Well, it does not look like much
in these shots, but the sills for the Great Room have been laid out. We are experimenting with
different Australian timber for the pegs, which are hand made. We will be
rebating the flooring into the sill timbers to show off the beautiful timber
used, it seemed a shame to cover it up. The first frame should be laid out
next progress shot due Mid March sometime.
The first cross frame has been laid
out and we have finally obtained some bent logs to make into naturally curved
braces. As we have been progressing we have not been able to resist improving
our original design work, and have decided to properly frame in windows
and doors. This is a fair bit more labour intensive, but the results should
be stunning. The frame below is the end cross frame to the Great Hall, and
will house a window seat and almost entirely glass window wall. Each of
the window frames will be flush with the framing, therefore the effect will
be entirely glass in each portal topped with a half round window in the
triangular section.
To show you some details, we have
cut all the common rafters with their Mortice & Tenon pegged joints
and are shown below. We are using traditional timber sizes for this work,
so the rafters are small in section supported by purlins and spaced close
together. Also below is some of the detail work in the first cross frame,
showing the peg and joints between a main post and tie beam. We have done
a fair bit of research to find a suitable peg material, and have decided
to use either yellow box or bloodwood. Bloodwood will give an excellent
red contrast to the cypress.
Work is almost finished on the second
cross frame in the great hall, which is a hammer beam truss. Hopefully I
can sneak a photo or two before taking it apart to start on
the last cross frame for the great hall. As you can see we have installed
one of the knee braces with a natural bend, and a bit more detail of the
joints.
Work is almost finished on all
the frames now, and the workshop is full of timber, but here are the photos of
the main hall cross frame, the hammer beam cross frame for the great hall, and
an example of our craftsmen's joinery work. The plan is to start standing the
frames on August 9 in Burradoo. We will try to post progressive photos.
