Posts in the «timber frame» Category
- Braces – Posts and Beams (part 2)
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 [...]
- Posts and Beams (part 1)
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 [...]
- The Foundation (sill plates and joists)
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 [...]
- Peg Making (It’s a hard knot life for us…)
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 [...]
- Planning the Timber Frame Gazebo
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 [...]
- Starting Up
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 [...]