5 Attachment(s)
A Japanese timber framed garden shed
OK, way down here seems to be where garden shed discussions hide. Hello?
I'm into an unusual or maybe even exotic project: a Japanese framed shed, in Oregon, USA. This came about because a couple of years ago my wife asked if we could have a shed closer to our downhill garden to keep tools and supplies rather than uphill in our garage. Since the garage is also my shop I was enthusiastic. I can finally get all that gardening c**p out of my space. My only requirement was that I over-do it. She agreed. Why I'm glad I married her.
Here is my current sketch of the shed. For scale, the plan is 6 feet by 9 feet to center lines. Sorry, Imperial because that's how I started but I promise everything after this will be in metric. Not just to be courteous but because I realized later that with my mostly Japanese tooling metric would be much easier. For example, the posts are 120 mm x 120 mm.
Attachment 515049
The frame will be of Port Orford cedar, which I purchased 18 months ago from a sawmill about 5 hours from my home. After air drying it is now about 11-13% MC. I've milled the posts and beams square and to final dimensions mostly in my garage shop with jointer and band saw and some hand planing.
Here is the jointer with a hint of the band saw setup.
Attachment 515050
Attachment 515051
Rather than having a sill on continuous perimeter foundation I'm using a design in which the shed posts are scribed to stones set on concrete piers. A Japanese style called ishibatate or "standing on stones." Threaded rod set into the piers pass through the stones and into the posts. The post bottoms are scribed to the contour of the stones. A bit tedious to carve the posts but I wanted the visual effect of a post seeming to rise from the stone. It is also very stable.
Attachment 515052
Attachment 515053
More to come if there is interest.
Gary