Teaching

I've had the pleasure of leading workshops in several different capacities, including co-leading a Timber Framers Guild community build project, helping to lead an international project to construct Estonia's first wooden covered bridge, and teaching a "forest-to-frame" course where we started in the woods selecting trees and finished by raising a frame.

I enjoy leading timber frame workshops, and am happy to take inquiries about further teaching opportunities.

Hogback Community College Workshop

In the spring of 2015, I collaborated with David Brynn of Vermont Family Forests and the Hogback Community College to co-teach a workshop called Forest to Frame. Participants in this workshop, held over the course of three Saturdays, were introduced to the entire process of timber framing: a foundation of sound forestry principles, selecting and felling trees, milling and hand-hewing timbers, lay-out and cutting timber frame joinery, and finally hand-raising the frame! The fruit of our labor is a lovely 10×10 shelter over the Ann Hoover dam on the Waterworks property in New Haven, VT.

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Vanaajamaja Course, Estonia

In the spring of 2014 I taught a one-week timber framing course to Estonian carpenters, which was hosted at the workshop of Vanaajama, an Estonian non-profit dedicated to traditional building techniques and historic preservation. We laid out, cut and raised a small pavilion for a local residential school.

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Jaruska Covered Bridge, Estonia

In August of 2012 I was invited to north-east Estonia to help lead the construction of the first wooden covered bridge in the country. Over the course of four weeks, an international crew of volunteers fabricated and erected the bridge, clear-spanning 28 meters (92 feet). The bridge replaces an older simple wooden bridge that had been destroyed by ice ten years ago. Part of the public road system, it connects a tiny rural community to a main road, saving them a 10-mile detour. Due to constraints with engineering regulations in the country, the bridge design used metal brackets and bolted connections; however the lattice-truss design mimicked those built across the eastern US in the 19th century.

The project went very well, with the team of volunteers, leaders, engineer, and local community all converging to lend a hand. The beautiful countryside, excellent farm cuisine, and welcoming people didn’t hurt. Plans are already incubating for the next visionary, international project to take place in Estonia.

I was privileged to join the lead team as a representative of the Timber Framers Guild, and to join the owners of two prominent Estonian traditional-building companies, Hobbiton and Tender Ehitus.

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Old Stone House Museum

In June 2012 I did a stint in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont as a lead instructor for the Timber Framers Guild of North America. With two others, I led a crew of 20+ volunteers from all around the country as we hewed, cut, and raised a gallows-frame English barn in Brownington, VT. The project was done for the Old Stone House Museum, a fantastic museum of 19th-century history, including many fine buildings. Our barn replicated the original, which had been demolished in 1910. Check out the archive of daily blogs from the ground here.

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