Have you worked with a crew from a CNC shop?

The CNC shops that I know are doing good design build work - I don't feel that this statement is accurate.

There are probably shops out there that design the joinery as the machine can cut it, that radius the timbers to they plug into anything the CNC router cuts... and yes, they bring down the value of our craft.

There are also hand shops that cut corners, fail to house joinery when it makes the most sense (housings take long to cut!), lag bolt things where no-one will see them, pass off 'post and beam' as timber framing... etc. etc.

There are crooks and whores in any business.

And there are honest people making use of technology to advance their vision of the craft and tradition of home building - often with timber framing at its core.


The loss of the iconic carpenter of yesteryear is a fault of any number of things... least of which should be 'manufacturing'. How about a lack of traditional carpentry education? Lack of respect for people who work with their hands? Push in high schools to eliminate the arts and vocational programs and push to science and math...

Respect and a decent wage would go a long way to bringing young people to learn framing - be it with timber or sticks. The CNC shop that I worked for and managed the TF Design group at is doing just this - promoting a sense of community, bringing good jobs and benefits to a depressed county, supporting not only a pack of timber framers - but house builders, office staff, designers and architects, woodworkers, and has expanded to start this on the west coast too.

It is true, that when you walk in the door with minimal skills you probably won't be able to hand layout a compound roof system - but if you stick with it, in a better company - one that is investing in its future - you'll learn those skills and more.

And the notion that the timber magically flows from machine to forklift to jobsite is utter nonsense. There is A LOT of planning, thought, and HAND work that goes into timber framing with a CNC. Its just a complicated mortise maker and end cutter. It removes some of the 'brute' work in a production environment (when the client wants S4S material)... and it takes skill to operate - from the top on down to the summer labor that hand oils the timbers and sweeps the floor.