Timber Frame Tools

Background: Timber frame construction (often called post and beam) uses a method of large posts secured only with joints (wood puzzle pieces) and wooden pegs. After reading a great little book called Diary of an Early American Boy (a gift from my nephew) I got the idea to start designing a building that used no […]

I contacted many local lumber yards and either they didn’t sell rough sawn pine or their time to get it delivered was beyond when I needed it (had to coincide with my vacation). I also contacted a local Amish sawyer and that would have been the most affordable method but they couldn’t have the wood […]

I began my planning by reading through the two books listed in the previous post and started collecting in my head the types of joints I wanted to use in the design. I tried to choose joints that were interesting and that were not beyond my skills. It may sound odd, but some joints just […]

Dowel can’t be used for the larger pegs because it is dried, so it won’t shrink, so as the surrounding wood shrinks (the rough sawn lumber is pretty green), it would split the timbers. As such, we have to carve our own pegs out of oak firewood. This is done with a hatchet, and sore […]

The foundation is pressure treated to withstand the moisture from being close to the ground. It is created by tying the joists to the sill plates (beams sitting on blocks) with a dovetail joint. As the wood dries, the joint actually gets tighter. This is the most difficult joint to create in the entire project […]

The flooring is a bit on the strong side. It is made of 2″ x 8″ red pine. Now keep in mind then when you go to the store and buy a 2×8, it is really something like 1 and 5/8″ x 7 and 1/2″. This wood, since it is rough sawn and still green, […]

With the floor complete, it is time to build the framework that supports the roof, and the walls. This is where the “post and beam” of post and beam construction comes in. The two posts at the north end of the building will be joined together by a beam to form one “bent”. The bent […]

Braces are put in the corners of the bent to keep the wind and clumsy winos from knocking the building over. In this gazebo there are 4 corner posts. Each post will have two braces. Each brace has two ends. That means there will be 16 tenons to cut and 16 mortises to create. 16 […]

Finally we can start assembling the bents. This day made me feel like real progress was being made. Before the parts can be raised, the mortises for the bottoms of the door frame studs have to be chiseled into the floor. Holes…its all about making rectangular holes and things to put in them. Calling them […]

So now the bents are assembled and we are ready to raise them. For brawn their was just my FIL and I. Here is the South bent ready to raise with lumber temporarily nailed to the post to act as support once we stand this up. The supports will need to stay on until the […]

This roof will have a 12″ in 12″ pitch and will use bird mouth joints to attach to the top plates. The rafters are made of 4″x6″ that are tenoned and open mortised at the ends. Each rafter will join to its mate at a 90 degree angle. Here are the mortises and tenons. They […]

With the bents raised, it is time to put the “plates” into place. They will tie the two bents together. Now the top plates that join the South bent to the North bent are brought into place. They are a little over 16 feet long and true+ 6″x6″. With one raised up but not put […]

The rafter seats have been cut in the top plate. The top plates are in place on the gazebo, and the rafters have been cut and pegged together at the joint. Now it is time to raise the rafters. This is the first rafter raised into position and temporarily held in place with a brace […]

The 13 windows that will go into the solarium came from an architectural salvage place in Ithaca. Similar architectural salvage places are becoming quite popular around the country and they can be a great source for some old and unique items to incorporate into construction projects. In addition to the windows I also picked up […]

The roof decking and siding on the gazebo will be made from rough cut 1″x8″. Ideally it should have been tongue and grooved, but I couldn’t find a router bit set locally that would tongue and groove lumber that was over 1″ thick (remember the rough cut lumber is over-sized) In hind-sight I should have […]

With the rafters up and in place, it was time to start nailing in the roof decking. Yes I said “nails.” I was trying to avoid them 100% but there was no way around using them for the shingles and I didn’t want pegs working themselves out against the underside of the shingles and giving […]

With the 1″x8″ ship lapped roof decking in place, it was time to start putting on the cedar shingles. Cedar shakes (thicker and more irregular than shingles) would have been preferred but I was over budget and also had no rapid source for obtaining them. So shingles were the next option as I could get […]

So with the gazebo up and the roof on, it was time to get the siding in place. You may remember from a previous entry that the siding was ship-lapped 1″x8″. This was applied one course at a time and fastened to the posts and studs with 1/2″ diameter dowel pegs. I cut the dowel […]

To keep the Gazebo bug free, I needed to put some screens up. We get a lot of wind here at the edge of the lake so I needed them to be fairly strong and secure. I made the screen frames out of 1″x2″. The largest openings are three window panes wide so these screens […]

To make wooden bolts to hold the screens on the gazebo, I used 3/4″ dowel and used a wood threader to cut the threads on the dowel and a matching tap to cut the threads in the gazebo and the nut. The wood threader is a box with a hole for the dowel and a […]