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Ben, right on brother. I didn't take a class but started milling the Timbers and reading from books what I would need. As a Blacksmith I made all my Mortise chisels, drawknife and a couple of mallets. I've been in the trades all my life and always dreamed of building my own home. after renting for 40 years my wife and I bought a parcel of "raw" land in the mountains near Flagstaff Az. It was 3 years before I even started on the Timber Frame. I was digging dirt for those three years I.E. septic system, driveway, foundation etc.. It took me 18 months to do all the joinery in my shop. One Timber at a time. Yeah, you do get intimate with the Timbers! Every inch has had my hands on it multiple times. We raised our frame in Oct. 2020 (the height of the Pandemic) It's 750 miles from our current rental which makes it a whole lot harder. We now have the roof on and the walls with Tyvek. I bought a Woodland Mills sawmill last year so it is onsite. I haul Cants each time I go. I still have to do the plumbing , electrical, insulation windows and interior doors but we installed the wood fired cast iron stove last trip. It's a labor of love for sure. Good luck. instagram.com/theforgeworks/ if you're interested

Awesome job buddy! I want out last year and cut down a bunch of oaks and hand hewed to each log with an axe. Made a 16’x24’ log cabin. I’m building the fireplace for it now. Sooooo rewarding. I’ll never look at a cabin and see it as “a little shack on the hill” ever again!

Great to see the little ones involved a bit, they just loved being around their dad

You are a serious inspiration.

Would love to see more videos like this!!

Outstanding.

Great story Thanks for sharing ..!

Thanks for this one, great video, very much appreciated.

Awesome work, brother.

Heck ya! Really happy for you! It is my hope to do this soon.

Now add to that starting with standing timber. Making your own posts and beams. That is the size of our house we just built staring 2 years ago. We are 60 and 68 years old, respectively . Well done!

Please Keep us posted on progress.

Congratulations Ben! That's quite an accomplishment.

Great job, Ben & Family!!

Very inspiring! I’m planning to build a timber frame garden pavilion, I think I can muster up my confidence to do it now.

ive always wanted to learn how to timber frame, especially after cutting a few 70 year old pines on my property yesterday. i watched the video and thought to myself "i'm taking this class regardless of where its at in the country". i was happy to see a 207 phone number! turns out i'm about 35 mins away in waldoboro and already signed up as about 5 mins ago. 🙂

Right on . ❤ . That's a dream come true .

super inspirational Ben. i'm having a timber frame built by Shelter, but i know that if my late husband was still alive, he'd be taking the course and doing it himself. Your video somehow made me think of him; he was that type of hands on, goal oriented, back to basics, craftmanship type of guy. Thanks so much for sharing!

Ben, from one dad to another, you are a great dad.

Excellent job! Very satisfying to see you do this with your family for your family. Congrats brother!

Nice work in such a small space. Where there is a will there is a way. It is super satisfying building your own timberframe.

outstanding work, really nice job

Awesome story, great job!

Awesome work Ben! Great story.

Great job bud, sharing that with the kids too, will be a memory for them to last a lifetime. I will bet someday one of them will endeavor to build one of there own, and look to you for advice. Now take some time out and get on that bike!

Beautifully shot and edited, your video team is doing a great job.

WOW well done 👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍

Great job!😊

Fantastic, Great job Bro!!

Great Video thanks for sharing.

Very inspiring!! Video production done very well also. Great job!! 👏🏻

So cool, because even in the middle of construction, it has meaning of architecture at the timber frame. Your voice has wisdom and worth to listen staring. Thank you. That's really cool.

Well done! So proud of you for your accomplishment.

What a Legend

I live 10 miles from shelter institute....hoping to take sake class soon so i can build my own place.. great job.

Fan freaking tastic. Love this. You are living the dream, and i cant wait to do the same thing one day.

Awesome. What an amazing effort! Well done!

Hey, those are my pics haha! Super cool to see the process first hand. Ben is a stand up dude too!

Wow!! Really impressive work. I think the most impressive part is your ability to make time for this. My wife and I both work and we have 2 kids under 5. I’m curious about the wood: 1) What type of wood? 2) How / where did you buy it? 3) Did the wood need to ‘season’ / dry before you started working with it?

I love this. Seeing your children running around reminds me of when I built my home. I only wish you showed your sharpening rig.

This is so awesome. Tip of the cap sir. Love to do this in Australia but im sure the lumber would Cost 5x more

Great job Ben, my wife and I were in the same class with you and made it in your video.

This is awesome, thanks for sharing! Really inspiring story

Those are some long days sir, you're very humble about that sustancial sacrifice, but it's very commendable

Its funny how I never had that fear of messing up... since I timbered my own tulip poplar from my land, and didn't have to buy anything =]

Great Job….

Inspiring video. What will the barn floor look like?

@Shelterinstitute. How long did it take for you to cut all your timber joinery for your project and did you wait till you were finished with it all before assembly

Where did you purchase the sawn timbers? Amazing video. Well done

What book is shown around 1:50?

What is average cost per Sq. Ft

How much did this class cost ?

well if you want to build like the 1920s then you cannot use power tools

What is the book shown at 1:38?