Product Description

Timber Framing has been a part of our building culture and an inspiration to mankind since the Middle Ages. As we enter a new millenium, it is designed to remain as one of building's most enduring forms, not only because of its intrinsic beauty, but because it is a pure and complete structural system.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79176 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 252 pages

Review
Among owner-builders, the traditional timber frame has been held as a pinnacle of achievement--for its rich history, unsurpassed beauty, and the sense of accomplishment it can offer. As founder and director of Fox Maple School of Traditional Building, Steve Chappell--author of A Timber Framer's Workshop--is in a unique position to share the knowledge he's aquired over the past 30 years. The title page says this book has been a work in progress for 15 years. The detail offered in illustrations and explanations supports that completely. Design and engineering make up a good part of this bookbut it also includes an essential introduction, a section on tools, wood characteristics, and joint details, among many other subjects. The point is, Chappell's 256-page book should not be overlooked if you are serious about timber framing. -- Back Home Magazine, Sept/Oct 1999

Thank you for A Timber Framer's Workshop. I have been wanting to add a book like this to Earthwood's Book Catalog for years. Other books in the field are either glossy coffee table fare (pretty to look at, but lacking in hard-core info) or they are not particularly user-friendly. It's great to see a timber framing book which is logically organized for easy extraction of the essential information. We are pleased to add your crisply written textbook to our list. -- Rob Roy, Director, Earthwood Building School, October 1999

About the Author
Steve Chappell began his timber framing career in 1970 and has been building, teaching and writing about the craft ever since. He is the editor & publisher of Joiners Quarterly, The Journal of Timber Framing & Traditional building, a publication he founded in 1983, in which he has written extensively. The Journal represents one of the most comprehensive sources for timber framing and traditional building information available. He began teaching timber framing workshops in the early 80's and as a way of bringing the written information into more tangible use, founded Fox Maple School of Traditional Building in 1984. The schools campus, in West Brownfield, Maine currently conducts courses in timber framing and traditional building methods, including traditional clay infill systems, thatching and progressive natural building systems.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from Introduction

The revival of timber framing over the past 30 years may be one of the most successful attempts ever at reviving an ancient craft and bringing it back into full blossom. Its success, in part, may be due to the fact that it fulfills the requirements of structure is such a pure and direct way, and it naturally inspires and heightens our sense and awareness of craftsmanship. Our reverence for architecture and art stems from an innate human need to see talent expressed. When it is expressed in usable and functional forms, such as buildings that we can live and worship in, we become connected with it in a more intimate way. In an age when technology is expanding at such a rapid pace that today's advances are often obsolete tomorrow, we yearn for things in life that have substance. Timber framing, by it's nature-requiring the touch and the feel of a craftsmans hand, it's use of nearly raw materials, and its substantiality-provides a sense of permanence. There is nothing to hide or m! ask in a joined frame. The work of the craftsman who handled and fitted the joints remains visible-to feel, touch, and to imagine what his days were like cutting the frame. Timber frames remain alive throughout their life, inviting all who will inhabit or enter its space for many generations to come a opportunity to sense the craftsman who worked the timbers. Who among us has not entered an old barn and resisted the temptation to run our palms over the timbers, touch the joints, and in so doing, imagined and felt, in some measure, the presence of the builder within the timbers?

This unique nature of timber framing has inspired many owner-builders to design and build their own timber framed home, and many more to enter the trade professionally. Fueled with inspiration, anyone can accomplish just about anything. However, there is hard work involved, and if one is to be successful, a working understanding of the complete system-structural design, joinery, and a basic understanding of the mechanical and physical properties of wood-is required...

The intent of this workbook is to outline the fundamental approach, coupled with concepts of structural design and joinery, that will allow beginners to develop a stradegy that will make their first timber framing project a successful one...

Customer Reviews

From Theory to Practice and Back Again
This is a serious book...for serious timberframers and those who seriously aspire to become a timberframer or build their own timber frame house. My copy of the 1st edition was passed out to the participants of a 1998 onsite Fox Maple timber frame workshop in High Rolls, New Mexico. It served as our 'bible' as we selected, planed, laid out, cut, chiseled, mortised, fastened, and erected the timber frame members for the Robinson's house overlooking a spectacular mountian valley. The workshop manual served as our daytime reference and our nightime reading. After the workshop and to this day, when I reread the manual, it serves to recapture many memorable moments of successes and screw ups. But, more importantly, it gave this reviewer the fundamental information I needed to decide to build my own timber frame house and to invite Fox Maple to Stuart Island, Washington in August, 1999 for another workshop where the 2nd Edition was again distributed to the workshop participants.

Steve Chappell is a master craftsman and teacher. He is a passionate advocate for timber framing and a wants to infect and educate the reader with the spirit of working with big pieces of wood and the art and science of creating structures which will withstand the rigors of time and use.

I consider the 'Timber Framer's Workshop' a valuable addition to my library because it delves deeply into the "whys" of timber framing with lots of illustrations of the "hows" to support the theory. Chappell minimizes the use of photos except to clarify the reader's understanding of favorable results or competent practices.

Don't be frightened off my Chappell's use of and illustration of mathematics. You may have a similar experience to mine, ie. I more fully understand why high school geometry and trigonometry were important.

I actually used the methods in this book to build my barn!
I actually used the methods in this book to build my 40 X 30, four-bent barn. I can't say enough about this book. From the dedication to the index this timber frame manual was crafted in the same manner as author Steve Chappell's structures: solid, precise and with artful beauty. This book teaches everything from the basic tools to advanced joinery and details everything you need to build a traditional timber frame structure. The illustrations are great and the exercises are extremely useful.

"A Timber Framer's Workshop" is an essential reference tool for anyone who's serious about timber framing.

An invaluable, reader-friendly how-to guide for the novice.
Timber framing has been an essential part of our building and architectural culture since the Middle Ages. It remains as one of constructions most enduring forms, not only because of its intrinsic beauty, but because it is a pure and complete structural system. In A Timber Framer's Workshop: Joinery, Design & Construction Of Traditional Timber Frames, Steve Chappell covers every aspect of the process timber framing including joinery, design, construction, frame plans, tools, timber and wood, technology, engineering, builders math, and goes on to offer a wealth of tips, tricks, and techniques. A Timber Framer's Workshop is exceptionally well written and will prove an invaluable introduction for the novice, with much to commend it to even experienced architects, construction crews, and specialty timber framers.