Projects
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The always public-spirited members of the Timber Framers Guild enjoy challenges. They like nothing better than taking on a huge project – like building a 120' bridge – and getting everyone in the community involved to help them with the project. We describe a few of these community projects below. To view a bigger version of these tiny photos, click on them. But be patient. They are large, as are the efforts and contribution of all the people you see. Habitat for Humanity housesIn 1989, in Hanover, Pennsylvania, nearly the entire Guild membership assembled and raised two frames in six hours for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit group dedicated to providing affordable housing. Individual timbers were cut by volunteers at hundreds of shops around the U.S., in Canada, and overseas, and brought together at the site for the mass raising. (Panorama photos of the Habitat houses and Guelph bridge were taken by Mark Crabtree.) Guelph bridgeIn 1992, the Guild again gathered for a major group effort, this time a 120-foot clear-span covered bridge for Guelph, Ontario. The lattice bridge, built for pedestrians over the Speed River, culminated a month of construction and a year of planning with the City of Guelph. 
photo by David Brill  A team of Guild designers and engineers worked out the structural questions and produced the working drawings. The giant lattices were built in advance by small crews under the direction of a Guild bridge expert, and the massive 74-ton bridge was assembled and roofed over by 350 Guild members attending the 1992 International Conference. Russian ship buildingIn 1992 and again in 1993, Guild work parties traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, to assist a Russian youth-service organization cut and raise a structure to house an apprentice shop for boat building. Malabar barn raisingPerhaps the most spectacular raising, certainly in terms of the number of spectators involved, was a barn raising in Ohio in 1994. Over a three-day period, 200 Guild members reconstructed the main barn at Malabar Farm State Park, as some 25,000 spectators watched. This spectacle is believed to be the largest community barn raising of this century. GUILD WORKSHOPS, PUBLIC PROJECTSGuild workshops serve a dual purpose. They not only teach timber framing skills to members and nonmembers alike, but they also produce useful and usable public structures. For example: The Rindge PavilionParticipants in a workshop on modern joinery techniques and materials in 1993 built an outdoor pavilion for Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, New Hampshire. We posted a 3D image of this pavilion on our site. Sterne Park GazeboIn 1994, a workshop on complex joinery produced an octagonal gazebo for Sterne Park in Nacogdoches, Texas. The gazebo includes cypress posts and recycled yellow pine in the roof trusses. The octagonal structure was based on some sketchy information that an eight-sided structure once existed on the site. (You can view this gazebo in 3D.) Logging MuseumThat same year, a French carpenter taught his American compatriots European methods while constructing a pavilion for a logging museum in Penetanguishene, Ontario. Other Projects1995 was the busiest year yet for Guild project teams. In May, in scenic Big Sky, Montana, participants taking a log scribing methods workshop built a pavilion for a fly fishing ranch there. Later that summer, on the east coast, workshop participants used only hand tools to build a boat house out of driftwood on an island in Maine; in a later workshop, students used 17th century methods to recreate a barracks building for a living history museum. Ronald McDonald HouseIn late 1995, Guild workshop attendees cut and raised a frame for a Ronald McDonald House in Bend, Oregon. Friendship PavilionIn March 1996, the Guild built, again as a workshop, an outdoor education pavilion for the Texas Parks and Wildlife department in Tyler, Texas. The Friendship Pavilion is being used as an outdoor classroom and gathering area built for the East Texas Ecological Education Center. Much financial assistance was provided by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, part of the U.S. National Park Service. Local forest product companies supplied materials free or below cost. In this class, 29 students produced the building in a week under the guidance of 6 Guild member instructors. The building was based on a common industrial form often used in sawmills in this major forest products region. The pavilion is now finished and the balance of the facility is being built around it. A wedding of the two principles behind this project will take place in the pavilion later this fall. Dolly Copp PavilionA 1996 project involved the reconstruction of the Dolly Copp Pavilion, a log structure built by the Forest Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's near Gorham, New Hampshire. From July 7-20, timber framers from across North America camped in the torrential and copious rain from Hurricane Bertha for a rendezvous in the White Mountains to repair that historic building. From its beginnings as a craft organization, the Guild continues to reach out in unexpected directions to reflect the whole lives of its members. Projects, workshops, and public service will continue to play a major role in the future and well-being of this unique organization. 
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 Complete Project List
Habitat for Humanity project (click to enlarge). 
Elk City Open Air Pavilion. 
Texas Children's Garden Pavilion  Effinger Community Gazebo 
Appalachian Trail Shelter  COLTS Woodshop 
Gould Farm Barn 
Crawford Barn Raising for Longaberger 
Indiana Windmill
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