spanton as promised
Mr S Was that oak, or chestnut you used?
Both the deck and "caravan" were framed in green oak, the deck was very green having only been milled the day before I started construction, you could see moisture squeezing out as it was drilled/chiseled. The deck posts are 8x8" with 8x4" beams, the caravan is all 6x6"
Mr S What method did you use to scribe and line the timbers did you go off a full size floor rod?
The caravan was done to a budget and as the size of timber only varied by 5mm I did not work from a "face & edge" so there is a small error in size but nothing major
Mr S Any particular reason why you didnt do english tying joints and dropped the tie beams, or put some braces on the wall plate/posts? Were you restricted by available timber supply for a decent jowl post?
Again it came down to budget and the fact the client wanted it to "look" oak framed, there are braces on the two inner pairs of posts/ties, the rest of the frame was infilled with 100x50 studwork set flush to the outside of the frame and then the whole outside covered with ply prior to oak feather edge boarding, the ply giving the required diagonal bracing. The overall width is only 12ft so the roof loadings are quite low, any bigger and the proper ties dovetailed into the jowel posts etc would have been a better job. The mill I use can cut joweled posts as well as braces out of curved branches/limbs for best grain sirection.
Mr SW I often wondered why timber framers havent used bigger ones to do 1 1/2" or 2" mortices rather than use drill auger or bit or boring machine then pare up etc etc
Drilling out the waste in a mortice is common practice, you wouldn't chop out a mortice lock in a door without drilling the waste away, or would you :lol: Framers do use big chisels, I used the all steel axminster ones but if I have more to do in the future will buy one or two of these as the bevel edge of the all steel ones can be a disadvantage particularly when doing the angled mortices for braces.
I used a 20mm auger in a SDS+ drill which made light work of removing the waste then the chisel wal like slicing cheddar chease in the frech green oak, it really is that easy to cut when wet.
Mr S. Aparently german framers had to cut a mortice in less than 8 minutes entirely by chisel no drilling first; how do they do that?
They also tend to use softwood like larchYou must be loking at some sort of hefty strong mortice chisel isnt it?
Most of the timber framing companies use machines to do the bulk of the work, even the Americam Timber Frame guru Ted Bensonhas a machine with 4 saw blades that will cut a tennon in a couple of seconds and a form of slot morticer that can split the layout lines and do a large mortice in about 10 secs. Much quicker than a chain morticer.
The Maffel stuff mentioned by the others is good I've had a go on the 320mm wide handheld planer and handheld bandsaw but you have got to be doing it commercially to justify the costs
If you want to know about construction methods then one of the best books is this one It covers just about everything although you may not want to go as far as the couple of chapters on squaring up your timber from logs with a broad axe :wink:
Jason
Mr S Was that oak, or chestnut you used?
Both the deck and "caravan" were framed in green oak, the deck was very green having only been milled the day before I started construction, you could see moisture squeezing out as it was drilled/chiseled. The deck posts are 8x8" with 8x4" beams, the caravan is all 6x6"
Mr S What method did you use to scribe and line the timbers did you go off a full size floor rod?
The caravan was done to a budget and as the size of timber only varied by 5mm I did not work from a "face & edge" so there is a small error in size but nothing major
Mr S Any particular reason why you didnt do english tying joints and dropped the tie beams, or put some braces on the wall plate/posts? Were you restricted by available timber supply for a decent jowl post?
Again it came down to budget and the fact the client wanted it to "look" oak framed, there are braces on the two inner pairs of posts/ties, the rest of the frame was infilled with 100x50 studwork set flush to the outside of the frame and then the whole outside covered with ply prior to oak feather edge boarding, the ply giving the required diagonal bracing. The overall width is only 12ft so the roof loadings are quite low, any bigger and the proper ties dovetailed into the jowel posts etc would have been a better job. The mill I use can cut joweled posts as well as braces out of curved branches/limbs for best grain sirection.
Mr SW I often wondered why timber framers havent used bigger ones to do 1 1/2" or 2" mortices rather than use drill auger or bit or boring machine then pare up etc etc
Drilling out the waste in a mortice is common practice, you wouldn't chop out a mortice lock in a door without drilling the waste away, or would you :lol: Framers do use big chisels, I used the all steel axminster ones but if I have more to do in the future will buy one or two of these as the bevel edge of the all steel ones can be a disadvantage particularly when doing the angled mortices for braces.
I used a 20mm auger in a SDS+ drill which made light work of removing the waste then the chisel wal like slicing cheddar chease in the frech green oak, it really is that easy to cut when wet.
Mr S. Aparently german framers had to cut a mortice in less than 8 minutes entirely by chisel no drilling first; how do they do that?
They also tend to use softwood like larchYou must be loking at some sort of hefty strong mortice chisel isnt it?
Most of the timber framing companies use machines to do the bulk of the work, even the Americam Timber Frame guru Ted Bensonhas a machine with 4 saw blades that will cut a tennon in a couple of seconds and a form of slot morticer that can split the layout lines and do a large mortice in about 10 secs. Much quicker than a chain morticer.
The Maffel stuff mentioned by the others is good I've had a go on the 320mm wide handheld planer and handheld bandsaw but you have got to be doing it commercially to justify the costs
If you want to know about construction methods then one of the best books is this one It covers just about everything although you may not want to go as far as the couple of chapters on squaring up your timber from logs with a broad axe :wink:
Jason
