We built a "machine" in the '80's. It has a saw, router, and gang drill. We use "hand" power tools and slicks to clean up the mortices, square up the rounded pockets, and finely tune the shoulders to the specific beam that sits there.

I've long maintained that we've found a good balance between machine and man. The machine does the heavy lifting and hogging, the craftsman make the final cuts. The owner sees a thing of beauty that otherwise he couldn't afford. Our frames are not "furniture grade", but neither are our clients. But you know what, the client's that had stick frame budgets but buy our frames and fill the gap with their own sweat and toil are so much more appreciative than the "second homeless" that are looking for a turnkey showpiece on their lakefront property.

I think it's an honorable thing to blend technology and craftsmanship in a way that offers responsible construction that supports sustainability and energy efficiency to those that otherwise might not have afforded it.

We were the first to build a timber cutting machine, first to incorporatate CNC in timber framing (and panel cutting as well)we built the first tenoner. I'm pretty sure we are the oldest timber framing company in the country. Granted we describe ourselves as Post & Beam, but in the 60's there was no distinction between the two. Things change - definitions, companies, industry, customers and economies - but that's not a bad thing, diversity is the result, and THAT is a GOOD thing.

Oppenheimer