Learn the Art of Timber Frame Joinery

The Purely Post & Beam Class is our most popular seminar -- truly outstanding. The heart of timberframing is exquisite joinery which is done in this class to perfection. Evoloved over thirty five years, this class offers enormous manual skill development, engineering judgement, best use of time, physical coordination, cooperation and comraderie: five joyful days packed with knowledge. Weather along the coast of Maine can be unpredictable but, don't worry, we build inside our 5,000 s.f. heated shop - we keep it at an optimal working temperature.

Students build an entire, full-size 24'x24' timber frame in one week. The frame is complete with notched braces, dovetailed tenons, and wedged mortice and tenon joints. We spend quite a bit of time on the use and care of your tools. In particular, you will learn to sharpen your chisels to a razorsharp edge! Classroom lectures include drafting, design, engineering and enclosure. Thursday evening before the raising, a special pot luck supper prepares us for the heavy lifting.

Graduates leave fully capable of designing, joinering, assembling and erecting a massive timber frame: an inspiring "can-do" class. The non-refundable registration fee holds a place (or two) in the class. The balance of tuition is due the first day of class. Once you register, we send you our housing and tool lists so you can make appropriate arrangements for your stay. Preview the tool list so you can identify what items you already own and which ones you may need to purchase. We carry a great selection of timber framing tools in our store and offer students a 10 percent discount. Our online store has pricing and product information to get you started but we encourage you to purchase any necessary tools during the class because we have a very thorough tool tutorial on the first evening of the class.

Non-Refundable Registration Deposit:$300 To be deducted from tuition - balance due the first day of class. This Registration fee can be transferred once at no charge. A second request for transfer will incur a $100 transfer fee and a third request for transfer will result in the loss of deposit.