Hi Andy,

It's good to read that things have been moving along for you and this project.

I see this challenge all the time with folks practicing the more common "edge" or "mill" rule layout methods that are used here in North America predominantly. Unlike "line rule" or "scribe rule" the assumption is the timber is always going to be perfectly straight. Even with well milled timbers and the new form of "edge rule" that has come forth in "mill rule," almost every tiber on a frame has some camber or twist. Thus comes the erroneous assumption too often that the "draw bore" and/or strapping and pulling will "straighten things out," which is seldom the case and/or will this "straightening" last the life of the frame.

I use and teach "line rule" and other Asian layout modalities almost exclusively at this point and really find the others too archaic to adapt to the presumption that a timber will ever actually be striaght. "Scribe rule" and its related methods are "historically" very young; taking place around the beginning of the Victorian period and the industrial revolution. Before this, in Europe we had "scribe rule" and "lofting methods," while in parts of Eastern Europe, Middle East, and dominating in Asia, we had (and still have) "Line rule."

As Tim and Jon have suggested, having a twist or bend in a timber is not a "show stopper" by any means and your timber does not need to end up in a "firewood pile." I would take this a step further and suggest that we never really look at such things anymore when assessing timbers. I tend to work in live edge, tapered, and twisted timbers as a mainstay. It is not uncommon to have over 30 mm of camber and as much as 60 mm in twist in some timbers...Sometimes even more. None of this affects the joinery, nor the strength of the frame.

What I have found, additionally, is that often the "twisted, warped, and cambered" timbers tend to be much stronger, and in many designs this "added strength" from twists and bends is actually not only sought out in timbers but some forest management systems promote it. This can be found in the Tempo hari-Gun Beam sometimes called in different regions Ushihari-Cow Beam and/or Chonahari-Clam Beam, we find in many Japanese Minka-Farm House.

I can post something here later today outlining the basics of this modality if you think it would help...

Regards,

j