A Frame

We selected the poles for the first A frame and laid them out on our 4x4m framing square. The A frame consists of two cruck posts, a floor beam, cross beam and two dowel posts. First we cut a lap joint for the cruck posts where they will meet and hold the ridge pole. Once that joint was complete we strapped the frame to the square, laid the floor beam in place and marked the joints to be cut with the bottom of the cruck posts. The method we found most effective for cutting this type of lap joint was to cut each side of the joint with a saw and then at several points in between. We then removed the waste wood with a chisel to make sure the flat surfaces of all the joints were on the same plane we used a level to make a plumb line on the end of all the poles. We also tried using a chalk line but the curved shaped of the poles made that technique quite difficult.
Once the floor beam was fitted into the cruck posts we put the dowel posts in place and cut the mitre joints so they fit snug to the cruck posts and lap joints so they fit into the floor beam. The tenon joints were the next joints to be cut into the top of the dowel posts where the shoulder beams would eventually slot on with their corresponding mortise joints. The final beam to be put in place was the cross beam which needed to be high enough above the floor beam to allow Sam to walk through without ducking! As the cross beam isn't load bearing we used gouged joints to fit it in place with the cruck posts.
The final task was to secure the frame with the 1 inch oak dowels we made with draw knives and the dowel maker. We drilled holes in all the joints with an auger, made 3 inch wedges and 2 inch cuts in either end of the dowels which protruded 1 inch either side of the joints. When all the dowels were knocked into place we moved the frame off our framing square and repeated the whole process again for the second A frame!