My first Disaster

I knew I wasn't good enough to avoid this from happening sooner or later. I spent alot of time marking these timbers out and trying to understand mentally where they go and how they fit before I begin cutting. It had been approximatly 2 weeks since I had finished the opposing sill and was looking forward to get this one done so I could start cutting the dovetail mortise and tenons for the floor joist and get the second bay completed. After being out of town for a tough five days I was ready to start cutting and begin decompressing from my job. Instead of waiting for a cooler day I decided to make the major cuts to get started. Well due to either being tired, out of the zone since it had been two weeks since working or the extreme heat, I got sloppy and basically ruined my 8x8x12. Instead of cutting outside the line, I cut the line out on one side and on the other side I forgot to set the depth of the blade and this beam basically became scrap. I did decide to use the remains for sleepers under these joints for support.  Hopefully the sleepers will also reduce the height of the sono tube piers for a more asthetically pleasing foundation.
     I think I may have to wait untill it gets a little cooler until I can ramp back up again. I don't mind sweating but the heat and humidity here in Florida is pretty bad. Hopefully it will start getting cooler around September.

Getting Crowded!

As I showed earlier I have the rear bay floor system completed. I am currently working on the sills of the middle bay. As you can see in the pic I have one beam laid out and the dovetail mortise and the edge halved scarf joint with bridled butts cut. Next to it is the opposing sill which will have the dovetail mortise for the other end of the dovetailed floor joist. This will be the second bay inside floor system but there will be another short 8ft. bay for a porch that will have a loft accessible from the inside.  I hope this doesn't look too awkward when finished. I'm thinking of using floor joist hangers on the porch area because I keep picturing water filling up and causing all kinds of problems in my dovetail joints. Not sure how the Amish did this. Beside the floor system is one pine bent with braces (pictured earlier) and 3 more 8x8 sills. I still need to purchase about eight more 6x6's to complete the floor system. As you can see it is getting crowded in the garage! Once this is completed, squared and all joint are test fitted I plan to load them up and haul them to Georgia where they will sit stacked and covered in a makeshift tarp quansenhut sort of structure made out of pvc and sil nylon. Boy do I hope this all works out and the joints fit after the wood cures! Here are Pics below.

July Visit.

My wife usually doesn't make the trip with me when I go to work on clearing the land or planting grass. I take my camping equipment and pretty much work the whole time I'm there. The solitude is nice since usually I am pretty tired after working all day and since there is no TV, I find myself thinking or planning or just staying busy fixing my meals, cleaning up or going down to the stream to clean up. It usually gets pretty lonely and after a few days I can't wait to get back home. On this last trip I took my wife, daughter and dog Chloe since the bermuda grass we had planted coming up las time I was there in June and this would have kept the dirt and mud off of everyone, especially the dog. I also wanted my wife to see the wildflowers I had mixed in with the bermuda grass seed. Some areas did better than others so here are some Pics.

Finally some straight wood!

     As I stated earlier I had decided to try the cypress that I could get from a sawmill that was much closer which made it easier to go and pick it up in my truck. This also made it easier to manage while moving the timbers around in my garage. The largest beams I order are 12 ft and the 8x8's weigh approximately 300 lbs. a piece.
     My next step was to begin the floor system. Originally as you can probably see in the drawings I had planned to put a barn on a slab. This would have been my preferred method but since I don't have any good level spot on my land and also since I intend it to be a shop while building and then a studio later I decided to have a pier foundation. I would have preferred to put the building on a stone foundation but this was something I just don't feel I can take on at this time. I envisioned the rock giving way and the building sliding off the foundation. I decided to go with sleepers on top of sonotubes.  Building the floor system would cause quite a bit of extra work for myself since I would have to cut the floor joist mortise and tenons but if I ever did decide to build a small home this would be good experience, so here goes.  The original plans called for 4x6 floor joist that just dropped into a square mortise but I decided to use 6x6 joist with dovetail joints. Pictured below is a pic of the rear bay. One thing that I have found very helpful are what has been called ponies. I now nave about eight of them and the floor system is sitting on four. The corner joints are called blind mortise and tenon joints.

Ponies made from plans in book are pictured above. I now have eight of these. I'm using them to support my floor system while I assemble it in my garage. I also use them to support beams while cutting. I like the height.

Decisions, Decisions

     Being of little experience like myself I have found there are many decisions to make. These range from the kind of Chisels, saws, type of pegs and maybe the most important is the type of wood to use. Due to the fact that I live in Florida I have found that Cypress is the most available. I started out wanting to use southern yellow pine because I thought it would be stronger and I liked the smell. The SYP timbers I got for the sawhorse were mostly fatwood which really smelled good but made it extremely heavy and hard to work with. The saws gummed up with resin and it was hard to chisel. It also checked and shaked so badly that I believe it would basically be unusable. Since the saw horses I have found a sawmill less than an hour away but they only sell cypress. This stuff is green and very heavy  due to the water content. When sawing through the wood or chiseling I have noticed water seeping from the wood. It also smells like pickles, not the way I wanted my wood to smell. The positives are the wood is extremely square and sizes are accurate, no parallelograms like the southern yellow pine I had previously purchased which needed to be planed down to square. The cypress also seems to have little grain run out and very few knots so it seems to be a very good choice for my situation.

  

     Above are my first beams I cut were (2) 8x8 post with an 8x10 time beam with Wedged half dovetail joints into the post. Here I used the last of the southern yellow pine I ordered. This stuff drove me nuts because of the uneven sides. The rest of the bents will be cut from cypress.

    As you can see in the pic above I would leave my chisels in the sawdust box. I found this practice to be a bad idea. Apparently moisture from the wood will cause the chisels to corrode. I now take them out and rub them down with a light oil.

Above is a picture of my chisels, a purple heart mallet (good for driving pegs),  ironwood mallet framers square, forstner bit, plane, and a Belgium whet stone for sharpening chisels. Not shown are a 16" Makita timber saw and  a 6" Makita planer. Pictured below is the Makita 1/2" drill. I also have several hand saws which the only one that I can't do without is a 12" Japanese saw which is extremely sharp and cuts on the pull stroke. I need a 24" japanes saw but havn't found one. The square is called "Big Al" which can be purchased on the Timber Framers Guild website. It is great for laying out beams. It's best characteristic for me is it lays flat on the beam while marking.

Above is The Makita drill, ironwood mallet and chisels which I purchased from Barr Specialty Tools. 

  I have to mention my Ironwood mallet which I use when chiseling. This thing is incredibly hard and I like the way it feels in my hand. It is in the pic above by the makita drill with a 2" forstner bit.

Inspiration

    The whole logistics of this project has kinda caused some doubt at times. I found inspiration not only in the books by continually picking them up and reviewing and reading the Timber framers Guild website www.tfguild.org/ . Seeing what others have done has  helped me to figure out that although it may be difficult and a slow process that if I continue one step at a time then maybe some day I would finish the project, or have an awfully large pile of wood! Since I have limited space to store timbers and also work on the timbers, not to mention how would I move these things around since apparently they can weigh 150 to 300 pounds apiece I had to learn from how others had accomplished this task. I figured if I could cut the beams then either I could load them on a uhaul or drive my tandem trailer down, load them up and drive them to the construction site and store them until they were all stacked neatly ready for framing. As far as inspiration I was delighted to come across a blog written by a professor who basically did the same thing. He cut the timbers of a small cabin at home and hauled them to his building site in the mountains of Wyoming approximately 8 hrs away and in a much more remote site than I have. He even had to cope with heavy snowstorms of which I doubt I'll have that problem. His blog is http://www.mvr1.com/timberframing/timberframecabin.html, I hope he doesn't mind me putting this link up. Below is a pic of my method of moving these beams around.

Below is another pic of my pattern placement and my makeshift shop table. The blue book I am working from is  a divided into joint sections with to scale drawings of each joint which can be transferred to the 1/2 in oak plywood to make a more permanent template.

As you can see I would cut out the design from the book and insert it into the book with my scaled drawings. The books are very good about describing the joints and sometimes the structural requirements.

Below are the templates cut out from the to scale drawings above.

Below I have laid out the templates next to their completed and fitted joints. These templates were extremely helpful in envisioning the completed joint when I was staring at a blank piece of wood.

I even had a template for the side view to complete the 3d picture in my head. Maybe I have a thick head!

I also tried to get into the habit of numbering and labeling  these joints and beams as they describe in the books I had purchased. As they explain this will be very helpful in the assembly process. Every time I cut these out It amazes me at the time and attention to detail necessary to make this all come out in the end. Also the number of joints that I would have to successfully complete would overwhelm me if I dwelled on it so I would  focus on one section at a time. I did the drawings below for a 10x10 top plate but decided to go with an 8x8 so I will have to redraw these and cut out new templates.

So What will it Look Like?

After the decision on the basic style I needed to picture how I am going to go about this. I went down to Michaels and started buying  wood and cutting pieces. I also drilled the pieces and put dowels to simulate the joints. No, I didn't lose my mind and cut these joints! Well maybe lost my mind but I figured if I could make this thing look like a barn then maybe the visualization process would help in my liklihood of success plus I could envision the overhang, door sizes, etc. This process also made me realize how adding braces increased the rigidity of the whole frame.I also tried my hand at drawing a scaled plan, I figured this would help me also with any dimensions, especially since my barn wouldn't be the same exact size as the Shaker Toolshed. I have inserted some pics of my attempts at drawing. I understand that now they have some pretty cool programs that do the same thing and light years faster. After I got a good idea I abandoned the project and went outside to cut some more wood! I then made a list of the patterns that I would need and drew patterns for the sized beams I would be using. I then transferred these to 1/2 inch plywood and began cutting out the patterns. Here are some of my first patterns.

I don't know if the drafting classes I had in Junior College helped or not??

The Concept

     I have always been fascinated with the thought of building a structure the way I enviosioned the Amish would have done it. When talking to a co-worker about building a structure to house tools and the tractor I brought up timberframing and it so happened that he had actually been a contractor and had built timberframe homes for a company in his past in the northeast. This encouraged me to look into it more and I found a contractor in my area who built beautiful timberframe homes but since I am only looking to build a small cottage I found that it was pretty much cost prohibitive. This lead me to find out more so I purchased several books online and began reading and re-reading. The four books I purchased were A Timber Framers Workshop, Timber Frame Construction, The Craft of Modular Post and Beam, and Building the Timber Frame House. All of these books are good and I would recommend each one of them. They each have designs, tool description, joint placement along with alot more and each has it's different perspective.
      I became fascinated with the idea expecially since one of the authors had built his home before he even owned the land. I decided that I didn't have the skills to build a timberframe home so maybe a barn was in order. I poured through websites and found several very informative forums. One of the best was the Timberframers Guild. I believe this is where I got the suggestion to start small. Very small like sawhorses. There were some plans using 6x6's so I decided to jump in. First I needed tools. Many of the books have list of necessary tools and wish list tools so I began to spend some money. I also needed some wood. I had no idea where to buy wood in Florida so I began calling around. Boy did I have alot to learn about wood and sawmills. Apparantly many of the small sawmills have shut down due to the economy but I did find one about 3 hrs form my home. After much thought about different types of wood I decided to purchase two cypress and two southern yellow pine 6x6's and make a sawhorse out of each. I wanted to start with green wood but somehow ended up with kiln dried so I decided to make the best of it and get started. Pictured above is the design I got off of the Timberframers Guild website and and below is the finished southern yellow pine sawhorse. 

After completing the two sawhorses and getting the idea of the characteristics of both types of wood I found I had some wood left over which lead me to start considering the type of joints I would need to cut and could I actually make this work. I had considered several designs but due to logistics, moving timbers, storage etc, I ended up deciding on the Shaker garden toolshed design which I found in a book titled Timber Frame Construction by Jack Sobon and Roger Schroeder. My garage is limited in length so I also had to plan on more joints due to the maximum length beam I can carry in the back of my truck is a little over twelve ft. After the design was determined I decided on trying a joint called Edge Halved Scarf with Bridled Butts. This would enable me to use one top plate and one sill per 10' bay with the joint at supported at the post, instead of a continuous top plate or sill which would have been too long. Below is a pic of my experiment on my sawhorses and I also included the joint for the rafter to sit into the top plate.

The Need

Where do I start? Maybe the Tractor. This isn't just any tractor, this is a 1949 8N Ford Tractor. I desperately needed some grass after I had a local guy come in and clear a swath through the thicket of brier, assortment of trees, and row upon row of barbed wire fence.  After having someone come by with a tractor and harrow to cut up the weeds and many sweet gum trees that kept sprouting up so that I could get some grass growing, I realized that I needed a tractor or I was going to spend all my money hiring someone else. I was also going to have to bush hog later so my dad found the tractor pictured above. He saw the tractor sitting on the side of the road and I could tell he really wanted to buy it. My grandfather had owned two of them and since this one was in what appeared to be in excellent condition, we bought it. It was worth every penny to watch a 75 year old man on a 60 year old tractor tear the field up. I've had the tractor for about a year and a half and when I go out to start it up the starter turns a couple of times and the old red belly comes to life. This never ceases to amaze me. Anyway, I can't stand to let it sit out in the rain so now it is sitting under a tarp which leads me to the need for a barn which will also store my many tools that I am now carrying back and forth on my 7+ hr drive from Sarasota Fl to Pine Mountain Ga. Someday after our home is built I hope to convert this building into a studio. I enjoy painting and mostly painting wildlife. A picture below is a painting I did 18 years ago when my daughter was born. I have attempted a couple of paintings since but life just seems to get in the way. Hopefull I can give it another try in retirement. I seem to enjoy painting wildlife the most.

I have to add that this is a knock off of another artist. I liked the Pic so much I just wanted to paint it. I've included a few more pics of past paintings which you can find on the link to my google  page on the first post (About Me). I call them my garage art, because most of them are hanging in the garage! As you can see some are unfinished. This one got framed and is hanging in the living room. 

About Me

     I'll try not to bore you with my life story but anyone interested in my project might be curious about my background, or maybe not.  Here goes. My Picture is my daughter and me while we did an eight day hike on the Appalachian Trail. That is a whole different story. I have more pictures on my google homepage . Here you will find my pictures of Hiking the Appalachian Trail for 8 days with my daughter, some aviation pictures of planes I have flown, some of the oil and acrylic paintings I have attempted along with some pictures of my land in Pine Mountain Georgia where I hope to assemble this barn some day.
https://profiles.google.com/114784647383580616419?hl=en&tab=wh#114784647383580616419/posts
      I am currently living in Sarasota Fl, where I have lived approximatly 10 years with my Wife and Daughter. I am a pilot by profession and have some experience in construction and was once  liscensed in the state of N.C. as a contractor and Home Inspector. I do want to make it perfectly clear, I do not know what I am doing, this is a learning process and I am only trying to show others who might be interested in timberframing that someone like me tried to tackle the same project and how I went about it. I would have preferred  to have gone to school or taken courses and I still intend to do so. According to my searches on the internet there are several very good schools and I intend to attend one in the future when I can work it out.  Although the only home I have contracted was in Georgia, it was not necessary to have a contractor liscense if you lived in the home.
      Our home in Florida is in a typical neighborhood where the lots are about 1/3 to 1/2 of an acre and the neighborhood has many rules so this makes the logistics of this project even more difficult. I have always enjoyed working outside so living in this type of situation has caused me to have much pent up frustration. It has been our plan for a while to move back to Georgia or the Carolinas so we can have a yard to garden and also to enjoy the seasons again. While visiting in the Pine Mountain Georgia area and staying in a cabin we ran across a local resident nearby who had some land for sale so we purchased 4 acres and this pretty much started the project. Here is a pic of the land. Believe me, it looked nothing like this when we bought it. There was much work involved.