Hi everyone

For those that might need instruction in the use of these tools visit the tools for sale section of this web site and I will be glad to help you in any way I can.

Thanks again for stopping by

NH

kneepads, NH, kneepads

Hi Mark:

Yes knee pads for sure especially for those that are learning, we weren't allowed to use safety clothing or accessories as we worked in the 1860's context. We had to work carefully and as safely as possible, but even then accidents can happen.

All the working historic mills contained many questionable safety areas, but we did try and work in safety as much as possible using training and other methods.

That is why as you travel around the country many of the historic sites have only static displays whereas UCV was a completely operational site from one end to the other with around 125 costumed interpreters.

Thanks for coming on board,

NH

Hi everyone:

It has been a while since I have posted something new from my collection of photos, this one is the attic of an 1865 lutheran church and shows quite plainly the truss system for the roof.

Near the centre of the picture you can see the 1.8th inch wrought iron rod that suspends the centre of the lower chord of the truss. This lower chord is 12 by 12 hewn pine and is 45 feet long

You can also notice how a purling plate sits on top of the trusses and about centre, and the rafters are positioned on top
The original roofing lumber visible from underneath is all muley sawn no doubt by a local mill and are quite wide but as usual not that long.

One thing that astounded me when I first visited this location was the excellent condition of the wooden parts after all the years.

Hope you enjoy

NH

Hi everyone,

I have been away for a while and I just noticed that many are still dropping by for a visit to my site. Here is a good view of an attachment point that emphasizes just how much wood is removed at times to accomodate a building's structure, and yet seems to continue to be very strong.

this building's original ancestor was well over 200 years of age and going strong

Here is a good view of one of the front vertical posts of the driveshed that we had just put up a few years ago.

I thought that it might be a conversation piece because of all the different horizontal tiebeam attachments, as well as the mortise for the brace from the upper main plate

Hi everyone

To break the monotony, tonight I have a question for those that are looking in, and maybe we will learn alittle as we go along:

I would like to discuss and talk about the subject of pitch of roofs.

To start off would anyone like to suggest what the following term represents if you were asked to construct a roof containing:



a) 1\3 pitch

For the benefit of all looking in please state in your reply the inches per foot of rise, and the degree of corresponding inclination, and the length of the common rafter needed to make up the roof of a building 24 feet in width.

(The roof will have no ridge and the rafters will half lap at their peak and be pinned.)

This is a timberframed building with a heavy upper plate, that will be mortised to accept a cog on the bottom foot of the rafter, with no eve overhang.

I hope you will join in

NH

Well here's my guess,
1/3 of 24 is 8 so this is an 8/12 pitch. An 8/12 is about 33-3/4 degrees.

This is one way of figuring the length, just remember Pythagoras. A squared plus B squared equals C squared. The diagram shows how I found the lengths of each of the three sides. I then divided the length of the rafter side by the length of the run side. This gives me the ratio of the rafter to the run, the line length ratio.

For every foot (or inch, or whatever increment) of horizontal run, the rafter is 1.2017 units long for an 8/12 pitch. You are 12' of horizontal run so 144"x1.2017= measuring along the top, roughly 173-1/16".

I think a 1/3 pitch is really a 4/12.

Given that, using the same equation I get a hypotenuse of ~12.65

12.65 X 12' of run = 151.8" for rafter length. (But it's been awhile. I'm not a math whiz...)

How we doing Northern Hewer?

144" divided by .8321=173.0561, which is just a tad under 1/16. It is a 8/12 pitch and the degree, 33.69139. Source, A Timber Framer's Workshop, Steve Chappell. The tangent is .6667, anyone superstitious? How historically prevalent is this roof slope?

Tim

This is my pet peeve, the term PITCH has to many uses and meanings. I was trained that PITCH is rise over span and SLOPE is rise over run. So the diverse meanings for pitch do lead to the confusion of usage of the previous posts.

Tim, I see old 8/12 roofs.