I scribed out in the blazing rain for years, (Ask me about the stack of QP trusses which swelled together, messing up the schedule because the sticks were needed for adjacent layups – Days & days of cable pullers and folding wedges, and that after days lost to a stalled hard rain) I used to Scribe in the Summers, and Square Rule in the Winters in a small two work station unheated shelter.

Finally declared a moratorium, the weather is a fickle partner and one who brings nothing to the table.

Costs are fully controlled with complete predictability, even a modest infrastructure can give you that.

One of the major advantages of scribe is that it completely minimizes site time. Everything fits, everything's already been dealt with, off site where costs are far more predictable. Commuting and lodging costs are kept to an absolute minimum. To give that up is to give up a major advantage.

I agree for me the big part is reducing the overhead. If I get busy enough some day I will gravitate towards a shop. But, commercial lease rates here almost make it a non option. It might however be cheaper than working out of town. Mileage and accommodation tend to add up unless you get creative. I've found shipping a frame isn't that expensive, but as most of my work is in or near my city I haven't done that very much.

Timbeal, I like your concept of a shop. Natural light is great as is the ability to make it just a roof over your head in the summer. There are things you get in a shop that you don't get on site. For example, I miss the thickness planer and joiner that we used in the last couple shops I worked. Having a shop opens up options for other types of work you can take on too. Someday I might want a forklift. I think its a scale thing. The more overhead you have the more work you need to do to justify the overhead. But, right now I find I can move all my timber from the lumber pile to the mules, to the finished pile very effieciently often without my trusty log cart made from a scrap piece of plywood and the bottom of a $150 quad trailer.

Another thing to note. As most of my frames have been in the city we get free advertising while cutting as people walk, or drive by.

Yes, to the fork lift. In most cases if I was only framing I could get by without it. In my case I also saw all my own timber. This leaves me handling more than timber, edgings are a never ending story. I shuffle them around in the yard more times than I want. And even as I type this I think of my past jobs and it would be very hard to give up the fork lift if I was only handling the timber. It is one very luxurious piece of overhead, even though it is out of the early 80s.

My solar heated shop was stone cold chilly yesterday, cloudy almost snow. Blue sky this morning, it should be a fine day. I was also able to wiggle the 29' timber into the building with the forklift, 6 of them. I won't have to scrape the frost off them this morning.

Another thing to add...

As I consider switching to a mostly German style, that also means I will be eliminating the gigantic, though to handle timbers. German framing eliminates these massive sized brutes for all the same reasons that we all generally think them to be troublesome.
With this in mind, moving timbers is a whole lot simpler (and I mean a whole lot, like I can do it by myself without a whole lot of trouble for the most part)

Obviously if I were to frame a house somewhere way far away I would loose out by framing it on site. But hey, we've got some nice pasture land I could use now and then too.

I'd be all in favor of erecting some kind of rain shelter too.

And as far as keeping frost and dew off, well we can use the same measures for that as we use for our garden plants this time of year, if you place a sheet or a light tarp over top of them, frost and dew will not gather on them.

And one more thing. Don't take this as me being bound determined to do it my way. I'm just putting out points for consideration by all sides. I appreciate the points you all have brought out, and certainly am considering them.

DLB

I need a bigger shop! So far I've been working in a 20 x 24 dirt floor garage/shop. Anything over 16 ft gets done outside. Having said that I like working outside because the light is much better. I don't even mind a little snow. I'm thinking that my new shop will have a fabric roof that lets light in. Typically the longest timbers I work with are 24ft so a 24 X 36 ft shop would do nice.

DL,

I think with your background as a carpenter working on site, out in the weather, you would be able to deal with (both practically, physically, and mentally) with the challenges of scribing outside. Many of our colleagues have other backgrounds (cabinet/furniture, etc) and so would never even consider it a viable option.

I've done it, Will's done it -- we even did one together at our yard a few years back. Go for it. As you pointed out, this is how it was done for centuries.

But if you are out there often enough, you will eventually want at least a pole barn or some such over your scribing floor (and over your head). And then you'll want a level floor to work on -- something you can easily snap lines on and easily level sticks on.

Or maybe you won't -- there are a few framers who seem to thrive on the challenges that terrain and weather bring to the table.

I certainly enjoy working in the almost medeival scene of a scribing yard. Especially when hand tools are being used. But every now and then is enough for me.

I'll see if I can dig up some photos of us working outside.

A foot of fresh snow here. Working under a roof today, but not "indoors". Thankful I don't have to shovel out a scribe yard.

Gabel, thanks for the info. Look forward to seeing your pictures.

Hi Dave, here on the coast we got some rain to start, turning to snow, about 5". 38'ers didn't go into the shop. So we are slogging through the slush as it warm up.

On another note, I came to a realization today what rectangular pencils are for. My big fat round one would roll away if I set it down. Working outside, just the slightest breeze would set it on its way. Didn't help the timber bunks were sloped, too. Still enjoyable, though.

Do you have anything to cover the timbers so they don't get soggy? We got a total of 22" here, and Peru, MA, got 32". It's melting pretty fast, but if it were mid-winter, it would stick around for a long time.

I wonder how determined the framers were a couple hundred years ago. They were certainly in dire need of shelter, but I wonder if they had the ability to plan the logging for the winter and do the framing in the better months. We had at least a couple feet of snow on the ground all last winter, and a lot of sub-zero weather.