Timber Framing
This is the mill in Chehalis where our timbers were milled.
The owner, Tim Rogerson uses a Wood Miser LT40 bandsaw to mill the wood.
The mill owner uses his tractor to help load the timbers.
8-16-10
Dan and Dan Z. loading the timbers on our trailer.
8-17-19
Dan and son Dan unloading the timbers at home.

(Where's that tractor ???)
Nothing easy about this job.
Bullwinkle likes the new timbers.
Three loads completes the timber order for the shop building.
A cousin of Dan's once told us that what a guy living in the Great Northwest really needs is an acre with a roof over it. That could come in handy now with fall in the air.
Dan's chisels ready for his first project. He is going to build a set a saw horses to give himself a little practice at timber framing.
He uses his power saw for as much of the cut as he can.
And finishes the cut with his hand saw.
With a firm bap the excess wood from around the tenon comes off.
Then just a little clean up with the chisel.
After the mortise is marked out and the corners drilled......
he uses his power drill to remove the bulk  of the wood.
Then chisels out the remaining wood.
A corner chisel makes nice crisp corners.
Although the mortise and tenon joint is one of the easier joints in timber framing, if it is not correct, the pieces will not fit together correctly.
Oh good. The brace tenon fits the leg mortise.
And the leg tenon fits in the foot mortise.
Then holes are drilled though the mortise for the pegs or "wooden nails".

The tenon is put into the mortise and the hole is marked.
Then Dan drills the hole in the tenon slightly off center so when he drives the peg in, it draws the pieces tight. This technique is called "draw boring".
This baby is rock solid!
The pegs can be cut flush or left a little proud.
Dan routes the edges of the pegs and timbers for a final touch.
Nice saw horses. Now lets build a shop.
The timbers are brought into the small shop and planed and sanded (thanks Mike).
Then using a plug in program to Google Sketchup, created by Clark Bremer, I make a timber cutting plan.
Dan has some how figured out how to cut these joints. These are two of the posts with their many different joints.
This joint is called a "step-lap rafter seat". This one is located in a girt.
After each piece is completed it is labled to later be assembled in its frame.
One of the tools Dan uses is called a Miller Falls Boring Machine. It is used for boring holes for the large mortises. They don't make these anymore, but Dan found a guy, Tom Perkins, who reconditions antique ones and sells them.
It's a good thing Dan enjoys working in the shop or this could seem like work.
The posts are the most difficult parts to make, and it takes most of the day to make one.
There are beautiful timbers hiding in this pile of logs.
We took a little break for hunting season, holidays, and because we were feeling a little burned out. Dan got back out in the shop working on the timbers for most of January. Today he starts his tax season work so everything is now on hold till mid April.
9-14-10
Back to 2010