Building the Timber Frame House: The Revival of a Forgotten Art

This book is written by some one who clearly has tons of experience but doesn’t make the information difficult to understand. I think some twelve year olds could read this book and understand all of the concepts. The illustrations are amazing and I personally find them beautiful( all hand drawn like in old books). This book challenges you to learn a skill and do it well. The really great thing also is that it gives you step buy step instructions on how to do it as well. I love this book. The only problem I have at all with it is that the paper back cover is very thin. I’ve read it and studied the pictures so much that I bent huge flaps on the corners. The paperback book itself is not great quality. I thought about buying a hard back copy just to have in the family library long term but I believe it costs a lot more. If I could do it over I would just buy a hard copy in the first place. I just wasn’t sure it was a good book.

This book is one of the classics on Timber Framing for those who want to get into this type of construction or build their own house. It is a very easy read. Though sometimes the author tends towards to much philosophy about life, construction and wood working. This book has very useful sections on joinery, design, raising, engineering, load physics, etc. Very easy to understand even if, like me, you are not a professional carpenter, contractor or mechanical engineer. I know nothing of contracting or building and understood the whole book. The book does not mention anything about Scribe Rule and Square Rule techniques and the differences between the two. These old techniques may not have been widely known when this book was written, although they were well known by early timber frame carpenters, before Timber Framing was replaced with cheaper, but faster Balloon Framing. A book that does go into Square Rule in a more structured way and is equally easy to read is Buid a Classic Timber-Framed House, by Jack Sobon.

This book is an outstanding resource for anyone with basic carpentry skills who is looking to build a timber frame structure. It will not convert you into a grand master overnight, but careful reading of this book will prevent you from dying under a pile of collapsed 2x6's. Contrary to what some posters have stated, this book provides a wealth of technical data. However, it also explores the spiritual side of working with wood and building such structures. What this book will not do is tell you how to use a cross-cut hand saw, or the appropriate use of a slick. But it's not exactly rocket science.

Dated (1980's) so don't expect a lot of current technology for this ancient craft. A pretty good read and part of my collection. This book is also co-authored by Sobon. Of the three (Build a Classic Timber-Framed House, Timber Frame Construction: All About Post-and-Beam Building and this one), you need this one the least. Interesting history but not so much on the construction aspect.

The book illustrates specifics on laying out joinery, structual design, and assembing timbers.

If you are doing any kind of timber frame work this is one of the best books to have on hand. Every single page of the book has plenty of photographs and/or drawings (with explanations) of how to make joints and build a timber frame house.My friend and I have been using this book for 10 years to build a couple timber frame cabins deep in the middle of the Rockies here in Colorado. There are a couple of design plans, but with a little imagination, and a lot of hard work, the possibilities are endless. It is 'the' must have reference for building anything from tree's.

Excellent book. Detailed illustrations of all the classic joints, along with information on where and when to use them, and even step by step instructions for how to measure and cut them. Beautiful photos and illustrations, span tables in the appendices, everything is laid out very clear and simple.

Really informative book which includes the history of timber framing.

C'est un livre comme savent en faire les Américains : on va droit au but, on ne perd pas de temps à faire des cours approfondis de physique des matériaux et une introduction de 40 pages qui semble destinée à décourager les lecteurs les plus assidus. Ici, on se contente de montrer ce qui marche (les différents assemblages de charpente traditionnelle, c'est-à-dire sans clous ni vis, que du bois), avec force schémas, pas-à-pas de réalisation des découpes ardues, trucs de métier pour la réalisation, présentation rapide des outils, photos d'exemples... bref c'est du pratique de chez pratique, sans bla-bla et sans chercher à montrer une érudition savante. Au sortir de ce livre, un amateur averti de bricolage normalement constitué se sentira une irrésistible envie de construire quelque chose, de ressortir les outils à main dans son atelier, bref de se lancer au corps-à-corps avec la matière première pour mettre en pratique ce qu'il aura lu/vu dans ce livre. La fierté que l'on peut ressentir lorsqu'on a a réalisé son 1er assemblage un peu complexe avec succès est un sentiment très agréable ! Donc en gros un livre qui va à l'essentiel, avec tout ce qu'il faut pour un bricoleur averti pour se lancer dans une construction de charpente traditionnelle (attention, on n'est pas dans l'optique d'une ossature bois dont les méthodes sont très différentes) plus ou moins complexe (de l'abri de jardin à la maison familiale !). Tout ça dans un seul livre, grâce aux détails techniques de réalisation de chaque assemblage, les abaques de dimensionnement des poutres, la mise en place... Parfait pour moi ! La seule chose à signaler est que, naturellement, le livre n'existe pas en version française, et il faut donc se débrouiller en anglais, avec l'aide d'un traducteur technique (IATE sur internet par exemple), mais c'est loin d'être insurmontable tant les dessins parlent d'eux-mêmes et le vocabulaire spécifique est relativement restreint. Bonne lecture !

Libro antiguo pero muy vigente, muy bien explicado

This is the best book for learning to timber frame. This is my second copy as the first I have worn out.

There are books that have lots of words and pictures in but frustraitingly dont actually say much but this book is definitly worth the money. I was delighted with how much usefall information it had pact into it and was a pleasure to look at and read.

What a perfect book. Philosophical and practical.