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Chris's Report: January 23The past two days have been spent with Marcus Brunn from Deitrich's in the computer lab. We were painstakingly led through the design of a small Fachwerk structure very similar to the one built and auctioned off at the Montebello Conference last fall. For the uninitiated, Dietrich's offers very powerful timber frame design software. Two days was not enough to overcome the rather steep learning curve, but it certainly was enough to give us a taste of the value of this program, and why nearly every Holzbau shop here uses it. Friday evening was the annual Zimmermann party for all graduates of the Gewerbe Akademie. Roughly 100 attended, mostly clad in traditional garb; some sported the working clothes, some the traveling clothes, and some wore formal wear. Heiner explained that the large brimmed hats and bell bottom pants grew from the use of the pit saw, thus diverting the saw dust. We should have known better than to have assumed it was a fashion statement by this lot. A few of us participated in the slide show, with commentary translation by Oliver Armandi from Deitrich's. The German crowd seemed to be as interested in our work as we are in theirs. There is much room for further transatlantic communications and cooperative ventures. The party was a great opportunity to socialize and celebrate in German style, and the mood around here is rather subdued this morning as a result. Our group continues to benefit from the presence of Michael Ruehle from Florida. Michael has a duel Canadian / German citizenship, and we have benefited enormously from his impeccable German. Thanks, Michael. Thanks also to Tony Wall, whose proficiency with Deitrich's was generously shared this week, making our experience that much better.
Chris's Report: January 25We made a field trip deep in to the Black Forest today, nearly to the Swiss border. Finally a sunny day and real snow! A German timber framing company, Bruno Kaiser Holzbau, invited us to visit a home under construction in Bernau. It's done in the traditional German alpine style, with beautiful overhanging roofs and decks. The timber is all spruce, as is virtually all timber being grown, harvested, and worked in Germany today. This 3,000± square foot home consumed 200 cubic meters of wood. This afternoon a group of us went to visit Kurt Danner's farm. Kurt has been extraordinarily gracious and accommodating, and we are further enriched by our trip to his third generation farm near Rottweil. We visited his barns, his wood sawing and processing facility, his cows, goats, chickens, and cats -- and best of all his lovely wife and children. Chris's Report: January 28Our final week has so far been consumed by the design and construction of a model. This one is a doozy. A regular hip, an irregular valley, a sloping ridge, plumb fly rafters and a flat fly rafter. We started with a ground plan, showing only roof pitches and overhangs. We are developing profiles for the complex pieces at the moment. The beauty in this method is that we are forced to develop a very graphic picture of the piece, using logical geometric techniques, before trig throws us for a loop. Now we know what all those crazy angles mean. A bit of fun has managed to be had as well. Monday evening we drove to Schiltach, a town straight out of the Middle Ages, with more Fachwerk homes than any of us can swing a knockwurst at. Schiltach also offers a logging museum, replete with a 180-year-old water powered operable saw mill. After our tour, Georg (the stairbuilder), who comes from this area, toured us through a 1780 farm house a friend of his is restoring. Then to a traditional black forest farmer's dinner. This farm also has a license to distill schnapps. We felt it was our duty to sample a few. Photos and text by Chris Koehn Click on any photo for a larger view
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