thanks all. Jim. Let season 6-8 weeks , is info I got from Steve Chappell's book" timber framer workshop" where I believe he states that curing takes years but at least allow the timbers to season 6- 8 weeks. My logic in this was that logs will season better than timbers, being that the wood fibers will relax into their more natural state than if its fibers were cut immediately. I think when you saw your seasoned logs , as opposed to freshly felled logs, your resulting timbers will not be as reactive. Do you not agree with this? My exception is with hewing , because I believe it gets too difficult to hew if you wait too long. Debarking softwoods has not been too difficult for myself and I also wonder how much damage the bugs will get to inflict in the short time that they would be active for this period, if they are stored correctly off the ground and out of the sun? As far as it depending on the building usage that it needs to be enclosed immediately, I was talking of a situation where the client puts priority on the frame itself and its ideal conditions for its ultimate strength and longevity with regards to timing of cutting, raising, enclosing,....By knowing the generally ideal situation for the frame itself ,I feel I could better make better adjustments in real situations in relation to those ideal conditions. As far as "curing" timbers, this was in relation to the original post, that if the frame were, for some reason, going to have to wait to be raised, then I wondered if it might also be better to wait to cut joints to just before the raising. My reasoning was that shrinking in timbers with joints already cut and not joined would bring more difficulty when raising commenced, as opposed to cutting just before raising, where I think the timbers would not have changed much by the time they are raised, less adjustments, custom fiiting would be needed? I do think this possible advantage in this is offset by the added difficulty in cutting as the timbers will be drier. I also referred to "curing" as letting the timbers (joined and raised)breathe naturally, as I heard it is much better for the frame, like in barns, where it is not enclosed and suffocated and atificially heated, at least in its early stages of settling. Do you know of any complications that might result if one were to frame the timber sill and first floor deck far (say a year or two)in advance of the subsequent timber framing? For instance possible complication with the shrinkage rates of the post, brace tenons into the sill plate mortises? Thanks again . tb
