Introduction

Tools

Hewing

Raising a Model Barn

All of the barns at Howell Farm were constructed using timberframing techniques.  Whether the barn is on its orginal site or has been moved from another location, the frames consist of heavy timbers fastened together with pegged mortise and tenon joints.  The barn frames were raised using the techniques shown in the sequences showing the raising of a model barn and the raising of the Charles Fish Barn.

The basic elements of a barn frame are shown in the illustration below.  Basically all of the barns at Howell Farm are English barns made up of a series of parallel bents.  The space between the bents is a bay.  English barns are often designated by the number of bays they contain.

This model of the Henry Phillips Barn shows the two original sections - a four-bay English barn on the right and a three-bay English Barn in the center.  Two later addtions are in the back center and on the left.

The basic pegged mortise and tenon joint is illustrated in the model below.  The mortise is a squared hole in the timber and the tenon is the shaped end that fits into the mortise.  The drilled holes line up for the securing peg.