Timberframing Tools

Hand Tools

• Timber framing hand tools include traditional woodworking, milling and carpentry tools. Some of the most common hand tools used for manual timber framing are the two-man saw, the adze, draw knife and chisels.

  The two-man saw suspends a long, sharp-toothed blade between two straight handles. As suggested by its name, one worker grips the tool at one side, and another work grips the tool at the other side. Traditional timber framers used the two-man saw to fell trees. The adze and draw knife perform the debarking and rough planing of lumber. The adze is essentially an ax with its blade turned sideways, and the draw knife is a knifelike blade suspended between two straight handles. The timber framer swings the adze against a tree's surface to pull up bark and surface material and draws the draw knife's blade across the tree's surface to peel up material. A timber framer uses chisels to create traditional timber framing joinery, such as lap joints and mortise and tenon joints.

Hand-Held Power Tools

• Hand-held power tools applicable to timber framing include the chain saw, the specialized debarker tool, hand planer, circular saw and power drill. Chain saws fell timbers, and the debarker tool removes bark and surface material. Several manufacturers produce debarker tools that attach to a chain saw's bar and use the chain saw's drive to rotate a series of chipping blades. The hand planer continues where the debarker leaves off; chipping away at a log to smooth or level its surface. A carpenter's power circular saw cuts both logs and pre-milled timbers along their length and width. Power drills bore holes for bolts, anchors and other methods of joinery.

Portable Sawmill

• A portable sawmill transforms raw lumber into usable, dimensional timbers. Typically about the size of a pickup truck, the average portable sawmill debarks, planes and mills lumber to specific dimensions. The portable sawmill usually uses band saw blades or circular, toothed blades to cut and mill lumber. Advanced portable saw mills allow operators to program milling dimensions by computer and employ robotic arms to turn and rotate the lumber.