check it out, good old google. The third site is north american.

http://www.sheepwoolinsulation.ie/

http://www.secondnatureuk.com/info.htm

http://www.goodshepherdwool.com/

Hi Mark, interesting links. The sop I visited was at Needham Market, but I forgot the name.
When you think about it its amazing no-one used wool before now. I wonder if they used whole fleeces stretched over house frames going back thousands of years to siberia/Alaska etc?? Just a thought

Doh just remembered they used wool felt to build yurts on (thin) wooden frames!!

That's really out there Derek. Ease off the Kool Ade. Check out Timber Framing #26 for Benson's article "Crafting the Future of Our Craft: Paradigms and Principles"

Quote "Our busines is to improve the quality of lives through our products and services."

Seems straight forward, read the article, it's worthwhile.

Derek, the mumbo jumbo is all yours.

My boots are shaking and there goes a pebble skittering across the floor.

When your book comes out on fishing with the family, I'd like a signed copy.

All the best

it's a house
it's not cabinetry on a grand scale
it's not a piano. not even, well maybe it is, a box for a piano.
make it level, plumb, square and true and it'll be better than most other houses being built out there today.
wood moves, try to accomodate that while building it, and hope the client accepts that when it does.
when we're trying to squeeze that last 32nd out of the joint remember that no one but us will be looking at that joint as closely as us. are we trying to impress ourselves and each other or build a nice, strong and functional frame/house without blowing the budget(ours or theirs)

boats are fun too

Hello Derek,

If I can be so brash as to ask, can you explain more why you should have followed in Jack Sobon's footsteps? And why is it too late to turn back?

I think this is the real question for everyone who loves working wood: balancing our hearts with our checkbooks.

If anyone else out there feels brave enough to bare their soul a minute, many of would be grateful.

By the way, that's a fine catch and a good looking boy.

Thanks and all the best,

Zach

good for you mate that you are prepared to look at yourself with scrutiny and be prepared to change. A fool is the one who knows somethings wrong but carries on anyway. Then you look back in old age and think oh gawd where did my life go to???? Better to have a mid life crisis than a death bed crisis. Its a brave and sincere man that will admit publicaly that he may have made mistakes or errors of judgement etc and wants to act on his instinct to change. Good luck with whatever new projects and ventures you start up
cheers Jonathan

Derek, your last post is what this thread is all about. I am a die hard "Sobonite" as well. Many of the modern day timberframe revivalist are in my area. One of the first was Richard Babcock. Jack, Pual Martin, and others started working for Richard in the 70's, and have gone on to make a huge difference in timber framing today. I don't want to get into a huge Benson/Sobon debate, but Benson's work seldom reflects traditional joinery, too many weird angles, and superflous gimmicks to trick the eye. That isn't to say that what he does is not high quality work, just not my cup of tea. I took a workshop with Jack and Dave Carlon two weeks ago called Traditional Timber Framing. We use all hand tools and traditional techniques to build a small Dutch house frame. I never want to see another power tool again in my life. I have gotten a lot of flack for wanting to do traditional framing with traditional tools. I may have to start my own company to do it that way. To qoute a freind of mine who hates electric drills "All electric drills should be smelted down and made into vacuum cleaners!" I would go a step further and throw in the skill saws and all the other foolish gadgetry I see people using thinking it is going to save them time.

I discovered timberframing only 3 years ago and immediately fell in love with the notion and resulting architecture. Looking to soak up every useful piece of information I could find, I felt grateful and indebted to Ted Benson and Jack Sobon (men I've never had the pleasure to meet) for the knowledge they had compiled and passed on through their books. Hoping to catch up with the timberframe revival (which probably started right about when I was born!), I bought the entire archives of the TFG journal, and read them over the course of about two weeks (like drinking water from a firehose). I attended a one week workshop on timberframing that promoted a style that was what I would call "Bentonesque with a top plate." Like my timberframe instructor, I was ready to borrow from both camps and build what ever was possible with the tools within my reach. Why all the controversy?

At first I didn't understand why Jack Sobon would use rafters with "spikes" (can we call them nails?), or why he would devote so many pages of his book to hewing a log. Equally as bewildering was the backlash against Mr. Benson that was evident in the "letters-to-the-editor" of the TFG journals. Mr. Benson found his timbers in old textile mills and Mr. Sobon found his in the back yard. Benson would free man using machines, and Sobon would free man from machines. There was room in the middle wasn't there?

I set about building a house for my family, using trees from our farm. Lured by the (bensonesque) frames in glossy magazines, I set out to emulate them, eschewing both "hewing axe" and "hundeggar" (from a practical standpoint, one was too much work and the other was too much money!), but embracing "the woodmizer" and "the makita chain mortiser". Now I'm in the throws of finishing the house and the romance of timberframing is a foggy memory as I try to get a waterproof roof before winter sets in (a second time!) on my frame.

Looking back on my short journey, and thinking about a timber framing philosphy going forward, I would have to say that I lean toward Sobon, now that I have a better personal grasp of the fundamental differences between Benson's approach and Sobon's approach. I can understand and empathize with the backlash against the direction Ted Benson proposes for timberframing (actually for house building in general). Although I love all of his books, I reject whole-heartedly the thesis put forward in his latest article published in Fine Home Building... that house building should be centralized and that centralization and specialization is necessary for quality. Bleeeuuucchhkk. I live in a manufactured (mobile) home now and that's the biggest motivation I have for finishing my site-built timberframe! What really turned my stomach was about 6 months after FHB published Benson's article, they published an article with the same thesis written by one of Benson's employees. Seems to me like they're all drinking the same kool-aid at Bensonwood.

I guess what I find most empowering about timberframing is that green wood and local materials are on the menu. The dreamer, the architect, the sawyer, and the builder can be the same person. You can do your own thing in your own corner of the world, without relying on or imposing on anyone. Take that away (I wouldn't say he wants to take that away, but Benson leaves no room for it in his own approach now) and the appeal of timberframing dissolves for me. Power tools, do not for me, detract from the lure of timberframing, because they provide leverage for the individual, without imposing on other individuals. Take a look at the computer you're reading this on right now - what wonderful power and leverage it provides you, but you can't make it in a blacksmith's forge. hmmm, I think I just figured out why Sobon never posts here...

I'll admit that I have to go to Lowe's to buy the tools, and for that I am relying on someone or worse yet, some company. I forget who said that an extremist is someone who is completely consistent in their beliefs. I realize that I'm not completely consistent in my timberframe philosophy, but maybe after I've got a roof over my family, I can throw away the power tools and be more consistent. I look forward to that.