People with a passion for timber are queuing up to take part in the timber and carpentry courses on offer at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in West Sussex. And for some the experience is proving, quite literally, life changing.
The museum’s flagship course – Timber Framing from Scratch – consists of five days, hands-on training which introduces students to the historical use of structural oak framing, tools and techniques. Those techniques form the cornerstone of all timber framing, as students discover as they work their way towards constructing a 10-foot square timber frame building, which incorporates posts, cills, plates and tie beams. And for some the new-found know-how leads to their constructing their own timber frame building or embarking on a career in timber frame.
The course is run by Joe Thompson of Sussex Oak and Iron, who was inspired by the hurricane of 1987, adamant that somebody had to do something with all the timber felled.
Students on a recent Timber Framing from Scratch course included a civil and structural engineer, an events organiser, someone from English Heritage, a man who had run his own electronics company and an architect.
In the first instance, said Thompson, they were learning about the material – wet oak. “We are turning local trees into beams. These trees, if I didn’t buy them, would go for firewood or pulp. The market undervalues them,” he said.
During the course, the students use tools of the time – in this case around 1725. “Timber frame is a bit like the Bible – if you look hard enough you will always find something to prove the case,” said Thompson, who will often tell students to down tools in the Gridshell and take them to a building on the museum site to show them a real example of what they have just been doing.
“We are learning from the past, and in order to do that we are trying to be as similar to the past as we can,” he said.
“The first step is to mark the timber out, and the same patterns can be seen on existing old timber frame buildings. Nobody has ever really written much down on how to build a timber frame so we have to deduce a lot and this is my own personal take on it. We have to take bits of information from the buildings and match them with some of the few descriptive and technical writings that do exist.”
According to Thompson, the likely signature building in this part of the world, Sussex, would be post, plate and beam assembly, and it is pretty complex as each timber is jointed to two other timbers. Some of the buildings that have been made on the timber framing courses have gone on to become home offices, or garden rooms.
There is a maximum of eight people on each course, with ages ranging from 16-70+. And the waiting list is so healthy that the museum is considering increasing the number of courses from four to five a year. Follow-on courses are also available, by popular demand, so students can come back and learn how to construct a complete building.
“Many people have decided on a career change into timber frame after doing one of the courses, particularly IT people who feel they want to do something completely different. And we normally see one frame being built at home per course,” said Diana Rowsell, head of learning at the
museum.
According to Thompson, people come on the courses because of a passion for timber. “They tend to bring existing skills and merge them with the ones they learn over the week. The courses give them new eyes and another string to their bow. When someone goes on to build their own timber frame, they often get people from their course to help them.”
Between 10-25% of the participants are architects and engineers, or conservation officers.
“It is lovely to have architects on board because they á
Ü can appreciate the practical realities. They tend to come with preconceived ideas but they are open to see if they work or not. By the end of five days they have physically experienced the realities and if they had arrived with preconceived ideas, they have put them to rest,” said Thompson.
“We are trying to get them to appreciate the skill in conservation and engender respect for our existing timber heritage.
“There are particular craft rules which we try to get across here. It is about recognising that timber will have characteristics such as knots and bark and wane, but that it can all be used with care. It is ignorance that causes fear.”
The mortice and tenon are the building blocks of timber frame, according to Thompson, and 90% of joints in a building are variations of that family. “We know shrinkage is going to happen in the setting out of the timber – and again all we are doing is learning from the past.
“We give the students some theory and then they get on with the practice and as the theory begins to rear its head so we can deal with it by showing examples.”
Dave Swords used to run his own software company but is now in the process of deciding what to do for the next 20 years. “I have always had an interest in timber frame and five days is enough to find out whether I have an aptitude for it. I think I have learned enough here to start to understand how a building is put together, so I will be going home to practise morticing and tenoning and I am booked to come back on the next two courses.
“I am interested in doing self-build and in the long term would hope to build and sell to other people. There are so few people out there doing this. You get something from a timber frame building that you just don’t get from most places that are built these days and architecture can enhance the quality of your life. Learning to build a house was one of the main drivers for me. To be able to stand back and see the results of your efforts, such as good jointing – there is a lot of satisfaction in that. You get immersed in this stuff and Joe is one of those people who enjoys imparting knowledge.”
Justin Chapman, who is in his second year with Somerset-based practice Louise Crossman Architects, said: “What we are doing here goes into more detail than I need to understand in the job as an architect, but we are doing more and more work with specialist timber companies and the more understanding we have of what we are designing, the better. I am personally interested because I come from a farming background and like working with both hands and brain!
“People like the craft side of timber frame and things that are hand-made and have a heritage inherent to them. Then there is the sustainability angle – a renewable material that is sympathetic to the environment.
“We do a lot of conservation work and the way Joe runs this course is very much about putting things into an historical context. He is teaching it from 1725 and takes us to exhibits around the museum to show us where we have got to as far as what we are making today is concerned and that is really useful to me.”
Chapman said that in the West Country timber framing is less sophisticated, but added: “I am definitely going to be able to apply what I am learning. Architects should be encouraged to do more practical hands-on exercises. I understand so much more about the principles behind how joiners work. Before, I thought the pins were doing a lot of the work, but all they are doing is locating the joints and it is the joints that are doing all the structural work. I didn’t realise how tight the tolerances they work to are either – just fractions of an inch.”
