The Meditative Craft of Timber Framing Retreat

Tuition Costs: $1000 (5-day workshop) / $800 (4-day workshop)

Note: our March 8-11 workshop is a 4-day workshop and the tuition is $800. The remainder of the 2023 Timber Framing workshops are 5 days and the tuition is $1000. 

Our Timber Framing Workshops give you hands-on experience in timber framing – an ancient craft. This training offers you a unique opportunity to work with timbers in a mindful way. Enjoy being unplugged from your cell phone and discover the buried treasure a tree has for you.

For some, this experience could be a doorway into the rich world of wooden architecture and perhaps the beginnings of a career in timber framing. Regardless of your intent, the process of transforming a tree into one of the “bones” of a home is a magical privilege.

In this workshop, you will review the history of timber framing and contemporary practices used to build modern timber frame homes. Students will learn the basic principles of crafting a timber frame and will develop the following skills:

Wood selection: Learn how to choose the right timber in the correct orientation to transform a tree into a structural member of a home

Shop drawings: Understand EcoNest's simple grid system of integrating the timber frame with the architectural plans. Isometric drawings are used to communicate joinery details.

Layout: Learn how to take information from drawings and accurately and efficiently transfer them to the timbers before cutting.

Joinery: Learn to precisely cut mortise and tenon joinery with hand and power tools.

Sharpening: Using Japanese water stones, gain proficiency in giving your chisels, slicks and planes a supreme cutting edge.

Assembly: Learn to perfectly mate and peg joints with wooden pegs and preassemble timbers into subassemblies called bents and walls.

Raising: Participate in the experience of erecting a timber frame and see your patient hand-work become a three-dimensional reality. 

Please note: You will need to provide your own tools for this workshop, which typically cost between $300-$400. You will receive a detailed list of required tools upon registration.  Additional costs include your morning and evening meals and accommodation.

Register for the Meditative Craft of Timber Framing.