On the Craft of Building

What could be more natural than building a home for yourself? And, yet what is more rare than doing just that? I'm not talking about hiring an architect and a builder and collaborating on the design. I mean constructing the building in which you will live with your own hands.

This is not a practical goal, by modern standards, and it may not be a practical solution to any larger problem than the simple satisfaction of a life well lived.

Timber framing is a traditional craft, practiced before the western expansion of the US required a faster building method. Its origin in North America was stems from European immigration but has developed into a distinct style over time mostly in the Eastern parts of the continent.

Timber framing requires the joining of large dimensional lumber by creating joints in the wood, itself rather than using nails or metal hangars to combine structural members.

Embarking on the Journey Home

In the middle of summer last, in the depths of the pandemic, I took a workshop in Ashland, Oregon. It was hot and the work was physical; not a vacation but a respite from the empty calories of modern life–brought unavoidably to the fore, the social responsibility non-action.

Clearly the idea of home has never been more present in the mind but clarity on the purpose and meaning of making and having one still prove elusive.

When I think of a home a I think of comfort and peace. I think of durability and flexibility. I think of openness and space. What comes to mind are large timbers and natural earthen materials. I think of a timber-frame with large girth beams and exposed wood grain.

The Journey

I chose a course with EcoNest Co. of Ashland, Oregon. EcoNest is a partnership between the builder, Robert Laporte and the Architect, Paula Baker-Laporte. I was drawn in by the wholistic approach taken, equally structure and aesthetic, toward the integration of human existence with the nature of the world on which it depends.

When we started there was some introduction and simple stretching. Ground rules, lunch and a spiritual foundation for the work we were about to do as well as the wisdom we were about to receive. Much of the early days were spent sharpening and tuning our tools: a fine Japanese timber chisel, a simple Canadian wood plane and a razor saw.

We learned to use wet stones for sharpening fine steel hand tools; this, as Robert said, is worth the price of admission and he was right.

Unfortunately there is no suitable way to describe hours upon hours spent honing steel against wet stone. This, one has to experience.

The fundamental joint of timber framing is the mortice and tenon joint where the end of one timber is narrowed to fit in a slot hewn in the second. Often a peg is wedged into a bore drilled after the mortise & tenon are joined.

The Tennon

The first cut was a simple cross-cut of the timber to form a tenon. Steady but not slow. This cut requires a good stance and focus. Steady arms to keep the saw square are key but a looseness of the hands to allow the saw to sit in the cut and find its own line.

The next cut is along the grain to meet the cross and square the tenon's shoulder.

A more subtle cleaning and shaping of the shoulder requires a fine tuned chisel. Start in Canada, then Mexico and finally the US. This is Robert's mnemonic for remembering to square the short sides before the longer one.

After the shoulder is squared, a subtle concavity is added to the inside of the shoulder with the chisel to compensate for the force of the heavy beams as they settle over time.

As the weight of the beam being supported by the joint under compression settles over time it will tend to push into the grain and rather than pushing strait into the open grain, the concavity will provide better cushion over the surface of the shoulder rather than a hard, rigid fit.

Care should be taken by checking regularly since wood, once removed cannot be added in this process.

Sample the bevel at various points over the shoulder, parallel to the tenon, regularly as material is removed.

Final check to make sure the edges are square.

Using a caliper, checked against a reliable measure. Typically the width of the smaller end of a quality framer's square is adequate for the width of the tenon As seen here the Shinwa framing square is highly recommended.

The tenon itself needs to be constant width and reasonably square over its entire surface. It can be checked with calipers to sample the surface by sliding the jaws over the surface on both sides in both directions. The desired width  should be set with a reliable reference as described above.

The Mortise

The mortise has come a long way since the invention of the machine mortiser. We were fortunate enough to be using a Makita 7105L Chain Mortiser. A beautiful machine which, with a minimal amount of planning and a bit of finesse & lubricant can turn the chore of drilling and chiseling into joy–just watch out for Robert, he might try to steal your joy! Wink-wink, nod-nod.

Once the joint is fitted a peg will be inserted to hold the joint in place. Drilling prior to mortising will keep the hole clean and consistent from one side to the other.

Scoring the outline of the mortise will reduce chipping across the grain and preserve clean edges to match the tenon. Pay careful attention to the lines crossing the grain, they may take multiple passes to score correctly and will tend to dull your blade, so make sure to replace as needed.

The mortising tool is clamped on to larger timbers for fast placement and adjustment. Align the blade to the mark by sight as the dials and clamps can wear over time. Also check the the protruding teeth are just grazing the line before sinking the chain into the mortise as there will be some slop in the action which might allow the chain to bite a bit further than seen while still.

Be sure to lubricate the blade and all bearing surfaces such as the clamp screw and adjustment lever. The fine sawdust produced can dry the lubricant quickly so lubricated liberally and often. We used good 'ol WD-40 during the workshop.

The mortise can be set perpendicular to the timber but the blade swings through an arc to move along the beam, therefore the rig must be reset on the opposite side to give a square edge on both sides.

The mortising machine can remove the vast majority of material but care must be taken to avoid tearing the grain. Finished work can be done with the chisel. Spray the wood often with water to lubricate the cutting. Also don't be afraid to take time to resharpen your chisel. You will be rewarded for the extra time. The grain of a Doug Fir can be surprisingly hard even on a quality steel.

Assembly

Inspect the joint to ensure a tight fit before drilling the peg hole with the tenon in place.

Clamps on both sides are used to keep the joint tight when drilling the tenon in place.

The upper joints are placed and pegged with the wall frame laid next to the edge where it will be raised, minimizing the distance to raise the weighty assembly and keeping the lower tenons close to their final resting places.

With the first wall raised, the pegs in the dovetail joint (outside the scope of this article). Once the second wall is raised, the side posts can be placed to support the male dove-tail top beam.

Raising the top beam requires at least three people and this is a relatively short one. Setting the beam on the raised walls one side at a time and rolling it into position requires patience and precision in addition to brawn and bravery.

The shoulders of the dovetail join will seat vertically long before the tail sees its resting place. The fit should be tight which will allow settling one side at a time.

Robert uses his hammer to round the sharp corners of the male dovetail in order to set the fit.

Nothing quite like that feeling when things fall into place!

Ensuring the corners stay in place when moving on to the next wall, block and tackle is placed to keep the building square.

The center post is placed to give a pitch of the roof.