Building the Timber Frame House: The Revival of a Forgotten Craft Kindle Edition

Really informative book which includes the history of timber framing.

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.

A wealth of information from start to finish. Explained in "layman's terms". No fluff. Every page is informative.

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.

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.

I'm building a 8x10 shed using timber framing joinery. This is my first attempt at timber framing. The book offered a good overview and very good information on the types of joints and why you would want to use a particular one. What I really like was he showed how to actually lay out some of the cuts, like the angled end cuts on braces.

Super great ! Information even the best could use.From novice to expert this book has it all. Photos are super and well written .

The 40% of it that's useful is REALLY useful. A good book for beginners and more advanced builders.The drawings are very helpful (though sometimes you'll need a magnifying glass) but the photos are diabolical and the paper is very poor quality. - luckily the photos don't really matter, but the whole thing could do with a revamp.The explanations of how to choose and make joints are excellent. The step by step instructions are comprehensive, though they don't cover every joint you might have encountered.Being American, it's all in imperial measures and there's good information buried amidst a lot of waffle and homespun philosophy. It deals only with squared timbers, so if you want to know about using round wood, look elsewhere (though not to Ben Law - he doesn't want to give anything away in his book as it's really only aimed at selling his training courses).The section on bad construction and how to avoid it at the design stage is brilliant. It should be required reading for all self builders.

American book on construction. Not ideal for a history of English timber framed buildings.

Badly printed and whimsical. Full of waffle. rather old fashioned. I would not buy it if I had seen it in a shop.

Great book with a little history and lots of feeling, good explanation of joints and when and where to use them.

I bought this for a present for a relative, but having had a flick through it, I am planning to build a timber framed garden shed to practice, and decided to keep it. Structural calculations included which reminded me of my time at university...