A week is a long time.

Well, it seems to be at Swan Barn Farm at the moment anyway, in the last week things have really moved on with the building.

The scaffolding has really changed the appearance of the structure.

It allows access to the roof, which is where work is going to be focused over the coming weeks. The first job on this front has been to get the wallplates and some of the wind braces in position.

The Wallplates sit on top of the vertical jowel posts and will support the outer end of the rafters. They are made out of the long lengths of larch we fetched from Valewood earlier in the year. Getting them here was a real challenge, and a bit of an adventure, so seeing them going into their finished position in the building is really exciting.

The joints in it started to be cut while it was in the field next door.

It was then lifted into position for final fettling. The telehandler lifted it onto the roof, from where it could be raised and lowered using metal tripods with a block and tackle.

The windbraces are the short 45 degree pieces, there will be a number of them throughout the build, they are designed to stop the building racking, or twisting, in the wind.

Once all the mortice and tennons had been finished and it was all lined up it was dropped into position.

A maul (the big rubber hammer) tapped the wallplate down into its final position.

Work has also been continuing on the glazed gable end frame.

The rebates have been cut in it so that it will be ready for glass to be fitted once it is in position. We are hopeing it is going to turn out to be one of the real highlights of the finished structure.

We are past the 7000 mark now on the shingle counter, great progress (still another 8000 or so to do though!) and perfect timing as it should mean we will have enough to shingle one side of the roof on time. I am really looking forward to seeing the roof taking shape.

Windbraces and Staddles

One of the jobs the framing team have been getting on with while the foundations are being prepared is making the windbraces and staddles for the building.

They are made of coppiced sweet chestnut, and came from Ridden Corner on Black Down.

Here you can see me up in the coppice cutting a staddle out of one of the poles. The staddles sit on the foundation stones and support the underfloor beams of the building. This allows the floor to be raised allowing for good air circulation and keeping the building nice and dry.

The staddles are joined to the building using mortise and tenon joints, above you can see the tenon being chiseled into the end of the staddle.

Staddles were traditionally used to keep graneries off the ground, you would probably recognise them as the stone mushroom which helped to keep out rodents. Above you can see a couple of finished ones with two windbraces stacked on top.

The windbraces form diagonal elements within the frame and are used to stop the building racking (or twisting) and going out of shape over time.

They are prepared using an adapted mortice box, this ensures the angles and lengths of the timber and the joints on the end of it are consistent throughout the frame.

Once the main cuts have been put on the timber it is strapped on the the framing bed to be held secure while the finer chisel work is done to create the tenons on either end.

They provide an important structural element, without them it could all go a bit wonky, but they also really add to the look of the frame, adding a lot of its character. Below you can see one of the finished ones.