The mortise and tenon joint is central to timber framing. There are many variations of the basic mortise and tenon joint, and in this article we’ll be focusing on the shouldered mortise and tenon. You can think of the shoulder…
I like to buy used chisels at antique stores and flea markets. You can get a quality chisel for a few bucks, and with a little elbow grease turn that rusted dull tool into something you can shave with. You…
Bringing down a tree is dangerous work. If you’re not physically fit, don’t attempt it. If you don’t understand the proper techniques, or have never done it before, don’t try it. At a minimum, do your research and ask someone…
If you’re new to timber framing, you probably don’t have the specialized tools to turn trees into a frame. Most carpenters have drill bits, but not a 2″ t-auger. Most carpenters have small bench chisels for finish carpentry, but not…
Restoring an old axe can be very rewarding. The axe in the picture to the left was discovered in the basement of an old barn in Michigan. To restore an axe, you’ll need a few tools and a lot of…
Chisels are great tools to buy used. Partly because it’s so difficult and expensive to buy new chisels of good quality. Most of the chisels you buy at the hardware store are junk when it comes to serious woodworking. The…
Their are two types of layout methods for timber framing; square rule and scribe rule. Scribe rule involves full-scale layout and mating each piece together before marking and cutting, a laborious process but useful for irregular timbers. Square rule assumes a perfectly square timber exists inside every timber, and if we take measurements off of this perfect square, we can cut all of our joinery and then assemble it later and it will fit. No test fitting needed… or very little. We’ll be covering square rule layout in this article.
If you’re buying a used axe that hasn’t been used in a long time, it’ll probably have a broken handle. If you’re splitting wood with with a maul, eventually you’ll miss and strike the handle causing it to crack or…