Workshops

Those Guild members who have been to England to attend the UK Carpenters Fellowship meetings know Welsh artist and historian Laurie Smith and his fascinating research into medieval geometric frame design (see Timber Framing #70 & 90). We now have an opportunity to bring Laurie across the pond to lead a five-day workshop with architect, author and Guild founder Jack Sobon. In the workshop, they will apply the principles of geometric design as they may have been used in colonial America. We will then lay out and cut a small timber frame using tools and techniques appropriate for the period.

The workshop will be held at Bucksteep Manor in western Massachusetts, just a few miles from the Guild's Becket office. Arrival will be on Friday, October 30th, and departure on Thursday, November 5th, when the frame will be delivered to the venue for the Guild's 25th Eastern Conference starting that day in Saratoga Springs, NY (90 minutes away).

The curriculum for the course will include three parts:

1. Geometrical Design: Learning the finer points of drawing with the medieval compass
• The daisy wheel and other compass design geometries; there are a number of fundamental compass design geometries (ad triangulum, ad quadratum and part compass design geometries) pentagon, pentagram star plus subgeometries where diagonals play an important role.
• History of the daisy wheel and its use through the ages. The earliest examples in England date from the Romans (c200AD) and was still being used in 1900.

• Geometrical design in New England: How did geometrical design change in the New World? While many early designs were square-based, the perfect square is most accurately drawn from an underlying compass geometry base (as with ad quadratum).
• Tour of local frames for context, including visiting some early scribed frames to see the proportions in 3 dimensions
2. Geometrical layout: Laying out the frame for cutting without using any numbers or math
• The carpenter's responsibility: to conceive of the design in 3 dimensions
• Drawing the plan full-scale, working on the foundation
• Using the builder's rod; start with a benchmark increment
• Direct transfer marking, using straightedge, awl, and dividers
• The two-foot mark, level mark, and carpenter's marks; distinctions between assembly marks and design icons
• When to use the double-cut, tumbling and stepping out (walking the dividers)
3. Hand tool use: Selection, tuning, and proper use of the basic hand tool kit (limited to what would have been available in the 1700s)
• Straightedge (length as an increment of the rod length and width as mortise width)
• Dividers - String - Awl - Race knife - Marking gauge - Plumb bob - Saws
• Framing chisel, corner chisel and mallet - T-augers - Axe - Adze - Drawknife

Attendance will be limited to 18 people in the workshop, and applicants should have some experience in traditional timber framing. A list of tools to bring will be sent upon receipt of your registration.

About the Instructors

Laurie Smith spent 20 years as a Senior Lecturer in Design at several colleges in Britain, then spent a subsequent 20 years researching and writing about early geometric building design and analyzing dozens of buildings. He has spoken at most of the prestigious Architectural Museums in the U.K., and this will be his first opportunity to present in the U.S. He is a Board member of the UK Carpenters Fellowship and designs its quarterly journal, the Mortice and Tenon.

Jack Sobon has taught many workshops on traditional timber framing methods and is among the leading authorities on the subject in the U.S. He is a founding member of both the Guild and its Traditional Timberframe Research and Advisory Group (TTRAG). He is the author of Timber Frame Construction, Build a Classic Timber-Framed House, Historic American Timber Joinery and was a principle researcher in the Guild's recently published studies of historic roof trusses and church steeples.

Tuition

Tuition for the workshop will be $400 per person for Guild members, $450 for non-members. The early registration deadline for this workshop is September 1st; a $50 late registration fee will be assessed on all registrations postmarked or received after that date. Tuition fees are fully refundable up to September 1st, 50% refundable up to Oct. 1st, and no refunds after October 1st.

Accommodations

Lodging at Bucksteep Manor ranges from $45/pp/night for double occupancy and shared bath, to $60/night for a single room with private bath. Rooms are subject to 5.7% tax and a $7.50 gratuity. Room options are limited so register early to get your choice of accommodations. Meals begin with dinner on Friday night (Oct. 30th) and go through lunch on Thursday (Nov. 5th). The cost for meals is $200 for 6-days, 3 meals per day. Lodging and meals are reserved with Bucksteep Manor directly by calling 413-623-5535, and they will assign you a roommate if you request one.