I would like to attend a one week workshop to gain knowledge. Has any one had experience, good or bad with any of the following.
A. Cowee
B. Goshen
Or others.
Thanks, Dick

I went to Goshen a few years ago for my first timber framing workshop. They have a good bunch of guys and I learned a lot. The focus at Goshen was more on use of power tools and mill rule layout. We cut timbers for various Goshen projects and did not raise a frame, although we did visit a couple of locally raised frames.

For my second workshop I attended a course at Hancock Shaker Village conducted by Jack Sobon and Dave Carlon. These guys are master timber framers, the focus was on hand tools, traditional timber framing, square rule layout, and we raised our frame at the end of the week. This workshop was more expensive but well worth it in my opinion.

I have not been to Cowee, perhaps others can comment on their workshops.

There are other good options as well, including the TFG workshops at Heartwood or at Pinegree Park, or at a TFG conference or event.

Greetings...

I attended the Timberframing Course at Heartwood.

Highly experienced instructors, a lot of hands on time with classroom early on and demonstrations through out the framing process. We raised the frame the last day.

Glad I took the courses.

Joel

The Guild homepage has a link to photos from a recent article written by Will Beemer covering a Heartwood class project.

While I have never taken a workshop on basic timberframing, my opinion is that you would learn more from a school with education as its goal (Heartwood) than a company with profit as its goal. (I know if we put on a workshop it would be very different than Will's program at Heartwood because our goals would be different.)

Good Luck,

Gabel Holder