Hey, real quick! We’ve been cutting scarf fixes for enormous post feet, and fitting teleport pads for octagonal lanterns. Updates on Chestnut St Lantern, Brasen Hill Barn, and Jennison Barn, below.
Teleport Pad, Photo by Jacob Imlay
Chestnut St Church Lantern, Camden, ME: This cute little lantern was cut and fit at the shop, and is ready for transport to the Lyman-Morse boat shop later this week. There it will be fit with a 50-foot fiberglass spire and four 7-foot half-round hoods. Jake laid out the frame and Tim, Zach and Charlie cut and fit the joinery. Zach’s experience building guitars and Tim’s experience making furniture helped maintain tight tolerances. The entire lantern and spire will be laid down on a low-riding flatbed for final transport to the church, where a crane will tip the entire assembly up vertical. It is important that the joinery is tight in order to withstand the torque and lateral loads. Scott, Tim and Arron worked with Taylor-made builders up in Camden to plumb the tower and repair the belfry post feet at the Chestnut St Church. More about removing the old spire, here.
Lady Lantern, photo by Jacob Imlay
Brasen Hill Barn, Barrington, NH: Led by Dave and Dan, the rest of the crew have been busy with an enormous barn restoration at Brazen Hill Farm. The barn is beautifully hewn, with drive posts like tree trunks. The deterioration was extensive and the barn was completely dismantled for repairs. The extent of rot meant that the barn was heavily braced and was disassembled piece by piece by a crew of eight over two days.
Brasen Barn from above, photo by Josh McNally
Dave, Dan, Tom, Byam and Michael have been busy making traditional timber frame repairs at our shop in Nottingham, NH. Given the extent of damage, the crew worked hard to preserve any viable original material. That means a lot of dutchman and post feet fixes. Dan Boyle documented the repair and fitting process. A few of his process photos, below.
Undersquinted face fix, photo by Dan Boyle
An under-squinted dutchman repair can be used to repair the cheek of a mortise where a pin has blown out the relish. The rest of the post was in good condition and of a dimension and quality that is difficult (but not impossible) to find today.
Get (in the) Bent Brian, photo by Dan Boyle
After the rotten timbers are repaired or reproduced, we use come-alongs to pull the joinery tight and the bent square. Then we drill holes for the 1-inch oak pins that will hold the joinery together.
Eave fitting, photo by Dan Boyle
The barn is big, almost 70-feet long and 40-feet wide. It contains seven bents. The finished frame was raised almost a month ago, and Dave and Scott documented the process by helmet-cam. Stay tuned for the movie.
Jennison Barn, photo by Josh McNally
Jennison Barn, Lee, NH: New Hampshire Preservation Alliance has featured the Jennison Barn as one of their 52 barns in 52 weeks. The NHPA article captures why preservation is important on a human scale, from families to communities. Read their story, here.
