Links that may be interresting to timberframe fans

[TW]

I am down with the flue today so I have had time to surf on internet looking for facts about medieval wooden churches that are built with stave construction (related to timberframing)
There are 28 of them in Norway, 1 in Sweden, 1 in England, 1 in Poland(it is moved from Norway in 19th century)

I found an interresting video from the renovation of the bell tower at the church in Borgund in Lærdal.
www.riksantikvaren.no/Norsk/Fagemner/Bygninger/Kirker/Stavkirker
Click on Film:Borgund 1 and 2 and 3 on the left side of the page.
They explain in Norwegian in the film but I think it is worth watching even for those who do not undrstand the language. The tower is built sometimes before the black death. Note the method they use to hew along the grain. It is called "sprettelging" in Norwegian. It is only found on buildings built before the black death.
More facts about those churches can be found at www.stavkirke.org

[Jim_Rogers]

TW:
Thanks for the links....
I'll check them out....
Hope you feel better soon.....

Jim Rogers

[Raphael]

  It's definately worth a look but be warned it's 20meg for the three Borgund stavkirke wmv files.  The forth film on the page is interesting as well (splitting and shaping shingles) but has a lot of discussion in Norwegian, wish I understood what the lumber man was saying about a monster pine he took a core sample from.

[Stephen1]

tW :  thanks for the links, nice video's like Rhaphael says it would be nice to know what they were saying about the pine in the other video. So much to do but not enough time, like the shingle makers they were nice shingles.
Steve

[TW]

Raphael
A short attempt at translating what the man in the forest said:
First he told:
The wood has to be straight, not crooked nor twisted. Twisted wood creates much extra work.
Then looking at the pine:
The bark on the lowar part has to be "kartbark". The bark on the upper part has to be "skjellbark"which tells that the wood is easy to split. The top of the tree has to be big and flat and the branches not extending too far down.
Then drilling:
The tree has to be slowly grown.

I hope I got it right from my short notes and far from perfect language skills.
The flue is improving so I will try to go to work on Tuesday.

[Stephen1]

Thanks TW hope you can work tomorrow

[srjones]

This is very interesting...I just wish I knew more of what they were saying....although I caught a word here and there.

håndverker==handworker? 

:D

[Tom]

I found the films absolutely facinating.   It never occured to me that they would repair a timber.  I'm of the mindset  of creating new parts, not fixing the old ones.   The fit of the repairs seemed to be excellant. 

Some of the axes used in hewing didn't appear to be, what we call, hewing axes.  I'm familiar with hewing axes being flat on one side and tapered on the other.  the edge is much like a chisel.  I am familiar with felling axes being used to take out the bulk of the wood by "scoring".  But, hewing axes, I thought, were used to split out the scoring.  whatever they did, the results were fantastic.

I learned a new word, Handverker.  Would that mean Craftsman?

[Raphael]

  There are two times when a timber is repaired rather than replaced.  The first is when you can do the repair with the timber in place and the second is when the structure in question has historic significance.

  Actually there is the third case when the Scottish gene's take hold and Refuse To Waste So Much Good Timber!
I manage to keep this impulse semi in check and try to repurpose damaged timbers as smaller members.

[TW]

Yes håndverker means craftsman in Norwegian.

The hewing tecnique "spretteljing" is only found in a few very old buildings. Some historicans say that the hewing technique we use today became popular order to save labour because there was a shortage of workers after the black death(14th century sometimes). The belltower in Borgund is much older than that.

[Mooseherder]

Thanks for the very interesting site. I bookmarked it.
If you look at the top right under cultural heritage it gives you more interesting articles in english.
Wish I knew Norweigan!