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Frame 2017 – The Lectures
If you would like to get your ticket for the weekend you can book over at The Carpenters Fellowship
Here is a run down of all the lectures taking place at Frame this year.
Piers Taylor
Opening our event is Piers Taylor – award-winning architect, presenter of BBC2 TV’s ‘The House That £100K Built’ and ‘The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes’.
Piers will discuss his practice work of Invisible Studio – a rejection of the flat screen culture of mainstream architectural practice, and his journey into making, as he attempts to throw off the shackles of a conventional modernist architectural education and seek out a mode of practice that embraces contingency, context, people, collaboration and material.
Fergus Feilden
Next up is Fergus Feilden of Feilden Fowles Architects. Fergus will talk on the evolving role of timber framed projects in the practice, ranging from the use of Cross Laminated Timber within education projects such as the RIBA National Award winning Lee Centre, through to a contemporary Douglas fir frame for the practice’s self-build studio in Waterloo. Fergus will describe the close working relationship with engineers, framers, clients and contractors to deliver beautiful projects with timber at the heart of the design, delivery and success of the projects.
The extended lunch break gives delegates an opportunity to view some of the fascinating historic buildings that can be found around the museum site.
Oakwrights
Oakwrights are a company founded on traditional timber framing, but through tireless study and practice, have brought the technique bang up-to-date, meeting the most stringent contemporary standards. They will present their ‘Passive House’ project – the first oak framed building to meet this standard.
Simon Ely
Simon Ely, of Black Sheep Frame Finishing, is also no stranger to developing high standards of construction. His specialism is the glazing of oak frames – one of the most crucial and often the most challenging aspect of an oak framed building. Black Pig are leaders in this field, and Simon, known for his straight-talking, will have valuable insights to offer.
Robert Demaus – The Assessment and Repair of Historic Timber
Robert will explain (and maybe demonstrate) techniques including infrared thermography, microdrilling and ultrasound that can be used to investigate and assess the condition of historic structural and decorative timber, and discuss how the additional knowledge gained allows more conservative and cost-effective repairs and conservation.
He will also look at methods of repair and discuss whether current best practice involving “traditional” repair is either good practice or genuinely traditional.
Demaus Building Diagnostics Ltd specialises in the non-destructive survey and assessment of historic structures throughout the UK and abroad, using a wide range of techniques including infrared thermography, micro-drilling, ultrasound and endoscopy.
Laurie Smith – Historic Geometrical Building Design in Wales
Geometry has been used to design buildings for over 2000 years. When Marcus Vitruvius Polio wrote his Ten Books on Architecture in the first century BC (it’s still available in paperback!) he wrote that when designing a building difficult questions involving symmetry are solved by means of geometrical theories and methods. In other words, geometry was used to resolve the proportional relationships within a building’s overall design and to establish visual harmony between the building’s component parts and the whole.
When the Normans invaded Britain in 1066 they brought geometry with them and used it to design buildings such as Durham Cathedral (1093) and great monastic barns like the Barley Barn (1220) and Wheat Barn (1260) at Cressing Temple. The geometries used in these buildings were simple and predominantly based on the relationship between a circle and a square. The cylin¬drical columns in Durham’s nave exemplify this because, although they stand on a circular base, their height is exactly equal to their circumference and this makes their surface area square.
This presentation describes the evolution of building design geometries in Wales, commencing with the step by step construction of two crucial geometries found in buildings of all ages and scales from cathedrals down to domestic houses. Examples include the great door at Strata Florida Abbey, Ceredigion (1164), the timber-framed aisled hall Tŷ Mawr in Montgomeryshire (1460), the virtuoso two storey timber-framed porch at Old Impton in Radnorshire (1542) which has elaborate display geometries carved into the door head and a bracket carved with a complete set of carpenter’s tools, the extraordinary oak ceiling with massive hanging pendants in the nave of Saint David’s Cathedral (1530-40), Pembrokeshire and geometrical pattern book windows at The Hall, Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire (1832).
The examples, which are illustrated with drawings and photographs, reveal that geometry was the design language of its time, a sophisticated manual medieval version of Autocad using dividers and straight edge in a pre-computer age.
Hooke Park – Advanced Fabrication, Experimental Architecture.
Headquartered at the Architectural Association School of Architecture’s Hooke Park campus, Design + Make explores fabrication and design at the intersection of craft knowledge, innovative technologies and natural materials. Full-time MArch and MSc students inhabit an environment that combines, forest, studio, workshop and building site. Through the realisation of full-scale prototypes and permanent buildings, students conceive and construct experimental architecture driven by the principle of design-through-making.
The key proposition is that new digital design and fabrication technologies enable traditional making techniques to be re-invented as innovative and appropriate processes for architecture. Emerging tools such as digital 3D scanning, generative modeling and robotic fabrication provide new opportunities for replicating the feedback between natural geometry, material properties and designed form that had previously connected designer, maker and the artifact.
Two recently completed projects – the Sawmill Shelter [http://designandmake.aaschool.ac.uk/project/sawmill-shelter/] and Wood Chip Barn [http://designandmake.aaschool.ac.uk/project/wood-chip-barn/] – will be presented.
Web: http://designandmake.aaschool.ac.uk
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/hookepark
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aadesignandmake/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designandmake/
Rick Collins – “The Most Famous Barn in America”
On Independence Day (July 4) of this year, Rick Collins of Trillium Dell Timberworks, orchestrated one of largest hand raisings in the U.S. in over a century. A Trillium Dell support crew of 30 helped guide the public raising, made pegs and ran the block and tackle. Sixty volunteers pulled on the lines to make it happen.
Rick will present on this recent hand raising of the restored 1872 “Star Barn” frame. The iconic decorated Star Barn, often called “The Most Famous Barn in America”, is a singular example of the often romanticized, entrepreneurial spirit and wealth the Post Civil War Victorian Era. From the time it was raised, it was an anomaly– and a one-of-a-kind.
Covered with stars and other symbols, the extravagant structure was built for a wealthy horse dealer/entrepreneur who made his fortune selling horses to the Union army during the Civil War (and later to the military of the Russian Czars). The Star Barn had active agricultural use from 1872 until 1986. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
The barn measures 67’ wide by 105’ long, and is 56’ to the ridge. The timbers are white pine, and up to 68’ in length. The main tie beams are 53’ long. The timber was milled locally in Pennsylvania, and rafted down the mighty Susquehanna River. Timbers are mostly undersize by modern standards with gable posts being 8 x 12 and aisle posts being 8 x 10. Trillium Dell did extensive engineering and other repairs to the structure to bring it up to modern code requirements for re-use as a public space.
Get your tickets here!
FRAME 2017: UPDATE
Friday 1st September – CPD event day. – Free to FRAME 2017 weekend ticket holders!
Registration is from 09:00, for a prompt start at 10:00 when the first lecture starts. If you can’t stay for the whole weekend, you can buy Day tickets for this event only at the CFshop *You can buy weekend tickets here, too*
IMPORTANT – If you would like a meal on Thursday evening, this will cost £10, payable on the day. However, you MUST book your meal, at least 24 hours in advance, by emailing Tim Potts at TP@carpentersfellowship.co.uk to let him know.
The campsite will be open on Thursday 31st August
Ours is the first event to be held in the brand new state-of-the-art 120-seat lecture theatre at St Fagans, which should be a pleasure for presenters and delegates alike.
Timings and Lectures – for more information on the lectures you can have a look here.
Friday 1st September
| Time | What’s happening |
| 09:00-10:00 | Registration |
| 10:00-11:00 | Piers Taylor |
| 11:00-11:15 | Break |
| 11:15-12:15 | Fergus Feilden |
| 12:15-14:00 | LUNCH & Museum visit |
| 14:00-15:00 | Oakwrights Passive House |
| 15:00-15:15 | Break |
| 15:15-16:30 | Glazing Green Oak Frames |
Saturday 2nd September
| Saturday lectures |
| 09:00-09:45 Robert Demaus – The Assessment and Repair of Historic Timber |
| 11:15-12:00 Laurie Smith – Historic Geometrical Building Design in Wales |
| 13:00-13:45 Hooke Park – Advanced Fabrication, Experimental Architecture. |
| 15:00-15:45 Rick Collins – “The Most Famous Barn in America” |
Sunday 3rd September
| Sunday lectures |
| 09:00-09:45 Grigg Mullen – From Timber Framing to Boat Building, an interesting transition…. |
| 11:15-12:00 David Young – The vernacular architect of Ethiopia |
Carpenters Fellowship Special Project – Llys Llewellyn: A Royal Welsh Court for St Fagan’s Museum
Dates:
The activities start after breakfast on Saturday 26th August and continue until the evening of Thursday 31st August. Camping facilities and an evening meal are available the previous night – Friday 25th August. Each fully catered day is charged at £20. Friday 25th evening meal for £10
Attendance by booking in advance only. Numbers will be capped so get your booking in early to avoid disappointment.
Directions:
Leave the M4 heading South at junction 33. Continue along the A4232 for about 1.5 miles and filter off left following the brown road signs for St Fagan’s Museum. Once over the cattle grid you will find clear signposting to bring you into the camping area where you can set up at your leisure and help yourselves to refreshments in the CF event marquee.
Background to the Project
Llys Llewellyn (welsh for Llewellyn’s Court) is intended to be a reconstruction of one of the five royal residences that were in use in Wales in the early part of the 13th Century. Sadly none of these buildings has survived. The Carpenters’ Fellowship UK, working alongside the archeology experts of the Museum have created a design for this timber and stone building based on evidence from contemporary surviving wooden halls.
The construction is to be undertaken by a core team of CF members but other CF participants will be given the opportunity to get involved at the stage immediately prior to the site erection of the building.
All participants in the course will have the opportunity to contribute to the fabric of this unique building which will be a spectacular living history resource for many generations to come.
Who can get involved?
Anyone aged 18 or above who is a member the Carpenters’ Fellowship
Adult partners of fully paid participants and other non-members are welcome to attend and take advantage of the free camping and parking facilities. Those wishing to eat with us are more than welcome and will be charged at the same rate as participants. Booking in advance is essential
What is provided?
The event is fully catered from Friday evening meal to Thursday evening meal
Parking and camping will be free for participants in our campsite area which is equipped with drinking water and toilets.
A large marquee in our camping area provides a spacious refectory area for our evening meals, a hub for our evening activities, and a bar.
Entry to the museum site is free during the day but it will be locked and out of bounds overnight from 19:00 pm to 08:00 am.
The activities will be split between two locations: the Museum’s new purpose-built workshop building “Gweithdy” (which offers both indoor and covered all-weather outdoor spaces as well as having toilet facilities and a cafe) and the building site around the Llys itself.
Activities in green woodworking, oak framing, surveying and carving will be led by identified CF members. Tools and equipment will be provided, but it will be useful to bring any of your own tools that may be suitable. They will be checked by the supervisors and you will be able to use them if they are deemed safe and
Llys Llewellyn appropriate for the job. Experts will be on hand to assist with any questions concerning the use and sharpening of any tools.
What do I need to bring?
All participants must have their own steel toe-capped boots and sensible work clothing
All other personal protective equipment (PPE) will be provided as required.
Anyone wishing to bring their own PPE may use it once it has been checked and passed as fit for purpose. Participants will also need to bring their own camping equipment and a mug.
What activities will be provided?
Activities are based around the reconstruction of the Welsh Royal Court at the Museum and finished components will be incorporated into the building.
Green woodworking tasks include:
Framing the upper trusses – laying out, lofting, scribing, marking, cutting and fitting; handling and moving timbers; carpenters marks; hewing and splitting, peg and shingle making, carving corbels.
Evening activities will include after-dinner discussions and slide presentations.
Those wishing to try it can have a go at firing the CF’s Perrier, an authentic medieval replica siege catapult.
To book a place, for further information or specific enquiries, please contact Tim Potts by email: tp@carpentersfellowship.co.uk
You will receive a booking form which must be returned by 18th August
Focus on: Ant Sawyer – Self Employed Carpenter
This month we chatted to Ant Sawyer who is a former apprentice of OFTF about what he does now and what he hopes for the future – enjoy!
What does your role involve?
As well as subcontracting in the workshops and onsite for Carpenter Oak, Emmanuel Hendry and Oakleigh Design Build in Devon; I also design (site survey, draw on SketchUp) and build oak frames directly for clients. I also have a small peg making operation!
What do you like about your job?
I like the variation between office (drawing) workshop (when it’s raining) and site work (when it’s sunny!)
What’s your working day like?
8am-5pm Monday to Saturday – although being self-employed evenings and Sundays are often taken up with quoting for the next job or accounting etc. When on site, I am away from home during the week – which is probably one week every couple of months on average.
What skills do you need in your job?
To be a useful subcontractor you have to have qualifications and tickets that allow you to be on site. CSCS Health and Safety as a minimum, but tower scaffold, telehandler, MEWP and Slinger/Signaller are all useful/essential to remain employable!
Tools and experience build as you progress – so I’d say a positive, honest attitude and an ability to communicate are things you should bring to the table as an oak framer!
What was your background before starting this role?
During my 20’s I was an athlete with the British Athletics squad (Decathlon – Commonwealth Games 2002) and then the British Skeleton Team (World Ranking of 6th in 2007/8) I didn’t make the cut for the 2010 Winter Olympics so it was time for a career change!
I started carpentry with a course at The Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis, then an oak framing course at Woodenways, 2 years at Oakwrights, then completed my apprenticeship with several projects and tutors at The Oak Frame Training Forum in Bristol – which for me was a great experience, combining exposure to different techniques with great networking opportunities (i.e. beers round the fire!)
What are you most proud of in your career?
I’m glad I have a desire to learn, and a belief that you can make a happy career oak framing!
Where do you see yourself in 10 years’ time?
I’ll be 47!! Still in South Devon – in a home I’ve built – kids, veg patch, little boat – 3 day week working week!!!
A bit of advice for anyone thinking about a career in construction?
Be an intelligent craftsman – aspire to be at least!!
Focus on: Nigel Howe – Training Manager The Oak Frame Training Forum
In our regular series of interviews with members of The Carpenters Fellowship – we talk today to Nigel Howe. Nigel responsible for training the timber framers of the future. Phew. Not too much pressure then……
How did you start your career in Timber Framing?
My father was part of a self-build project in the 1950s that built 50 homes, all 3 bed semi-detached with garages & long gardens. So I grew up among tradesmen who built their own homes, conservatories, sheds, greenhouses. Over the years I learnt how to dig foundations, lay bricks, measure, level, triangulate & work with timber. My school was a Secondary Technical School (boys) specialising in the Building Trades in Reading Berkshire. As part of the curriculum, we built extra workshops on the site & built an outdoor pursuits centre in the Wye Valley where we spent weeks at a time. There I developed my skills in Technical Drawing TD, & Woodwork. In particular. Part of the idea of the school was to train the architects & craftsmen, & the building inspectors for the area. The school was a tough mixture of Hells Angels, skin‘eds, swots & hippies with a mutual respect for our building skills & sporting prowess. There were 14 of us in the Berkshire U15 Rugby squad of 30.
I moved to Bristol, married Jackie & trained in to be a teacher. Wherever we have lived we have built, extended, repaired & maintained properties. We have taken on derelict & almost uninhabitable properties & raised our children amongst saw dust, lime mortars, linseed oil & the smell of log burners.
20 years ago I left mainstream teaching & helped set up the Forest of Avon Wood Products Cooperative along with Jim O’ & Rupert. I worked on the Leigh Woods Barn Project & a 3 bay open barn at Chelvey Court & decided to buy a Wood-Mizer mobile sawmill. I took on the lease for the redundant farm buildings at Chelvey & set up the Chelvey Designer Makers Cooperative of woodworkers. I worked with Henry Russell & Gudren Leitz, & met Charley Brentnall, on the Westonbirt Arboretum Great Oak Hall project. Every timber went across the Wood-Mizer & we did 12-hour shifts to keep ahead of the framers. This build was instrumental in the origins of the CF & we photograph our new SAP intake with John Russell’s model of the Great Oak Hall.
What is the biggest challenge within the Timber Framing world?
Timber framing is heavy demanding work & requires the rare ability of engaging brain, eyes & hands to work with a variety of tools in all weathers & ground conditions. We are all mad; some quietly behind the drawing board & others barking in the framing yard.
What is the most inspiring project you have worked on?
I have been fortunate to have worked on several inspiring projects which in their own ways have played a part in shaping me (mainly my hands, knees & back). The Chelvey Court barn shelter, Penny Brohn Cancer Care centre garden shelter, the OFTF buildings reflecting the training of the CF members. The one project that must rank as the greatest challenge in so many ways & therefore the most inspiring & depressing must be Timber House.
The transformation of a Grade II* Listed building that had been derelict for many years. 16 King St Bristol. A jetted 4 storey Jacobean merchant’s house built circa1663 in the period of the Restoration of the monarchy after the Civil War. So from Restoration 1660 to restoration 2014-17.
The building shows all the signs of wear & tear & changes over the centuries. When we took it on the previous lease holders had done major repairs to the roof & cellar but ran out of steam. When we took it over there were a few original ceilings & floor joists but no floors. The work has been a combination of repairs & restoration alongside upgrading to comply with up-to-date standards of thermal & acoustic insulation & other building regs for fire & structural engineering requirements.
People who have worked on Timber House include: Jo, Sarah & Rob; Henry, Pete, Alan, Jeff, Marius, Finn, Sam, Mark, Will B, Ant, Will R, Tom C, Ollie, Tim H, Reza, Brendan, Tommy, Will, Finley, Graham & other helpers & support from Sheila, Amy, Freya & Heidi.
This has been a monumental task & has emphasised that balance & compromise that face us all when dealing with our heritage “What to leave in & what to remove?” Wherever possible we” leave in” to be rediscovered By future craftsmen & investigators. If we remove we are making a value judgement on what is worthy.
Now that the building regs have been signed off & it is being used Timber House has been given another chance to stand proudly in the historic heart of Bristol.
Where/what is your dream home and why
One in which I can sit down with a glass & a book!
One where the grandchildren can play among some of the Oak saw dust that I have brought in from the workshop. A home where Jackie is happy surrounded by her artwork. Probably with a view of the sea on the North coast of Cornwall so that the sea is blue. I haven’t seen it. I don’t know if it exists or whether I have yet to build it.
Thanks so much Nigel!
Focus on: The Carpenters Fellowship – Interview with Tim Walton
How did you start your career in Timber Framing?
My first taste of vernacular building came when I was at primary school. We had a trip to the nearby Weald & Downland Museum, where they had recently finished the frame of the now iconic Bayleaf Farmhouse, and were working on the wattle & daub infill panels. We got to work on the daub, which was, of course, delightful and exciting for us 8-year olds!
But it was a few years later, just after Christmas in 1980, when as a former pupil and neighbour of Bedales School in Hampshire, I was contacted by my old woodwork teacher to ask if I would help out with a project they were working on at the school.
The school had developed an ‘Outdoor Work’ department – a small-holding – to give the pupils opportunities to work with plants and animals. The had been given a Victorian timber framed barn, which had been dismantled and was awaiting re-erecting on the school grounds. I was called in to help with the foundations. It was freezing and wet, but great fun, barrowing loads of concrete into collapsing trenches! It so happened that the carpenter in charge of the project was one Charley Brentnall. We got on, and I loved the work, so asked Charley if I could help him in the school holidays. So I got to work on some of Charley’s earliest barn projects. When I finished my A-levels, I went to work with Charley full-time in my gap year.
At the end of my gap year, I went to York to study Psychology. This led me away from timber-framing for a few years, but by a very circuitous route, I came back to Charley in 1989, and was introduced to Carpenter Oak (which I thought was a nickname for Charley, as he hadn’t told me about the business!).
Charley was looking to develop the ‘Woodland’ part of Carpenter Oak & Woodland, and I enjoyed making shingles & pegs, so took on the development of ‘Woodland Products’. I enjoyed running this for 15 years, until in 2004, I left to start my own little company, Greenwood Direct.
One of our first framing jobs turned out to be a roof frame for a burned-out cottage in the New Forest, which was featured on Grand Designs! I got to meet Kevin McCloud a few times during the filming, and invited him to speak at Frame, to which he agreed!
What is the biggest challenge within the Timber Framing world?
The ageing workforce – framing is a hard physical job, and most people I know have been doing it a long time. The OFTF is doing a great job to help develop new framers through its Special Apprentice Programme, but our culture needs to rebuild respect in craft skills.
The availability of good quality oak. It seems we are all relying on oak from the continent, as UK forestry doesn’t seem to be producing enough suitable quality timber. This makes us vulnerable in terms of supply and costs.
The economy – the crash of 2008 caused long-term damage to the building industry, and Brexit could do the same.
What is the most inspiring project you have worked on?
I’ve often wondered if my love of timber buildings came from the experience of working on the Bayleaf as an 8-year old. I’ve certainly always found the Weald and Downland Museum an inspiring, almost spiritual place to visit.
But I’d have to say that the Gardener’s Shelter at Cressing Temple answers this. Partly because of Laurie Smith’s beguilingly beautiful daisy-wheel design, with its geometrical echoes of the magnificent 12th century Barley Barn, just a few yards away, but mostly because of the experience of its creation. Hewing oak beams from the round, converting them all by hand and scribing the frame, all with no tape measures or power tools, with a group of superbly enthusiastic and fun people was not just a great pleasure, but a genuine inspiration.
Where/what is your dream home and why (feel free to send us some pics!)
I consider myself extremely fortunate to live in a house I love, in a beautiful part of the world, but in a fantasy world, I would love to live in mediaeval splendour in the aforementioned Bayleaf, preferably with modern hygiene and medicines!
*New Course* Dietrich’s Introduction to 2D CAD – Feb 9th and 10th 2017
The Oak Frame Training Forum are offering to CF members Dietrich’s Introduction to 2D CAD – Feb 9&10, 2017
ONLY £50 per person for 2-day course – venue – King St, Bristol
Each participant will receive a copy of out D CAD 2D-L version and a Pdf tutorial with the contents of the 2 days. Each participant will also need his or her own laptop. Below is summary of the content of the course.
During this 2-day taster course, a simple frame shed will be drawn.
Points to be explained are:
- How to get started • Settings • Tool bars • Page layout • Dimension/text settings • View ports • Layers • Title blocks • Library’s • Templates • Measuring • Drawing • Mirroring/copying • Drawing functions • Hatching • Dimensioning • Printing
To book please email admin@oftf.org.uk
Focus on: The Carpenters Fellowship – Rupert Newman
This month we are chatting to Rupert Newman who is on the board of Directors at The Carpenters Fellowship. The Carpenters Fellowship is a not for profit organisation. Set up in 1998 The Carpenters’ Fellowship was formed with the aim of: promoting communication, training and sharing of knowledge amongst those interested in historic and contemporary timber framed structures.
Rupert runs Westwind Oak in North Somerset and is also the author of ‘Oak-Framed Buildings’ which is a practical book on the technique of timber-frame construction for carpenters, builders and aspiring self-builders, but also a source of inspiration to anyone who appreciates beautiful buildings. You can get a copy of the revised edition from Westwind Oak.
How did you start your career in Timber Framing?
I started working for a village carpenter at the weekends when I was 12. When I was older I got into building roofs, then repairing old roofs. This led on to working with green oak and building new roofs. That was 28 years ago!
What is the biggest challenge within the Timber Framing world?
Mainly people! Shrinkage too!
What is the most inspiring project you have worked on?
Building a bridge with a 60-foot clear span across a river and the first house I built in the Alps on the side of Lake Annacy.
Where/what is your dream home and why?
My dream home would be in Cornwall by the water. Like the one I built at Mylor Creek.
One word: WOW
Focus on: The Carpenters Fellowship. Interview with Tim Potts
This month on the blog we are chatting to Tim Potts who is the Director of The Carpenters Fellowship. The Carpenters Fellowship is a not for profit organisation. Set up in 1998 The Carpenters’ Fellowship was formed with the aim of: promoting communication, training and sharing of knowledge amongst those interested in historic and contemporary timber framed structures.
Tim also runs his own Timber Framing company, Oak Frame Carpentry Company which is based in Gloucestershire. Many consider Tim to be a leading force within the industry and with over 30 years in the business, he certainly has gained an incredible amount of knowledge and experience to share with us.
How did you start your career in Timber Framing?
My first experience was converting the rotting piled timbers from an old elm cattle shed into my first workshop as a teenager. Much later I got a job with Carpenter Oak and Woodland in my 20’s. Back then, no-one I knew had seen a portable mortiser and we worked mainly outdoors, over a deep litter of oak shavings, in the sun and the rain and once or twice in the snow. I have always particularly loved the sound and feel of the hand tools. If it was possible to frame competitively without noisy power tools I still would.
What is the biggest challenge within the Timber Framing world?
In the workshop:
- Framing competitively without noisy power tools
- Finding that balance of heavy work and healthy exertion without crippling yourself
In the business:
- Pushing efficient, sensible ways to incorporate oak framing with modern building techniques at the design stage and bringing the architects and engineers along with you
- Trying to get paid for the extra design value that you can bring to a project
What is the most inspiring project you have worked on?
I am inspired by the ancient frames I have worked on. I can get connected to past generations of carpenters and admire their skill, taste and audacity of design. I love to see their mistakes too, and the crafty solutions.
A Gloucestershire Court
Where/what is your dream home and why?
Home is where the heart is – Preferably with a decent sized workshop
Note: This is not Tim’s swimming pool!
