I found a tie beam on a barn recently with a sharp taper at its end, such that the end is quite a bit larger than it is in the middle.

I have been trying to figure this this out, this beam was not hewn -it was cut on a circular sawmill some time around 1900. The saw marks are clearly evident.

I don't see how this is possible...

Stress in the log, it shifted as it was being cut. It happens.

Jim Rogers

So the framers just left it that way? Even the joint housing was fit for this beam, which I find strange, the barn being square rule

hello everyone tonight

Hi ken and others

relating to the cruck hewing, I am really interested in the method needed to accomplish this job

First if possible just how much of a bow will the cruck have at its centre point?

one of the possibilities that I would certainly look at if this job was shoved my way would be to rough chop the curvature by standing on the top of the log (which no doubt already had some bow to start), and work along the sides.

then by slightly elevating the ends (with a long pry) smooth the inside chopped surface out with an adze,( you could put to good use here a gutter adze or cooper's adze if you had one) you could use a template fabricated from a rough 1" board to go by

then by elevating the centre (using the same long pry) somewhat to a comfortable height I would the smooth the outside surface, once again using the adze, working from the centre towards the 2 ends to accommodate the run of the grain of the tree--you might be able to use a hewing axe for this surface

You should be able to begin to see the Cruck's shape developing, at least its unusual curvature

to do the other 2 sides I probably would chop away most of the unwanted wood, by standing beside the Cruck and then using the adze to remove the remainder, by standing on top

from my take on this unusual job not much hewing would be needed, mainly because of it's shape

The Cruck's shape reminds me of the curvature of the ribs in the ship building trade, where adzing was the main form producing tool used

Ken, Breezewood 2000. out of production. He used to do r and d for woodmizer, too. I see some of his work in the Lt 10 and 15

Hi Richard,

Here is the larch log that we will use for the centre cruck frame.



Ken Hume

I think I would do a lot like what I think richard is describing.
I would move the log to the pit -if you can't roll the log itself, you can slide it on rollers. This is the methods I use most of the time for moving big logs, or timbers that are already square and finished.

Hew off the flat sides as you would normally, then shape the inside of the curve with an adze. Perhaps you would be best to shape the outside as the log lays on the ground in this picture.

For something like this, I would probably hew mostly by eye, maybe make a gauge to keep a fairly consistent thickness.

Crucks are large enough you don't need to adze them, inside and outside can be reached via axe. Smaller stock the adz works well.