but at least allow the timbers to season 6- 8 weeks.
timbers is one thing logs are totally different...
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.
If a log has stress in it, it won't matter if you mill it fresh or later. Stress in a log is stress, and when you mill some boards off it the stress will be relieved and the timber will bow ; now or 6 weeks from now. From my years of experience as a sawyer sawing over a million board feet of lumber, timbers, and timber frames. This also depends highly on the type of wood.
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?
answered above...
My exception is with hewing , because I believe it gets too difficult to hew if you wait too long.
Years ago there was a long discuss here in these forums about hewing long logs and how to deal with the relieving of the stress such a big long log. As I remember it, the log was 32' long. John wanted to have a one piece top plate and there wasn't a mill near him that could mill his long log. So he decided he'd hew it himself. Well he practiced some hewing and noticed that some logs would bow when he hewed one side and left the others non hewed. This was because the log had stress in it and he relieved the stress on one side.
He was concerned that if he didn't hew it correctly that the log would bow so much that he couldn't use it.
I believe it was decided by the group advising him to hew two opposite sides in one hewing session. Then the next day or very soon afterwards hew the remaining two sides, in one hewing session. So he had to plan enough time to hew two sides in one day. As far as I know it came out alright as his building is up, and has been up for many years.
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?
If you're doing this for yourself that's one thing, but if you're doing this for a customer; are you really going to take that risk? What if the bugs damage does get into the timber and aren't removed by the hewing or milling? What are you going to do then? You obviously haven't had a timber returned by a customer because of worm hole damage. Don't ask me how I know.
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.
I highly doubt you're going to run into a client that going to put priority on the frame itself. They want their building up and done as fast and as cheaply as possible. They're not going to want to wait for weeks, paying bank fees on construction loans or whatever.
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?
Depending on the size of the frame the number of timbers; which could be several hundred; the number of joints; which could be several hundred more than the number of timbers; you can't expect to cut all these joints "just before the raising". Unless you have a crew of 5 or more experienced guys working for you with all power tools on prefect timbers or a cnc machine.
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.
In a idealistic world this maybe true, but we live in the real world and this won't happen with today's clients.
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?
Again if it's your own project that's one thing but a client isn't going to wait this long. Timber framed decks properly covered over to protect from weather could sit for a while, if you can afford to pay for it.
For instance possible complication with the shrinkage rates of the post, brace tenons into the sill plate mortises? Thanks again . tb
If you're going to have brace coming down from post into sill timbers then cut these mortises just before raising, not 2 years in advance. (I've seen that happen as some mortises were forgotten)....
