2006 Western Conference

Pre-Conference Workshops: Thursday, April 20

These workshops are an opportunity to hone your skills in an all-day intensive session with a small group of participants and expert instructors. Separate registration fee required. Note that the Main Conference fee is not included with Pre-Conference tuitions.

All workshop fees are $125 for TFG members, $150 non-members (includes lunch and breaks). Fees are in US Dollars.

Workshop #1: Let the Crane Take the Strain with Gord Macdonald and Steve Lawrence

Learn about a broad range of skills and techniques to enhance the safety and productivity of your crew when working with cranes. A mixture of classroom theory and hands on practical demonstrations designed to expand your repertoire and lift your skills to new heights.

In the morning we will cover:

• Lift Planning: Drawings, engineering, center of gravity calculations, rigging lists, briefings and documentation.
• Lifting Equipment: Sling types, shackles, master links, hoists and spreader bars.
• Training: What is the difference between slinging, signaling, inspection and lift supervisor and what constitutes good training for each?

In the afternoon we will be outside playing with a very large crane to demonstrate the following:

• Machine selection and safety checks before work
• General rigging practice, signaling blind and use of radios
• Rigging for rolling lifts and transfer lifts

Gord Macdonald and Steve Lawrence have extensive experience with big lifts at Carpenter Oak and Woodland in Scotland. They now reside in British Columbia, and recently supervised the raising at the Guild’s Salem (OR) project.

WORKSHOP #2: Can Waste = Building? How Can Recycling Create Design Principles for Buildings, with Patti Southard and Kinley Deller

Integrating Recycling and Reuse Practices for Sustainable Building and Procurement Developed by King County, Washington Solid Waste

This presentation is a three-part full day workshop that covers a broad range of recycling strategies for the building industry. Outlined in the workshop is the exploration of “Cradle to Cradle Philosophy,” Design for Deconstruction, and The Green Material Maze. A 30+ page Design for Deconstruction Guide will be provided.

Part One: Waste = Buildings

Part one of this full-day workshop will explore the case that an industrial system that “takes, makes and wastes” can become a creator of goods and services that generate ecological, social and economic value. Tools from LEED for manufacturers and an eco charette will be integrated into this workshop to brainstorm and create potential solutions for jobsite waste and long term recycling strategies. Information based on the Cradle-to-Cradle theory by William McDonough and Michael Braungart will also be presented. Individual projects can be examined as part of the brainstorming session. (Click here for an explanation of the Cradle-to-Cradle theory.)

Part Two: Design for Deconstruction

Design guidance for assembly and disassembly will provide an overview adaptability of building types and basic construction types, systems, materials and connections. An understanding of dismantling techniques, modularity and design thinking will be investigated through examples of natural building such as Japanese temple architecture. A range of case studies will be presented from Bensonwood Homes Open Built Systems to a King County case study, which encouraged deconstruction through various means ranging from specifying deconstruction from the project outset to last minute persuasive pleas to the contractor. Find out what worked and what didn't and what valuable lessons have been learned.

Part Three: The Green Material Maze

This portion of the workshop will provide examples of what is changing with building materials from manufacturing culture and environmental stewardship to “up cycling” and “closed loop” products. We will look at how to choose the right recycled or recycled content material for your projects and review several different certification systems including Cradle-to-Cradle, Scientific Certification Systems, Green Seal, and Greenguard.

Patti Southard is in her ninth year in the sustainable building industry, and has recently joined the green building team at the King County Solid Waste Division. At King County, Southard will manage programs for creating new wood markets from sustainable resources as well as providing technical assistance for the County's LEED initiative. Prior to joining King County, Southard managed the Seattle office of Duluth Timber Company, and more recently spent four years in business development for Environmental Home Center. Previously, Southard owned her own business, which primarily focused on designing and fabricating mixed-media art pieces and furniture with environmentally friendly finishes and recycled materials.

Kinley Deller is a Waste Reduction Specialist for the King County Green Building Program housed within the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks in Washington State. Kinley manages the Construction Works program, which provides construction related waste reduction and recycling assistance to construction project managers, contractors, architects, and developers within King County. Building on 8 years’ experience in the waste reduction field Kinley has been working tirelessly over the past year and a half to promote deconstruction as a key waste reduction option and has provided assistance on several projects, both governmental and private, to further this effort.

WORKSHOP #3: The Japanese Handplane, with Mike Laine and James Wiester

This workshop is a hands-on event, and it is all about getting your Japanese hand tools to work well. You will get the most out of it if you bring your own tools and stones, or if your buy a kit of tools and stones at the workshop. In the workshop, we will cover the basics of saws, chisels, and planes, but the focus is on the plane.

The Japanese hand plane is a wonderful tool, so simple yet complex at the same time. The basic tool is no more than a blade and a block of wood, and a fancy plane includes a chipbreaker and a pin to hold the chipbreaker in place. But this simple assembly is capable of very sophisticated work if the tool is set up with great precision. That's the complex part. But anybody bullheaded enough to do any aspect of timber framing with hand tools can, and should, learn to use this versatile and time saving tool.

The smoothing plane, in all of its widths and lengths, is the most common of the planes, but there are others. The rabbet plane and the chamfer plane are both used regularly in the building process. These three planes will be the primary focus of this workshop. We will discuss how the planes work, how to sharpen the blades and set the planes up, and the various ways to use these planes. We will have a variety of sharpening stones to sample, and a variety of plane blades to sharpen. We will provide wood to plane, and we will cut joints to show how the planes can tune them up.

Japanese tools have a reputation of being burdened with rules and dogma, but we will be simple and straightforward. After all, these tools weren't discovered in a box with an instruction manual attached. They have developed to this point because woodworkers pay attention, use their intuition, follow their instincts. A good hand plane works well when those characteristics are in play. I wonder if the tool is ripe for new development.

• A set of sharpening stones: coarse (+/- 800 grit), medium (+/- 1200 grit) and polish (6000 - 10000 grit)
• One 55-65mm smoothing plane
• A left and right hand rabbet plane
• Perhaps a chamfer plane
• Any kind of chisel, timber style is good, in any size that seems useful
• A 270mm or 300mm saw

Bring at least the stones and smoothing plane if you're on a tight budget.

Tools may be purchased and advice obtained through Hida Tool (www.hidatool.com, Phone: 510-524-3700 Toll-free: 1-800-443-5512). They offer a 10% discount for anyone taking this workshop.

Mike Laine has been a carpenter in California since 1976. In 1979, he was introduced to Japanese tools, and he has been using them ever since. Since 1997, he has been building Japanese style residential structures. He currently works for East Wind.

WORKSHOP #4: Timber Frame Engineering (multiple instructors)

The workshop is directed to structural engineers who design and engineer timber frame structures. This is advanced workshop designed for those actively involved in or knowledgeable about the design and engineering of timber framed structures. While anyone is welcome to attend, we request that questions and discussion of a basic, non-professional nature be saved for the Engineering Q&A session during the main Conference (Saturday at 1:30 PM).

The topics:

The instructors:

Jim DeStefano is the Senior Partner in the structural engineering firm DeStefano Associates located in Fairfield, CT.

Dick Schmidt is the Associate Dean in the College of Engineering at the University of Wyoming.

Jesse Kendall, PE, engineers frames for Timberpeg in West Lebanon, NH.

Thomas Tannert is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia’s School of Forestry.

Vince McClure is the Dean of the School of Engineering at Saint Martin's University in Lacey, WA.

TFBC Speakers Bureau Training

Please contact the TFBC at 888-560-9251, info@timberframe.org for registration details.