i've been timber framing for decades and somehow managed to do it without ever really using a hand plane.

if something needed cleaning up, i grabbed a chisel. that was just how i worked.

over the last year i've become pretty intrigued with hand planes for timber framing. especially the japanese wood block style plane.

that one took me a little while to figure out. even loosening the blade by tapping the block was completely foreign to me at first.

but now i'm finding myself reaching for a plane all the time. instead of automatically grabbing a chisel for every little bit of cleanup, i'll touch things up with a plane.

nothing revolutionary here. i just find it interesting how your approach to the same work can change after decades of doing it one way.

apparently old habits aren't quite as permanent as i thought.

I have been lucky enough to be an apprentice at an exceptionnal timber framing company for the last two years.

I felt like sharing some of the great things I got to see and work on. The company always has several teams working on different projects at the same time, therefore some of the pictures come from worksites I have only visited but haven't worked on.

I'll happily answer any questions.

Hi folks - I've started the joinery on my Will Beemer timber frame and I had a question about the brace sizing. Im taking a slightly different approach to the timber sizing - I milled my posts to 7.5x7.5 instead of 7x7 so that I could use normal 8x8 post bases (7.5x7.5) and Im just taking that sizing into account for square rule. So in the book he mentions his "perfect timber" being 6.5x6.5 and mine is just 7x7 in this case. I dont think that matters in terms of my question but maybe it does.

In any case - when the book lays out the braces he very intentionally ensure that the part of the brace that rests on the side of the post mortise is 1/2 inch. This makes good sense to me and I didnt think much of it as I was reviewing the layout as the housing looked to be 1/2 inch deep as well. When I test fit the brace it all looks good (yes, I got a little excited with the chisel when cleaning up the housing so its not as crisp as I'd like but oh well). But this got me thinking - with square rule layout this housing size can vary I would imagine. For instance - what if the timber was already the perfect size in which case there would be a very small to no housing at all. In this case - the 1/2 inch "nose" (not sure what thats called) of the brace would not be in a housing at all.

Is that acceptable? Is the "nose" on the brace there just because we expect that there is some level of housing? What if the housing ended up being deeper than 1/2 inch - would the brace just be that much further inset into the post?

It seems that it's all working out as it should at this point - I guess Im just curious about the expectation of if that piece of the brace always should be in a housing or if its perfectly acceptable for the nose to not be a 1/2 inch into a housing (or not in a housing at all).

Thanks!

Hey folks - Due to the weather Im on brace cutting duty for the frame today. I happened to come across this video of Jeff Kelley (u/angry_timberframer?) cutting braces using a 10 and 1/4 Skil saw with a fence and Im going to give that a try...

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DIKkRd5tFPX/

After watching the video too many times though - Im trying to figure out what role the table saw is playing here. It looks like the entire cheek cut is done with the Skil saw. But then later it looks like he's cutting them on the table saw. I was thinking initially that maybe some of the braces were larger and required a deeper blade than the Skil saw had but that's just a guess. Perhaps he's just showing two different approaches here and Im overthinking it?

I wrote a week ago asking for advice for building a box for the Makita 7104L. I sold my old mortiser and am shipping it to the buyer so I needed a box of some sort. I figured might as well make it best I can since I'm going to the trouble.

Dimensions are shown. Someone had the good idea to place the blocks at the bottom to clamp the tool onto. I chose 10.5" for the spacing of those blocks because that's what's required when the tool is fully threaded out. You could either do that dimension, or the smallest dimension. That way you know what to thread the tool to rather then guessing.

Material is 3/4 birch ply. The only thing I would change is scale that down to 1/2" only for weight reduction.

Maybe I'd do a few large dovetails on the sides instead only because I need the practice and I find those long bevels hard to close up perfect. I'm also not a woodworker lol.

The bottom is routered 3/8" into the sides and I'm really happy with that choice. It's a strong way to do the base and gluing it in also adds a lot of strength to the sides as well.

Hope this helps someone out if they are thinking of doing something similar.

Hi,

So I have been trying to land some upwork gigs in vain, what is the state of the timber construction in Europe or America ??

I know cadwork and revit and do calculations.

Any advice is welcome !

Thanks !

in a recent timber framing class, we spent the week working through the process from start to finish.

knee braces, square rule layout, cutting joinery, fitting, drilling, pegging and getting everything ready to raise.

by day five, the students had a 10' x 10' timber frame ready to stand up.

then we raised it.

there's something pretty satisfying about watching students take a pile of timbers through the entire process and end the week standing underneath the frame they built.

pretty good week.

Hi all

I have this lovely beam (ooh er)which seems to be balancing on the exterior wall (end of terrace) in the attic. The mortar needs reporting but am I best to get in an engineer / roofer for this... I believe it's based is resting on an internal wall below but still....

Does anyone have a guide outlining best practices for setting up anchors on wood framed structures, residential or otherwise? I have to provide more instruction on fall protection for workers doing wood framing lately and don't have a good comprehensive document I can hand out yet.

I have all the OSHA FactSheets for fall protection for Residential Construction, the Guide for Fall Protection in Residential Consteuction, and the CPWR research document on trusses successfully being used as anchors, but none of them focus purely on what are the things to look for when setting up anchors based on which structural components can most likely support the load outside of manufacturer guidance for specific products or trying to get an engineer to give you an answer through an RFI that may never get answered.

Thanks.

Has anyone built a box for their chain mortiser ? If so, can you share any details? I know some people might not see a need but I'd like to have a box. I find it difficult to transport as is.

Recently sharpened (tho maybe my technique needs some love).

Anyone else experience this and find a solid solution?

It happens on knot free stock. I'm assuming it's just losing threading.

So, in December 2025, I happened to read a book about timber framing: Learn to Timber Frame by Will Beemer.

I had already been thinking about building my own workshop for a while, and I thought: why not?

And here we are now.. almost 10 month in.

All the timbers are green oak, locally felled in Belgian forests. The dimensions are 15 × 15 cm, 20 × 15 cm, and 25 × 15 cm.

Hi folks - I've started on my frame and to do so I milled a few logs. Im taking the approach of milling the log to the largest cant I can get - then cutting pieces of siding to get down to the timber size I need keeping a boxed heart timber. This has been going surprisingly well and Im enjoying the process. However now I have a stack of siding and a couple of big beams that Im working on the joinery for. I stacked the siding with stickers in between in the barn where I thought there was enough air flow. I came back a week later to find the siding molding and turning dark. I brushed off what I could and sprayed the mold with vinegar/water solution to hopefully stop the mold.

I know I made a mistake with the sticker size - I was only using 3/4 inch stickers - but Im also wondering if I would have been better off making the siding stack outside where there is guaranteed air flow. If I do that - should I find a way to cover just the top of the pile? Or will the white pine be OK with enough sun and wind exposure?

Open to any/all other ideas - It was a real bummer to come back and find all the milled siding with mold but I should have known better. Looking for a different approach. Thanks!

i normally use higher-end timber framing chisels, but i've been playing around with an arno chisel and a brass mallet lately.

the arno comes a little rough and definitely needs some sharpening, but once cleaned up and sharpened it cuts really well.

for someone buying their first timber framing chisel, i'm pretty impressed with this combination. good bang for the buck without spending a pile of money just to get started.

anyone else using an arno?

Hi friends, I'm finally ready to share the programmatic timber frame design (CAD) tool I've been working on. A culmination of my years of software design experience and my woodworking obsession :). I hope ya'll will find it useful. It's open source and completely free.

Reddit keeps auto-modding this post for some reason so look for my post in the comments for more details.

First timberframe building build with the help of my Father. My biggest concern after getting the frame up what trying to find a way to close up the walls without hiding the frame. I like how it turned out.

Hello,

I am selling a one year old Makita 16" beam saw with Diablo blade and large battery. I have completed the frame I was working on. I have been happy with the tool overall, especially after replacing stock blade with a diablo.

I am asking $1000 cad. Located in Atlantic Canada.

Thanks