2007 Western Conference

Conference Schedule Day By Day
Sunday, April 15

Our Conference will wrap up Sunday morning with these speakers and presenters.

Jim DeStefano: Building Green with Timber Frames
This talk will cover how to integrate green/sustainable aspects of timber framing and related building systems, such as geothermal heating/cooling, insulated concrete forms, structural insulated panels, etc. Jim DeStefano, P.E., is a structural engineer and woodworker lives in Connecticut. Jim is a founding member of the Timber frame Engineering Council (TFEC) and is its current president.

Steve Ruckman: Introduction to CAD
If you are considering implementing a CAD system in your company but are intimidated by the jargon and aren't quite sure what steps to take next or how CAD can fit into your process, then this presentation is for you. You will learn the components of a CAD system and how it fits into a timber frame manufacturing process. In addition you learn how to perform a return on investment analysis so you can determine if investing in a system makes sense for your business or if outsourcing is a better approach for you.

After this workshop you'll:
• know the difference between 3D and 2D CAD and the definitions of various CAD jargon.
• know how to apply CAD to their design/manufacturing process.
• be able to perform a simple Return on Investment analysis of a prospective CAD solution.
Steve Ruckman is president of Alive Design Inc., a firm specializing in computer-aided design, drafting and CAD consulting for timber framers and log builders. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and worked as a firmware engineer in the disk drive industry for over a decade. When he awoke he was in a sweltering Kansas hay field holding a Barr chisel and an osage orange mallet listening to Steve Chappell discoursing about Jean-Claude Killy. He hasn't quite been the same since. He lives with his wife and two children on an organic farm and retreat center in northern California.

Pete Slisz: Small Shop, Big Job
One Year, One Job and Still Going. Pete Slisz of Two Dog Timberworks in Bellingham, WA, will share details about this project that featured:
• salvaged materials from an old warehouse in Bellingham
• 50,000+ bf. of reclaimed Douglas fir
• 28' hammer beam bents standing 31' tall scribed to the top of boulders in the floor
• in-shop scribing and cutting
• cross gable roof systems intersecting at center bent
• connecting purlins of two different roof pitches to unconventional valleys (see photo of a valley model, at right)
• decorative timberwork to accent the remaining rooms
• building 12x12x23' box beams and other sizes to cover steel I-beams and glulams

• incorporating trusses into structural rafters
• creating unique scarfed curved beams for ceiling and balcony
• intersecting dovetail braces that don't logically or visually make sense
• a massive double sided 3 floor stair system with wedged thru tenons (see stair sample in photo at right)
• natural brush finished to look wind swept
• octagonal and stained black pegs




Above: A balcony arch and installing a bent.


Michael Anderson: Freehand Detail Drawing
In this hands-on workshop, he will teach you how to quickly and effectively sketch details by drawing "from the shoulder."

Michael Anderson is an educator and architect based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His firm, Laughing Moon Design (www.laughingmoondesign.com), specializes in traditional and contemporary Japanese architecture. He holds masters degrees in the history and philosophy of architecture from Harvard and Cambridge University, where he also earned a doctorate in regional planning. Michael spent twelve years in Japan, where he apprenticed under master temple carpenter Katsuhiro Okumoto before forming Laughing Moon. He has lectured and taught courses on Japanese architecture and construction worldwide and is a frequent contributor to books and magazines on planning and design. He and his soon-to-be wife Beth Cohen make their home in Oakland, California.



CLOSING SPEAKER

Lloyd Kahn: Builders of the Pacific Coast

A unique style of carpentry has developed over the past 40 years along the west coast of North America. Lloyd Kahn, author of the building books Shelter and Home Work, has spent much of the last year photographing buildings and interviewing builders along the Pacific Coast, from San Francisco up the coast to Vancouver Island, British Columbia for his forthcoming book, Builders of the Pacific Coast. Many of these builders got started in the counter-cultural era of the '60s and '70s and their work has never been shown in books or magazine articles. There are homesteads in Mendocino and Humboldt counties, communities of self-built shelters on small islands, and graceful beachfront houses on the "Wild Coast" of Vancouver Island.

Lloyd will talk about these builders and show slides of their creations. There are three featured virtuoso builders: Lloyd House, master craftsman and designer who has created a series of unique homes on a small island; Bruce Atkey, builder of a number of houses and lodges built of hand-split cedar on the Wild Coast, and Sun Ray Kelley, barefoot builder tuned into nature, who has designed and built wildly imaginative structures in Washington and California. In addition, there are sculptural buildings of driftwood, homes that are beautiful as well as practical, live-aboard boats, and stunning architectural design. Kahn speculates that the abundance of wood (mostly cedar) in this area has led to a unique level of creativity and craftsmanship.

About the Speaker

Lloyd Kahn got started as an owner-builder in the 1960s. His early experiences included post and beam, geodesic domes, and stud-frame construction. He has produced several books on building and the home arts, including Shelter (1973); Home Work: Hand-Built Shelter (2005); and the Septic Systems Owner's Manual (Revised, 2007). Visit his website at www.shelterpub.com.