Build Your Own Timber Frame Class - North House Folk School - Grand Marais, MN
So I don’t remember when it was that Glenn signed us up for the Build your Own Timber Frame class at North House Folk School, but I do remember it seeming like the class date was forever away. I also remember being incredibly excited because I’ve wanted to take a class, any class, but specifically timber framing classes, at North House for years. This years everything finally lined up, I’d quit my job at the University, so I’d be free for ten days during the last weeks of August, and also this was Glenn’s trip, so I only had to pay for lodging, which I splurged on (thank you Megan) and rented us a cabin just a mile from the school. Which was ultimately beneficial as we decided to make daily video updates, which I made it six of the nine days that we were in class, mostly because I maxed out the storage on my iPhone, and also editing videos on an iPhone is a pain in the butt…
Travel Day Before class
Glenn and I had this big plan to get on the road earlyish, and then spend the afternoon brewery hopping our way along the north shore, collecting growlers of beer for the week. However, there where many things still on our to-do list when the travel day arrived and we got on the road late… which means we hit rush hour traffic through St. Paul, and didn’t get to our cabin until almost 1am. A stop at Costco for food, an unplanned chat with a state trooper who coincidentally shared mutual friends from Dundas, along with a stop in Duluth at the Ursa Minor Brewery for beers, pizza, and several crowlers since it would be our only beer stop. After all that we landed, unpacked, and passed out, ready for our first day of class.
Onward to the daily updates! The majority of these videos were shot and edited on an iPhone or iPad, which posed a unique set of challenges for both Glenn and I. We would spend all day in the workshop laying out and cutting our timbers, while also filming, and photographing our progress, then subsequently charging all our gear, before doing a wrap up video, eating dinner, then heading back to our cabin to edit, upload, and schedule our videos. Thankfully our cabin had wifi, or we would have been hosed.
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five
Day Six
Day Seven and Day Eight
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven
Day Twelve
Day Thirteen
Day Fourteen
Day Fifteen
Day Sixteen
That brings you up to date our progress so far. We’ll continue to update as we finish the roof and move the frame to its final location.