my first timber frame....

[jueston]

This is my first timber frame, it's a scale model of a plan I found here in the plans section, and hopefully no one will have a problem with me reproducing their plans. I made some modifications, mostly to size...
The parts

The bents assembled

The first 2 bents upright

All 3 bents lifted and the first appearance of a curious cat.

Finished raising

From the inside

And a closeup which shows how loose most the joints are...

I learned a lot while working on this I had a lot of trouble making all the mortises and tenons fit right, some of that was because everyone was small, but I'm sure most of it was lack of experience. I used gorilla glue to hold everything together so the structural integrity is not based on the wooden pegs which were only added after the glue had dried for looks.
And I learned that my cats LOVE gorilla glue, and have no problem getting it on their fur and then licking it for hours trying to get it off.
I might sheath it with scale board and batton siding, which would be something like 1-1/4 * 3/32 boards and 3/8 * 1/16 boards which is scale 3/4inch * 10inch boards and 1/2inch *3inch battons... of course putting siding on it defeats the point of carving all those mortises since the only one who will see them will be the cat...
I have also thought about making another model of either a log cabin or a more elaborate timberframe, I have been looking for plans for an octagon tower or octagon barn anyone know where I can find one to model? I know there aren't many places to find tf plans except the pretty basic ones...

and thanks for looking!

[Jim_Rogers]

Thanks for posting.

A matter of fact I am about to release publicly an eBook on how to build a timber frame model.

I have it listed on my tools for sale list, but I hope to add it to my webpage and ship out cd with the eBook on it.

What you have done is great and it really helps you to understand lots of things about timber framing.

One thing that building a model teaches you is exactly how many pieces are in the frame.

Another is how the frame could go together. You basically are testing your raising sequence.

It is also a great visual aid. People can look at it and see what you mean when you say something about the design.

What you could do is side and roof half of it and leave the other half open. This way you can see how it will look when enclosed and still shows the frame.

I can't tell you how much I learned when I built my model frame. But it was fun for sure.

Jim Rogers

[frwinks]

wow...looks great.  All those tiny mortises and tenons... I'd say you're just about ready for the real one 8)

[bull]

thats going to be on classy cathouse when its finished !!!

[Dave Shepard]

Looks great!

Don't let the cats lick the glue! It is basically expanding foam, and if they eat enough, it can block their intestines. My sisters dog ate a bunch of it and had to have a foot ball sized foam ball removed from it's stomach.

[Piston]

I know this is an old thread, but I just wanted to give it a "bump" to the top for other's to see, and say WOW!  Jueston, I'm impressed with the model you built.  Did you ever go back and make "siding" for it like you originally mentioned?  I don't think I'd want to cover up all those joints! 

I'd like to hear a bit more about how you made your mortises?  did you use a drill press with mortise bit or did you use small chisels? 

How long did it take you to build? 

It looks to me like you did a great job!   

[jueston]

when I looked this up to post it into the other thread I realized I never really said anything about the process, just posted the pictures and left it at that.

at the time of building this I didn't have a drill press, so I chiseled out all the mortises with a 1/4 inch chisel. I now own a slow speed grinder, but at the time my chisels were very dull, and I might have spend 20 or 30 minutes on each one of those mortises. the tenons were pretty straight forward, some of them I cut out on the table-saw, some of them I cut out on the scroll saw.

I was between jobs, so I had some free time, and I think I finished this in 8 or 10 days, I didn't do much else that week.

I never did put siding on it or anything, for a long time I thought about putting board and batten siding up, but I was back at work and didn't have as much time. and I never really had a plan for what to do with it. when I moved it ended up "temporarily" on the floor in the garage, and 6 months later there was some water damage and unfortunately it was beyond repair, so I built a small fire inside and watched it burn....

I am slowly working out a design in my head for the dream house I'm going to timber frame someday in the forest when I escape the city, when I get a more solid idea of what its going to look like, I will build a model of that one, it will be much more elaborate obviously since this was just a shed.

like Jim said, building a model is a great learning experience, even though its small, the steps are almost exactly the same, and you can really get a grasp on the raising process when you can move the pieces around in your hand. I would recommend anyone who wants to build a frame someday seriously consider making a model first. 

and just think how awesome it would be to have a model of your house in your house when you finish... 

[flashhole]

Very nice.  Any way you can be persuaded to post some close up pics of the trusses and how they are affixed to the uprights on the sides?  I am milling my own lumber for a timber frame horse shelter and your structure is very close to what I had in mind.

[isaacpopp]

when I moved it ended up "temporarily" on the floor in the garage, and 6 months later there was some water damage and unfortunately it was beyond repair, so I built a small fire inside and watched it burn....

unless he took those close-ups back then, I think you are outta luck   :-[

[jueston]

I not have any pictures other then the ones posted, but if you go to this thread

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,49562.0.html

you will find a frame that looks very similar to mine, and you can download the sketchup file and see all the details you need.

[flashhole]

thanks