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Tim is Carpenter Oak & Woodland’s managing director. Tim has extensive experience of managing companies of all sizes, in many business sectors, including construction and building. Tim’s no-nonsense hands-on approach, coupled with his outstanding management experience and commercial acumen, make him the ideal complement to the craft-based skills of the rest of the team.
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A couple of years ago I read what must be the world’s worst novel by a guy called Colin Forbes. It was so bad I felt compelled to pen a critique of it so I could warn off anyone else from repeating my folly. Amazon did see fit to heavily edit it, because apparently they can’t allow personal abuse (but happily did leave in ‘Please don’t buy this, it will only encourage him’), following which I decided that my career as a critic was over.
That having said, I’ve just finished going through TRADA’s ‘Green Oak in Construction’ book, and felt it was worth having another go. Well in short, it’s really good, and I’d fully recommend it for any relative novice seeking to get a more in-depth technical knowledge. It’s pretty comprehensive given the constraints of its size, and seems to cover many of the questions that we are regularly asked at our CPD events. One of the things I admire about this publication is the way that it makes the subject seem easy – great for general education. What I would have liked was for the publication to have stressed more highly the importance of experience and the role of skilled craftsmen and designers in creating quality structures. I guess this leads me to my only real concern – that it might be used by someone who thinks that it is all they need to know to make a good green oak frame – and let’s face it, there are already way too many ‘wanabee’ framers out there proving the theory about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. However, this is just a small criticism, and one which shouldn’t detract from the qualities of this book.
What is most important about this publication is the long awaited new rules for strength grading, which offer an much needed alternative to the existing hardwood standards which are largely unhelpful, if not misleading. These new rules define two grades for general framing work and three structural grades. For a long time, we have operated to our own specification for timber and have developed relationships with trusted mills to grade and supply to that specification – like these rules our specification takes into account different and more specific uses than the hardwood standards. What these new rules do is provide a meaningful and consistent approach that the whole industry can work to – taking away excuses from those who don’t grade properly, and providing consistence of understanding between specifiers, designers and the manufacturers alike. We are delighted to endorse these new rules.
And, on the positive side, three of the case studies were built by us!
It’s not cheap, but it’s worth it – go buy one!
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