Test Fitting

03 Jun Test Fitting

The level of energy here is high in Festival Barn as the timber framing crew and class have reached full stride, and are making serious progress. Today they test fitted an entire wall section, and it looked massive as seen laid out on the floor. To do this, the individual timbers are checked again and then fitted up taking care to have the whole assembly absolutely level and square. This was a challenge in the barn, as the floor was sloped drastically to allow for drainage during the time that it was used as part of the dairy operation here at the school.

After all the joints are checked for fit and all dimensions are good, then a mark is transferred through each peg hole in the mortises to the tenons that fit inside. After the the timbers are marked for re-assembly, the section is taken apart, holes bored in the tenons, and the pieces are stacked for transport to the job site. Then it happens all over again with the next wall.

Tonight, there was a demonstration by Ford Hall of the leadership team covering his method of affordably transporting logs from where ever he can find them, and sawing them up on his own band saw mill. Ford is a great timber framer residing right here in Brasstown, who finds logs that are already down from storms, or around construction sites, or wherever, and mills up all the timbers for his business. He uses a converted boat trailer, and a bumper mounted winch to do this and can move an amazing amount of wood this way. He began to saw up a couple of walnut logs that had to be cleared away to make room for the building, into stock for making some braces in the frame. It is nice to know that some wood from the site will be a part of the finished frame.

Also, tonight we all had a great treat in watching this weeks woodcarving instructor Wayne Barton to some  chip carving on one of the timbers that will be visible as you enter the new building. He worked till well after dark with flash lights to get this done, and now the timber frame will be forever marked with the year 2009, and the Timber Framers Guild logo, and a nice bit of  whimsy to boot.