It fits!
Most of the TimberHomes crew hit the road very early last Monday to get to West Dover when the crane arrived at 7:30. Mount Snow rose in the distance, and we found our way along beautiful windy roads to the building site.
This frame is braced exclusively with naturally curving cherry. It took us a few days this summer to saw out all the curves- tracing the natural shape of the wood, bandsawing out the useful brace, marking and cutting joinery, planing and oiling, and then keeping track of them all was a formidable task. Each brace is unique, so the length of the shoulder- where the brace joins the post or beam- has to be noted. Each brace can only fit in one location. A funky forked tree was scribed into the middle of this cherry-brace jungle, and will ultimately be in the middle of the kitchen.
Classen Crane Service, from St. Johnsbury, did a top notch job with this raising. Their experience raising timber frames helped us shape our raising plan. A local contractor will take over this job from here. We had a grand time hanging out with him, the crew and the client in West Dover Monday night, and we’re looking forward to returning to the southern Green Mountains in a couple weeks to add a front porch and a mortise and tenon staircase to the mix.
Pegs like arrows against a blue sky
A floor joist has mortises for the ballusters to come
The Jungle
Truly a fabulous fork
