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The 2008 Traditional Timber Frame Research and Advisory Group Symposium

Posted on April 10, 2008 by Gabel Holder

The Timber Framers Guild recently held a symposium of its Traditional Timber Frame Research and Advisory Group at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The event was held March 14-16 and was packed full of interesting and informative presentations and demonstrations regarding traditional and historic timber framing.

Two of us left the timber framing shop here in Monroe, Georgia around lunch on Thursday and rode over to Columbia, South Carolina where our crew was working on a historic restoration project. We picked up a couple of the guys and headed north, arriving in Shepherdstown the night before the event started.

We spent Friday visiting five timber framed bank barns in Jefferson County, which has around two hundred remaining historic timber framed bank barns. Many of the barns were framed of beautiful hand hewn oak timbers. One of the barns we visited had a large number of hand hewn walnut timbers! There were many interesting timber framing details to look at and puzzle over.

That night we heard a presentation on traditional masonry materials and techniques, specifically relating to stonework and lime mortars. We also heard engineer Dave Fischetti speak about the process of engineering repairs to historic timber frame buildings. He has provided the engineering for a large number of restoration and repair projects, such as Market Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, Phi Gamma Hall in Oxford, Georgia, and numerous covered bridges and historic churches. We've been fortunate to work with Dave in the past and look forward to working together again later this year.

It was great to see all of our friends in the Timber Framers Guild. What an incredible group of people! I would encourage anyone interested in timber framing to join the guild and go to an event - you won’t regret it!

Saturday we enjoyed several fascinating presentations on topics including the systematic study of historic timber framed buildings, creating accurate survey drawings of historic timber frames, the repair and restoration of church steeples and spire timber framing. All very interesting stuff!

That evening we watched a slide show featuring the work of the conference attendees. Holder Brothers Timber Frames were proud to present two of our projects. It is always inspiring to see the work that others are doing in the field of historic and traditional timber framing.

Sunday morning we attended a great presentation on shoring, rigging, and lifting timber frame buildings for repair and restoration work. After that, we loaded back up and headed South in time for work Monday morning. What a weekend!

If you are interested in historic or traditional timber framing, you should look into joining the Timber Framers Guild (www.tfguild.org) and its Traditional Timber Frame Research and Advisory Group.

Tagged: hand hewn, historic timber frame, historic restoration, ttrag, timber framers guild, timber frame barn, timber frame, traditional timber frame  |  1 comments