A Smoky Mountain Barn Raising!

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WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS FRIENDS

Construction began in early May. With the assistance of a growing group of interested neighbors and acquaintances, the men logged native oak, poplar, and pine from the abundant resources surrounding the farm . . . and sawed the materials to size with a homemade sawmill. The barn-building was a "saw as you go" operation, too, with the crew at first mostly cutting 2" X 4" and 2" X 6" framing pieces and 1 " poplar boards (of random widths) for the flooring and subfloor.

After the subfloor was completed, Bill's helpers laid out forms for the structure's homemade laminated ribs . . . using a schematic diagram that the contractor had discovered in an old carpentry book. This was accomplished by first dividing the width of the barn into thirds along the plate line. Arcs were then drawn from the two marked points . . . in effect, setting a compass on the left-hand point to determine the right side of the roof's curve, and swinging the arc for the left side from the right-hand point.

Once the pattern was established, a roof jig was constructed on the subfloor by nailing form blocks in place. The men fastened the first set of blocks 3 inches outside the two scribed arcs. Then, allowing for the thickness of the rafter (5-1/4 ") plus the 3 inches, they nailed corresponding blocks in place inside the lines (see Fig. 1).

The resulting form was used to secure bent 3/4" X 3" pine boards that varied from 10 to 16 feet long . . . which workers first glued together and then reinforced with 8-penny nails. The joints in each of the seven layers (where one length of 3/4" X 3" plank ended and the next began) were always separated by at least 2 feet. After all the layers were joined together, the men drove hardwood wedges into the spaces between the two rafters and the outer blocks (as shown in Fig. 2) to securely clamp the boards.

The rafters didn't need to cure in the form . . . only to remain until the glue had dried thoroughly and all the nails had been driven. Then, before the curved members were removed from the jig, the top ends were plumb-cut: The center point was determined by dividing the width of the barn in two and extending a line perpendicular from that midpoint to the top of the arch formed by the left and right ribs . . . and the end of each laminated arc was cut—vertically—at a distance from that line equaling half the width of the timber that would later become the ridge board (see Fig. 3).

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