Practical advise please- Building a Timber 'Cabin'

[Sparrowhatchforestry]

Not sure of the size and volume of the Oak you are wanting to have felled. But it may be worth creating a cutting list of all the timber you need and approaching you local sawmiller, you may be able to exchange your timber in the round for some kiln dried/seasoned Oak from their stock.

As far as I am aware and from the small amount of green woodworking that I have done (Sweet Chestmut and Oak roundwood) the frame, Shingles and Cladding can be made from Green Oak. therefore only the flooring and pegs would need to be out of kiln dried.

I usually start with scale drawings then produce a cutting list and go from there, It would be worth working out the volumes of wood you have and the value etc.

[splodger]

oldclaypaws - i can't offer any practical advice myself - but my father has a wealth of knowledge and i am sure he would be delighted to discuss at length with you the hows and how nots of working with green wood etc and buildings in general.

he is not a computer user though (he can't even use a mobile phone properly ) and the info would be too complex for me to relay back to you - but if you really want to talk to somebody about this and other projects - you'd be more than welcome to visit him at our little patch of woodland and chat away to your hearts content.

we are on hampshire / wilts border if you'd like to (and have time) to arrange a visit

[Hobby]

Hi OCP
When you say " Got positive noises from the planners ", is it your idea to use the cabin for storage ?.
Surely they didn't give favourable vibes on a cabin for residence did they ?.
I only ask as I have long given up on the cabin in the woods idea, but this might just relight the fire within.
Rgds Hobby

[Hobby]

Oh I getcha !!!
I've already got one of those, just wondered if you knew something that I didn't regarding a planning loophole.
Good luck with it anyway

[Rankinswood]

Hi,

I've just come across a great post on The Oxfordshire Woodland Group forum where information on participating on a course to build a cruck framed woodland shelter with The Carpenters Fellowship has been posted at :-

http://oxfordshirewoodlandgroup.co.uk/f ... topic&t=73

Has anyone ever had a go at doing this kind of thing in their own woodland ?

Rankinswood

[Rankinswood]

Hi,

An update on this project has been posted at :-

Cruck Timber Conversion

where pictures of an Alaskan sawmill converting timbers for use in the Harcourt Arboretum cruck project have now been posted.

Rankinswood

[Rankinswood]

Pictures of timbers converted using a Forestor "Tom Sawyer" horizintal band mill, to be used in the construction of the Harcourt Arboretum cruck frame, have been posted today on the Oxfordshire Woodland Group Forum at :-

Band Saw Timber Conversion

Barbara Czoch of the UK Carpenters Fellowship advises that work commenced to build the cruck frame on Monday 06th May 2013 at the arboretum and hopefully more pics of work in progress will follow in due course. The public are welcome to visit and see this traditional approach to timber framing.

Regards

Rankinswood

[Rankinswood]

Check out the Oxfordshire Woodland Group forum at :-

http://oxfordshirewoodlandgroup.co.uk/f ... rum&f=22.0

where annotated pictures of the cruck making process underway during May 2013 have been posted.

Regards

Rankinswood

[sandspider]

Maybe I'd better make notes and write a book, or get a TV crew and team of 50 'helpers' to do it for me while mucking about with explosives and homebrew (are you listening Mr McCloud?)

Ha! That made me chuckle. (I liked the way he drove hundreds of miles and used lots of electricity etc. to make fuel for his lamp - he could have just burned a bit of the petrol it took him to drive there! Good TV though)

Don't know if you've made any progress with this yet, but if you've not already seen the Grand Designs episode where Ben Law makes a house in the woods, I'd watch that. Ben Law also has a book (The Woodland House) where he explains the building process - a decent read, though a bit lacking in detail perhaps. Then again, he built a full good sized house, not a cabin so maybe you don't need all the details of electricity, plumbing etc. Worth a look...

[Rankinswood]

Hi,

More pictures of the woodland cruck framing project at Harcourt Arboretum have now been posted (21 May 2013) at :-

http://oxfordshirewoodlandgroup.co.uk/f ... rum&f=22.0

Rankinswood