The ArchChord King Post Truss "dry fitted" in the shop to ensure it fits together.
Creating a timber frame is truly an art passed down through generations. Every curve, every joint, every carved detail reflects a tradition of craftsmanship that has endured for centuries. For our Timber Oaks home, we chose the Arch Chord King Post Truss—a design known for its graceful lines and quiet elegance. Its curves bring a softness to the strength of the frame, a balance we fell in love with from the start.
Lancaster County Timber Frames elevates that beauty even further. Each timber is finished with a hand‑carved chamfer that begins and ends with intention, giving every edge a sense of movement and refinement. The joinery is equally thoughtful: every piece is nested into the next to accommodate the wood’s natural shrinkage over time, ensuring the frame settles into itself exactly as it should.
For the materials, we selected white oak for the interior frame—rich, timeless, and full of character—and Douglas fir for the exterior timbers, chosen for its strength and warm tone. And woven into this new structure are pieces of our past. A knee brace from our first timber frame home, Timber Springs, carries the carved date “2002,” linking the two homes across time. Two chords now bear the name “Timber Oaks,” and the king post is carved with “2026” to mark the beginning of our next chapter.
The LCTF Assembly Room at their York shop, with our posts and beams and chords. Mortise and tenons are being carved.
The beautiful white oak grain on one of the chords, which is the curved horizontal piece of the truss.
More of our timbers in an adjacent building, the perlins, which connect the trusses together horizontally, and the timbers for our foyer. These are sanded and ready for Danish Oil.
Holes being drilled for the ceiling fan installation in several ridge beams.
A king post for one of the five Arch Chord King Post trusses. This shows LCTF's unique carving and design with the embellishment at the end of the king post.
One of the Arch Chords. Each truss has two Arch Chords.
A wall being "dry-fitted." Everyone is happy that it all fits together perfectly.
The crew dry-fits one of the Arch Chord King Post trusses. You can get a sense of the many individual pieces that must fit together precisely.
2026 is our year to build another timber frame home. Note that natural "checking" adds character to the wood, but doesn't jeopardize its strength. Josh Coleman carved this by hand.
This is the knee brace from Timber Springs, our first timber frame home, leftover from the 2002 build.
Timber frame parts being sanded.
The template for carving “Timber” onto one chord—and eventually “Oaks” onto the opposing chord—creates the signature name of our property. The carved king post (see picture above) will have “2026” at its center.
Bathed in sawdust, and wearing a protective mask is Ed, the LCTF floor foreman at the shop. He will use these tools to carve "Timber Oaks."
These perlins and ridge beams have been sanded and oiled using Danish Oil.
This shows the finished versions of the two types of wood: white oak on the left for the interior framing, and Douglas Fir on the right for the front entry way and roof gable corbels. Note the beautiful "champher" carved into the edge of each piece and the grain of the wood.
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