Bent Raising: Post and Beams (part 4)

This entry is part 10 of 21 in the series Timber Frame Gazebo

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 plates are put on top to connect the two bents together.


In one smooth motion we stood it up without complications. The stub tenons dropped into their mortises in the sill plate and the tenons on the three window sill supports also dropped into place. The stability of this one side all by itself is amazing. My FIL waits patiently for me to stop clowning around. It was a good feeling after many weeks to have something standing.


The North bent went almost as smoothly but we had a physics problem to solve. Apparently two pieces of wood can NOT occupy the same space at the same time. The edge of the decking was getting in the way of the post. Out comes the chisel.


Still chiseling. Notice the strap-pull (come-along) holding the bottom of the bent together. This keeps the window sill held in place until the bottoms of the posts are locked in place by the stub tenons going into their mortises.


And with that, the North bent is up and in place…


…sort of. My FIL speaks to it with the commander and the North bent comes to rest where it should.


What you didn’t see was that as the North bent was being tipped up, the window sill facing the lake (the West wall) was also put in place (had to be done simultaneously so there were no free hands to take pictures) Sorry there are no good pictures of this, but the window sills connect to the posts with double-tenons.

[next up, putting the top plates into place]

Series NavigationBent Assembly : Posts and Beams (part 3)Rafter Creation