Drawing of the exterior view-to-be of the blacksmith shop annex. Designed and drawn by Charles Judd of Blue Heron Timber Frames and Kevin Lanier of Cabin Creek Timber Framers and was four years in the planning.
Cutting the timber frame in the Folk School's Festival Barn, just yards away from the raising site.
Imagine this barn wall to wall with timbers, saw horses and tools. Whew!
Something a little like this.
Rich pre-drilling the purlins for easy securing from the lifts.
Charles Judd (right), one of the project visionaries, designers and organizers show some nifty layout tricks.
A couple of the layout and cutting crew. Pretty rough view!
A last minute change of plants. How about carving anvils on the ends of the floor joists? Will led a team of 8 cut for a day and a half to make this artistic addition happen. Very cool.
Will with the angle grinder while Chris Broomfield (left) looks on before sculpting his piece.
Will intensely carving...
Even Paul Garrett, Folk School resident blacksmith and folk school logistics man, also got a chance to carve on an anvil.
Paul Gagnan, veteran newspaper photographer turned timber framer, proud and his stylin' anvil.
Marcie uses a very cool homemade timber key and flips this 12x12 beam effortlessly. Dennis Hambruch, the Mafell tool saint looks on. (Dennis, Mafell's N. American tool rep, brought $62,000 worth of amazing tools to use during the project. Thanks Dennis!)
The project site. Some of the bent assemblies on deck awaiting the raising.
The master of ceremonies, big brother, safety enforcer, stand up comic... and T.F.Guild Director, Joel McCarty.
Gabel Holder of the Holder Brothers Timber Framing, who were the project leaders on site taking measurements before raising the entry bent.
The infamous Holder Brothers, Gabel left and Whit right. Making sure all is in order before the raising. They did a great job running the show.
Flying the bent pieces for assembly on the deck.
Stephen Morrison and Dan guiding a rafter into place.
Teamwork, clear communication and lots of neat gadgetry help make a successful raising...
...muscles help too.
Bring in the impromptu organic log to scribe into the entry bent for the extra Wow factor. Was that on the plans?
Construction-site lounge-wear by Land Ark NW. Yes, this is a commercial...
Director Joel and one of the project leaders Stephen deep in discussion. A little one-sided perhaps?
Pre-fitting the scribed entry bent, lead by Stephen Morrison.
Aaron applying the Land Ark Liquid Wax/End Sealer to the post before the log fits over the top. The entire frame will be finished with Land Ark natural penetrating oil finish. Donated of course!!
Product placement? Yes. Shameless, I know...
David Blackwell making sure the logs seats well onto the king post.
Sure did! Nice work!!
While the entry bent is being fitted, Jaysun works on fitting one of the shed walls.
The great brace line up (splines too)!
How timber framed pieces work together for maximum strength and efficient joining. Isn't timber framing cool?!
Aaron Bauman from Land Ark NW in Oregon pre-drilling peg holes for the entry bent.
Andy Skoglund from Minnesota pegging the pre-fitted bent in place.
Raising the fitted wall to rest against the retaining wall for safe keeping and to await it's final placement on raising day.
A little on-site last minute chiseling is always necessary.
Ira from NC at one with the petite Mafell saw.
The ever-watchful task master... Joel. Keeping everything moving smoothly and safely of course. (He did a marvelous job, while also keeping us laughing!)
Stan from Georgia applying more Land Ark End Sealer to the ends of the posts before they drop into the custom-made post bases. This helps resist moisture from wicking up from the slab and metal of the post bases.
The first bent, the entry, finally on it's way up.
Stephen working on securing the entry bent in place until the connecting rafters, purlins and valleys can be dropped in.
Stephen Morrison securing the bent in place. The squared timbers of this bent are oak and the curved logs are local white pine.
One of the volunteer blacksmiths putting the finishing touches on one of entry post bases. You'll see the finished work at the end- it's beautiful!
This isn't the end, but just a taste...
Getting ready for the the main bents to go up next. Jaysun taking a moment to review the operating manual for the lift. Always prepared...
The equipment line up begins. The job site batting box.
The first bent rigged and on it's way up.
Two of the custom post bases made by volunteer blacksmiths this same week.
Julie grinding and prepping one of the post brackets. The cooperation between the timber framers and the blacksmiths during this whole project was truly something special.
The epoxy team on a tight time crunch to get the bases in and the posts set.
Stan setting one of the post brackets.
One-man mule train...
Joe, the project's G.C. looking on, impressed by the skill and demeanor of the timber framing crew. No really.
The spreader bar was another cool gadget and came in handy raising each of the bents.
The entry girt with some custom carving on the face.
Bent two on it's way up.
Roger, from Florida, putting the oak spline in place, which helps the girt connect more securely to the post.
The official film crew. Expect great things to come from Jessi.
Whit and Will on spreader bar rigging.
Lots of peg driving.
Keeping the two rafters rigid and braced at the peak is important so the joint can safely endure the stresses of raising.
Ford Hall, one of the leadership team and a local Brasstown timber framer enjoying his work. Rain and all.
Lugging the post bases.
Adam Valesano taking a break on the lift.
Timber pirate Jaysun. The life of the lift!!
Will from Albany, Oregon.
Whit Holder sets a game plan with the awesome local crane operator Aaron.
George, part of the project's leadership team and timber framer from Asheville, NC.
The 'real' John Campbell from Brasstown (via Ireland).
Our fearless leader also happens to be a pretty skilled crane operator.
After quite a thunderstorm and some scary lightning, bent 3 goes up.
Ford helping connect the bents to each other.
Custom milled local walnut is a nice touch for a brace. Which really stands out from the white pine frame. Especially once it's oiled!
Smiles were prevalent and very contagious throughout this project.
Bent Four, up like the other three.
Getting the connecting girt in place with another cool gadget, the Roustabout.
John Campbell hitting home one of the locust pegs, while George cheers him on.
Another great use for Land Ark Liquid Wax/End Sealer. These pegs, which were nearly impossible to drive, were effortless once waxed. An un-advertised bonus!
A very innovative and time saving trick, rigged up by our master professional rigger Brian Phillips from Productions Unlimited. Flying four purlins at once, really saves crane time (which =s $$).
Four at a time makes dropping in these purlins so much faster.
GRK fasteners are up for this task!
Another fellow Oregonian! Will, from Albany, is currently doing a timber framing apprenticeship at the Heartwood School in the NE. A very awesome guy!
Ira doing the math and working out the beam connection from the frame to the concrete silo.
Marci and Jaysun working on the roof framing.
Stephen is still working at the entry bent, laying in purlins and driving pegs.
The rigging crew planning the 'flying' of part of the monitor that will sit atop the rafters as the third story.
The folk school's marketing and publications director Keather Weideman gets a special lift for the aerial photos... she spend a tireless two weeks taking still photos, doing interviews for the folk school and essentially being part of the crew. Go Keather!!
Stephen driving the custom iron work pin for the scribed entry bent.
The nearly finished post base for the entry bent, made by talented blacksmith and folk school board member Julie Clark (Beneath the anvil will be a metal sculpted log... very cool!)
The artist Julie Clark herself!!
Construction of the monitor.
The five-pulin chain.
Ira (left) and Peter Boll (right), setting the monitor rafter in place.
Steven, the one-eyed timber framing pirate got to sneak in his flag to live at the top of the frame. Traditionally a real tree bough is nailed to the completed frame, but.... this was a special project.
Only a few got a nap time break from the raising! Well maybe only one...John Kauffman!!
The last day of the raising and there's still plenty to do.
Another Land Ark shot. Aaron puts more Liquid Wax/End Sealer going on to purlin ends before getting set into the roof structure.
The finishes stack of carved floor joists. One end is the anvil horn and the other end of the beam sports the back of the anvil. Modeled after an antique European style anvil.
Even with all of the cool heavy machinery, man-power was still required for some jobs.
The carved floor joists in place.
Last minute carving.
Joe, the G.C. and his wife put on a fabulous BBQ for the whole crew on the last day.
It's hard to show how hot and humid it was that week. This might help.
There were at least 40 timber framers involved in this project, handfuls of blacksmiths and not enough room on deck for all of them at once. So... lots of heckling from the sidelines ensued.
... a few quiet moments too.
The last day, "working" over time.
Whew! All of the roof framing is done!
The finished frame!! Say it with me.... Whoa!
And all I got was this T-Shirt!?.... Well, lots of new friends, experiences and good memories too!
Until the next project.... Yaaaarrrr!
