How we built a traditional timber framed bar for a woodcraft festival in Somerset

In August we held our 5th Woodcockstock, a weekend festival of crafting and music on the Devon/Somerset border. Woodcockstock is an intimate woodcrafting weekend with live and amplified music and a strong lean towards folk and electronica. Each year we improve the infrastructure and overall festival experience with more or larger hot tubs, cold plunges, workshops and this year we built a traditional timber framed bar! Here’s how the bar came together.

The Poison Apple pop-up pub! Thanks to Laurel Molly for the beautiful pub sign.

Topping Out Ceremony

First of all to say this bar was built by our wonderfully talented and hard working friend Luke who was visiting from the US and who we met on the timber framing course in Brecon at Hewnwood.

This is Luke ‘Topping Out’ the frame. The Topping Out marks the moment the final structural beam is secured at the highest point of the frame. The ritual involves a branch or small sapling (sometimes decorated with flowers or ribbons) being pinned or nailed to the peak. This was historically done to appease the tree spirits displaced during the harvest of the timbers, to give thanks to the forest, and to symbolise the growth and life of the new home. A toast is made by the master carpenter and the drink (normally wine or ale) is poured over the topmost part of the structure, the branch or sapling. Our desire was to bless the structure, and wish good luck to all those who frequent it. Thank you Luke.

Finding level 

The whole frame needs to be level, so that when the mortise and tenons are marked up, the cuts are made and the structure is raised it all sits perfectly upright, strong and solid. This construction method has been for thousands of years, these buildings stand the tests of time. Here you can see Luke and able assistant Theo making sure the frame and posts are level. 

By this point the braces had already been marked up and cut, below you can see the process that is followed, called plumb bob scribing. 

Plumb Bob scribing 

Here’s a close-up of a brace being marked up to fit into the top plate. The brace will have a tenon and the top plate will have the mortise. You have to measure down from a reference point and visualise the brace (currently sitting on top) travelling down into the position it will be in once marked-up, cut and slotted into place. 

As you can see, the string line from the plumb bob shows the angle of the brace. You have to put your eye in line with the top edge of the brace to see how far away from the string line the edge is, then mark that distance on the top plate relative to the string line.

You then need to repeat this on both sides of the brace and the top plate until you have marked up exactly where to cut out the mortise and tenon. It’s not easy, lots of practice helps. 

Tidy fit

This brace just needs a gentle tap and it fits perfectly into the post. Holes are drilled through the mortise, which you can see here. Then the holes are marked up on the tenons (now inside the mortise) with an off-set marker which will be off-set by 3mm towards the shoulder of the joint. The brace is removed and holes drilled so that when the pegs are hammered through the holes it pulls the brace tight into the post.

Pegs!

Made from a mixture of ash and oak. These pegs need to be just the right width and taper so that they go in one side and not entirely out the other. Using pegs is traditional for timber framing and means the structure can be dismantled and moved or stored. We greased our pegs and after the event were able to very easily dismantle the frame and have stored it, ready to be used for another event.

Get in touch if you’d like to hire our timber frame or if you’d like a quote for your own. 

Thank you team

We had such an amazing team of helpers for this year’s Woodcockstock. Huge thanks go to them all.