Ladder Framing

[Chris Head]

A great way of filling a hole in very thick walls!

Front view

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/chrishead/DSC01030.jpg[/IMG]

Rear view

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/chrishead/DSC01029.jpg[/IMG]

Detail

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/chrishead/DSC01031-1.jpg[/IMG]

Once it's all assembled and pegged (all mortice & tennon) OUT with the chainsaws and lightly carve it all to blend it into the surroundings. I take chisels to the splits and accentuate them. Then it's all sanded and oiled et voila! A product that can't be bought from any shop! The frame will be encased in granite and hopefully be there for lots of years. It's supposed to be work but to me it's just play!

Hope this provokes some imagination amongst you lot?

Cheers, Chris

 

[Dick Smith]

So the whole construction fits into the void created in the wall? Looks very good, and presumably will darken over time.

I like the pegged mortice & tenons and the ironwork - do I see handmade nails?

[Wozza]

Chris

I am in the process of making a window frame in a similar vein, and will then be making a door surround. A quick question, if I may. Do you make your own dowel pegs? If so, how and from what wood? I was once told the pegs should be from a softer wood than the main construction - don't know why, just remember being told.

Warren

[Chris Head]

Dick the hinges are heavy reversible gate hinges bought in UK and painted, I just couldn't find what I wanted here. The timber has been oiled and as it's inside it wont darken. A skilled macon will blend the framework into the aperture.

Warren yes I make my own pegs, having spent hours in the past making them by hand I came up with another, much quicker way using the thicknesser, table saw and router table.

Most important is that the timber has to be dry, ideally it would be clean and free from knots which could shatter when walloped.

Start by thicknessing the board to the approximate diameter of the peg. Put one straight edge on the board. Rip the board on the table saw to the same dimension as its thickness, leaving the peices square. Using a chamfer cutter in the router table take the four edges of the square off to give a hexagonal shaped peg  (I think it's a hexagon?) , you'll have to play around with the cutter setting at first but once it's set up you'll get the same sized pegs every time. You can cut however many pegs you want quickly and accurately to whatever diameter you want using this method. I have augers in increments of 1mm and test the fit of the peg into the hole on scrap wood before I drill into the work.

I don't agree with the softwood peg theory, visually it wouldn't look right (for me) and I think the softwood might be prone to breaking when being driven in.

 I 'offset' the peghole in the tennon to the peghole in the mortice so that when the peg is driven in it pulls the shoulders of the tennoned peice of wood tight into it's housing. I like to leave pegs 10mm ish proud of the surface and then either sand or chisel the hard edges off, it gives another dimension, albeit a small one to the work.

Hope that helps.

Chris

[Christine Animal]

Can only compliment you on your work Chris.  We used to bring back all sorts of hardware from England too.  What oil do you use?

 

[Chancer]

Chris

I make dowlels in the same way as you but for the last step I use a block plane and a simple jig that my father and grandfather used,  it is like a wooden "vee-block" with the end stopped off to hold the dowels whilst planing, the end result is threepenny bit like and obviously hand made (as yours look) compared to manufactured shop bought dowel rod.

For oak frame peg construction the dowels should be made from the same oak with the end grain running longutudinally or they will snap off when being hammered.

If you do not want to leave the ends proud you can use a flush cut saw where the teeth are set in only one direction so do not mark the wood around the dowel.

I was lovely and inspirational to see your workmanship.

[Wozza]

Chris / JR

Thanks for info on making pegs - I will have a go. I'm sure it will look better than dowelling.

Warren

p.s. what on earth is a threepenny bit?

[Dick Smith]

Quote: "p.s. what on earth is a threepenny bit?"

Aaaargh!

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f338/dick_at_aulton/threepenny100.png[/IMG]

That.

Jolly nice they were too. Should really be called a Thruppney Bit. Silver ones were called Joeys, but they were round.

[Anton Redman]

what on earth is a threepenny bit? It had twelve sides and comes form a time when the UK had a currency with base 12 and base 20 and weights of base 14 and 16

[Tresco]

[quote user="Wozza"]

p.s. what on earth is a threepenny bit?

[/quote]

Three Old Pennies (pre-Decimalisaton) in the form of a single lovely chunky coin the like of which bla bla bla[:D]   Pronounced 'Thrupenny' or even 'Thrup'ny'

[opas]

or threpence , that was my oddy. The lad next door got a sixpunce!

[Chris Head]

JR the chamfer cutter in the router table does exactle the same as your block plane but much more quickly and accurately, that's how I used to shape pegs!

Thanks ChristineA, but believe me I don't see my projects as work. I can honestly say that I don't have a single client who I'm not genuinely really fond of, I know I'm a lucky lucky man to be doing the work I am. I wish I could even start to quantify it, I'm living my dream....working with the most beautiful of materials with amazing accoustics in my barn and generally not having hard and fast rules as to the end product. My clients are really into what they have to live with and look at every day and they are just complete stars, I luv 'em to death and they get 1000% from me in return! The only real shame in this life is money, it's just so dirty, I won't even discuss it, Sarah deals with that sort of c r a p!

Just started on the next project, and this is a GEM! I've got a BAR to build! YEEEHAAA! Being the sensible bloke I am I negotiated free beer & food into the contract when I'm on site! The bar won't be open when I'm there and I could use a hand! There's six or seven bedrooms. BUT there's no beer before 6! After 6 there'll be alot of fun, alot of beer and some SERIOUS music, perhaps barbies and dancing also! Domps near Eymoutier is the gig. Just turn up but come along with an open mind!

Chris

 

[Philmco]

Back to the threepenny bit! Introduced in 1937 for the new king (Edward VIII); the Royal Mint struck a trial run to circulate to banks and other interested parties with his head on the obverse. However history intervened, and though all samples were supposed to have been returned to the Mint, some escaped into the wide world, and are pretty valuable (along with 1933 pennies!).

[Chris Head]

Thruppeny bits and ladder framing! I love it! There's a battle going on here.....what will win? The coin or the Oak? Hey Phil are you annoyed that the Thruppeny bit got overtaken by the original post?

Any of you lot out there have pictures of your work? I just love to see other peoples endeavours.

Chris

[Christine Animal]

So do I   [:)]

 

[Wozza]

[quote user="Philmco"] Introduced in 1937 ..[/quote]

That's why I didn't know what it was!

I still haven't lived to see England lift the world cup either!

Back to ladderframing - I'll post pictures of my door frame when I finish it Chris. It will be a bit different from yours, as I'm using old oak timbers from our old roof and barn. Having to be careful when cutting etc to avoid old nails.

A related question for the threepenny bit crowd - one of the old chevrons I am using at the moment has dowel pegs in it instead of nails that were used to fix the voliges in place. I assume that this means the beam is quite old - were pegs used because there weren't any nails then, or another reason? Older than the thrupence??

 

[Chris Head]

In timber framing there is no need at all to use nails, I've always been in awe of the old masters who just hacked away and produced the stunning and simplistic work that they did, and many of you will be looking at it today in your old barns.

Chris

[Chancer]

Chris

I too have used the router table method but when doing the small dowels my fingertips ended up resembling a threepenny bit!

Thats why I prefer to use my fathers and grandfathers method, I can (actually could) also say to customers "look hand made using my grandfathers jig".

This is the first time that I have (unwittingly) hijacked a thread, I can now see why some people do it for the buzz!

 

P.S.

When I saw your work I was jealous that you were able to indulge yourself in that way thinking it was for you, if it is your living I am even more jealous.

[Chris Head]

Hey JR, but how cool is it that.... Thruppeny coins and Oak are sharing a thread?

It's not a living JR, it's a way of life, unfortunately I just don't get the time to work at home!

Chris

[TWINKLE]

Sorry, I have to get my two penny worth in as well! 

 Growing up in Wales - we used to say thrupunce.

[Philmco]

Not annoyed in the least, Chris! Just a bit of explanation for our younger friends (commonly known as useless information).

[Dick Smith]

Chris - another technical question. Are the door braces screwed and plugged or have you got some pegging going on there as well - and if so, how does it work? And if plugged, do you make your own, because I find that in oak a plug-cutter lasts about ten plugs before losing its temper.

[Chris Head]

Dick the boards are ex 30mm finishing at around 25mm, TGV on the router table, the braces are screwed and plugged, I don't like to use screws but sometimes I guess you have to. There are four screws to each board placed about 20mm either side of each join. I position the first brace then mark out the screw positions then mark out the other three braces from the first. I use a 10mm drill in the drill press on a medium speed to get a clean, accurate hole each time. The plugs are cut with a 10mm plug cutter from the offcuts, cut the plug as deep as the cutter will allow. By the way I use the cutters that have four seperate cutters (I don't know what they're called) not not the circular ones. They are easily resharpened but I don't have to resharpen it very often.

Use thin nosed pliers to position the peg in the hole and make sure the grain of the plug follows the grain of the timber. Belt sand them flush.

Chris

[Dick Smith]

Thanks. I've been using a 4-blade cutter, but I have (literally) hundreds of plugs to make and the thing overheats, sets fire to the wood (honest - my neighbour almost called the fire brigade because she thought my workshop was on fire) and gets blunt in seconds. Then it jams...

This is on seasoned oak planks, mind you, which are a bit hard.

I just cut them off with a gentleman's saw and leave them just slightly proud.

My son has managed to source ready-made conical plugs in a variety of woods, hard and soft. They come as a stick of cones and you cut/break off what you need. Great, except I can't get the size I need at the moment.

How do you sharpen the cutter? By hand with a diamond stone?

[Chris Head]

Are you using a drill press? If you're burning the timber perhaps the drill speed is too great? Jamming is applying too much pressure. I usually do each peg in two or three 'passes'. Yes a diamond honing stone by hand or the side of the wheel on the Tormek. Mark the surface to be sharpened with black marker pen, that way you can see that the whole of the cutter surface has been evenly sharpened. Instinctively I'd stay away from the bought plugs if possible, I think they'd be out of context and might detract from your work.

By the way the edges of the braces were textured with a block plane and spokeshave to keep them in context with the framing, if the framing is a little more formal then appropriate profiling will give a flow to the project.

If you snap a peg off below the surface of the timber put a screw into the centre of the plug and it will wind the damaged plug out when the point hits the head of the screw in the timber rather than trying to dig it out and spoiling the edges of the plug hole.

Chris