Margherita

I had decided to go to the western conference. I was particularly interested in the timber/log grading preconference workshop. I thought " great! I can learn grading and become certified and grade my own timbers(and maybe others). Then I read in the fine print that you have to be part of a log or timber business." What a rip! Now I'm thinking it's not worth the trip. I was interested in the log/timber grading and the scribing workshop. Whey the heck offer the timbergrading and certification to the TFguild memebers if we all can't do it!?!

Years ago, I attended two grading workshop, put on by a sawmill magazine and the lumber association for my area, NeLMA. They told us at the first meeting of the day that they wouldn't allow a portable sawmill company to have a graders license, as they wanted to know every minute of every day where the license was.

Also, to get a license you have to be in the association and the dues was something like $2500 per month. And you had to be voted in by the other members (a way to control your competition).

So, what most of us did was learn what grade #2 is as most timber frames have to be grade #2 or better. And that is grade #2 of the two sections: post and timbers, beams and stringers.

If you learn this rule, which you can do by reading a rule book and then applying the rule to your timber, and you're producing timbers that meet this rule or surpass this rule by being "better" then you can sleep at night knowing that you've done the best you can do.

If you need your timbers to pass by having a licensed grader inspect them, (something you might have to do to comply with a building inspector's wishes) then you'll have to produce the timbers and hire a licensed grader of the association to travel to your site/sawmill and inspect your timbers.

I've done this before....

You have all the timbers laid out in your yard, and be prepared to move them out of the way, usually with a fork lift, when he rejects one.

Then you'll have to replace the ones he's rejected. So, you may want to have a few extras on hand in case he does.

After the inspector looked at all four sides of the timbers and both ends he stamped the end grain of each timber with a mallet that has a grade stamp profile on the head. Sort of like a brand but not burn in, stamped in.

And afterwards, he produced a letter stating that he had inspected the timbers and that they passed. This letter was shown to the building inspector of the town where the barn was to be assembled. And this complied with his wishes, so he granted them (the clients) a building permit.

You can expect to pay the grader's one full day fee for having him travel to your site and inspect your timbers.

Jim Rogers

What book do I need or where can I get it Jim? I want to learn and if I can get it from a book, great!

Why does the guild have this workshop for certification when so many of the members will be excluded from it?!! Bogus!

I don't know why or anything about the workshop, so I can't comment on that.
First of all brad you need to find out what lumberman's association covers your area. Then contact them for their rule book. If you want the NeLMA rule book google NeLMA and I'm sure it's there....
Here is a link where you can download the entire book in pdf format by chapter or section:
http://www.nelma.org/index.php?module=StaticContent&func=display&scid=10

Jim Rogers

Derek:
Some times it's not about trust, it's about complying with the law. And what I mean by that is you maybe not able to get a building permit without a grade stamp on your timbers.

And not all sawyers understand grade rules or even try to saw by them. So you've probably used sticks that don't pass.....

Does the Guild ever try to find solutions to help it's members with problems like this? It just seems like timber grading is a problem for many smaller shops who are trying to use local timbers to help their local economies.

I find this to be a interesting topic. What Derek is talking about.
How do we make the credibility of the timberframer surpass all these other stamps? If we can find the answer to this...

I'd think that an organization could establish rules for grading and selecting timber for various applications, offer training that is structured and can be shown will assure uniform testing and certification of it's inspectors. Then it's a matter of getting recognized and accepted from state to state. After all, states want to assure the safety in their building codes. Make the standards of the organization surpass current standards or be tailored more specifically to timberframes. Now, how to prevent money from becoming an issue? Of course an inspector needs to be paid for their time... but how do we prevent it from becoming like the other grading org? How can it stay open to anyone wanting to learn and pass certification? The point is to allow anyone to do this so that they can grade their own stuff, and their buddies stuff. Another question is, are graders subject to liability in the event of a failure of a timber?
As an grader, would you need to keep a log of every timber graded? Numbering that timber and documenting it's defects and grade score? Does he need to supply rules for use of the timber in a frame, like a document that specifies keeping knots of a certain size out of the tennon or mortise or critical shear area?
All things to think about.

What is the goal of a "timber framer" stamp? What are you wanting to do that currently falls under someone else's stamp? Or who are you trying to remove from the process (grader, engineer, architect...)? By eliminating that profession, are timber framers taking on the combined professional liability of each of these profession? If this is part of a timber framer stamp, are you placing responsibility and liability on some timber frame shops that may not want it? Food for thought...

Hi Steve & Derek,

You raise some interesting points worthy of note and some reflection.

In 1898 Ralph Nevill (architect) wrote :-

"The art of building, to be really living and successful among us, must not depend on the efforts of a few architects, but must be the possession of the whole of those concerned in the building trades. The builder, his clerk and his workmen, may, by a diligent study of the good old work that exists all round them, improve themselves, just as architects have since they took to more diligent study. They may then pick up again the tradition and they will certainly add a new interest and pleasure to their lives, and spare the public of the purposeless and wanton atrocities that so disfigure our land." - Ralph Nevill 1889.

Nevill was referring specifically to the practice of building using traditional timber frame methods and his book - "Olde Cottage and Domestic Architecture in South West Surrey" became an inspration to architects to start designing again in the old traditional ways much as Ted Benson's book "Building the Timber Frame House - the revival of a forgotton craft did almost 100 years later".

I rather suspect that we are all in this together and that there is nothing new under the sun.

Ken Hume P.Eng.