Need advice on timing - when to buy lumber?

Hello the Community!

I'm looking for some advice on timing as I'm planning my first ever timber framing job. I'm going to build a shed using "Timber Frame Construction" book by Jack Sobon and Roger Schroeder as a guide. Timber I'm going to use is Picea Abies (or Abies but as far as my knowledge goes is spruce is better) as it's what I can source locally. I'm based in south-east of Poland.

The plan is to start work in summer (beginning of July) and my question is when to order the lumber? I'm newbie in the business but study literature and read the best time to cut trees is winter so I tempt to buy the lumber now but I also read that it's best to not have long breaks between each phase of the project: cut tree > mill > do the joinery > raising. So I'm a bit confused - shall I order the lumber now and store it somewhere until summer or shall I order lumber closer to the summer risking it comes from the trees cut in spring?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.


Best regards,
Krzysztof

Hello Krzysztof,

There isn't really a "wrong time to harvest" per se to your question's direct concern nor how long the timbers sit...

Each timber framing culture has its own "best practices" within a spectrum of what is know within timber framing. For the most part, timbers are "green" when worked.

Your schedule may not be optimum, but I would offer that you have little to worry about if the timbers sit for a few months (or even years) as long as they are end sealed and keep out of direct sun light and/or moisture. They are typically large enough to not dry to terribly fast, and if end seal, this even retards the drying process further.

I would suggest that your schedule (in this case) can take precedent over a best time to harvest. I worked with Picea Abies (Norway Spruce) a few times and I personally like the wood very much. It can be challenging like Tsuga (the Hemlocks) yet its grain patterns are most pleasant to most the like Confer species...

Good Luck, and keep us posted on your progress...

j

Many thanks Jay for your reply, much appreciated.

I have one more questions regarding location of the scarf along the the plate. The image is attached. I know the principles of location this joint - it should be off the post (probably somewhere in the area highlighted on yellow) to avoid highest bending and shear stresses. The question is shall I add red braces to take some proportions of the stresses off the scarf? I hope it's clear what I ask for.

Thanks,
Krzysztof

Hi Krzysztof,

Short answer is yes...a brace under the scarf is a better design, but there is more to it than just that, there is also type of scarf, orientation, and other factors too...

Send me an email, if you want to explore this in more detail at:
tosatomo@gmail.com and I would be glad to explore it in more detail and other possible solutions as well...

Warm Regards,

j

I would cut your trees now and do your work in the Spring. In the winter your wood will not experience radical change. Beyond this, such a scheduling is keeping close to the tradition of your area, down there in Ustrzyki Gorna.

Jay - many thanks for the offer. Email sent.

Cecile - how come you're aware of Ustrzyki Gorne?! That's a serendipity! The thing is that I live abroad right now and I don't have my own forest. It's a bit difficult to arrange this from abroad so for that project I will buy lumber just before I start the work.

Hello Pogodno, actually I am the Don part of the title. Sometimes I sign on here as the one or the other just as a matter of confusion and in 1990 I rode my bike through that area, drank a tea with the padre at the wooden church in Koschenko, (I think that is how the village was called) and spent some nights with very kind people, mountain climbers, on their farm in Ustrzki Gorne. That was back when things were more pristine there. Best of success with your building project and much hand-tool pleasure too.