Past Projects

For the first time in many years, Guild members will again come together to teach and share their expertise in a series of weekend workshops around the country. A two-day workshop on compound joinery was held at San Juan Timberwrights in Arboles, Colorado, on September 27 and 28, 1997, taught by Curtis Milton. A similar course will be held at the shop of Dreaming Creek Timber Frame Homes in Floyd, Virginia, on January 10 and 11, 1998. Instructors will be Mark Brandt and John Miller.

Complex Joinery: Curtis Explains
About the workshop he lead in Colorado, Curtis Milton writes, "The electrician who watched me muddle my way through a gambrel hip stick frame roof in 1975 is probably still chuckling, but I did get it done. Thankfully, it was only 6' x 8' and I assure you that it could have fit better. The first hip roof timber frame I worked on in 1984 was an octagon. The owner was an engineer, my boss, confident beyond his substantial skills and we still had to scribe the joinery to get it right. I was green and struggling with many new concepts, but one thing was obvious: the concept of developed drawing that "Mr. I" (short for Ianantuanno) shared with us in an engineering design course in 1972 and that would have been a great way to solve both of the above challenges. This explains the palm-sized flat spot on my forehead.
"Fast forward to Poultney, Vermont, 1987. I recall the slack-jawed stares of the confused, as Ed Levin briefed us on the basics of compound joinery. Among the dazed, I had enough sense to fill out one of those comment cards and begged any and everyone to help the masses conquer the complex by dealing first with the concept and practice of developed drawing. I am used to people not listening.
"The work gets more complex and dependence on others (you know who you are) to produce the working drawings needed to frame complex structures quickly is now nearly complete. The skill of drawing complex shapes in a form that enables the carpenter to directly measure working angles and scale dimensions has been taught for centuries by (but not limited to) the French and Japanese carpenter. The importance of developed drawing as a key to understanding the trigonometry of complex roof intersections is certain. The combination of developed drawings and basic roof math empowers the builder with a far wider variety of building shapes.
"A short exercise in compound joinery will introduce attendees to basic techniques of drawing, associated basic roof math, and cutting of a scale model roof. Discussions of additional basics will include joinery and assembly decisions. The existence and power of the Hawkindale Series will not be ignored.
"Students are encouraged to bring prints of current projects that involve complex joinery for discussion. Engineering questions will be referred to proper professionals not necessarily in attendance.
"As a leader of this exercise, my qualifications are only that I have yet to fail to join what needs joining, I haven't made a mistake yet that could not be fixed, and I live to learn."

Mark Brandt and John Miller will lead the Compound Joinery workshop in Virginia in January. A description of their course will appear in the next Scantlings.