A Timber Framer's Workshop: Joinery, Design and Construction of Traditional Timber Frames

Rob Roy, Director, Earthwood Building School, October 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.


Back Home Magazine, Sept/Oct 1999
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.


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.


Excerpted from A Timber Framer's Workshop : Joinery & Design Essentials for Building Traditional Timber Frames by Steve K. Chappell. Copyright © 1998. 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...


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In his book, A Timber Framer's Workshop, his nearly 30 years of experience and insight is evident through the subtle nuances that he conveys. His intimacy with the craft is ever present, and his passion contagious. If you want to understand traditional timber framing, read his works. Chappell portrays the craft the way it was meant to be.


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