Oxfordshire Woodland Group

The cruck frames are laid out on top of cribbing timbers above plywood spot boards that have been secured to pegs driven into the ground. Chalk lines are then snapped on to the spot boards marking the full size cross section profile of the building to act as a template that both the cruck and gable end frames will need to be made to match to ensure that the whole building fits together.

The cruck blades employed in this frame have been made from Log 2 and are a mirror images of each other.

The cruck blades are joined together at the top using an open "bridle" mortice & tenon joint

The cruck blades are held together using a collar.

The collar ends have substantial tenons that fit into mortices made in the cruck blades.

The front and rear wall frames are attached to the crucks using "spur" pieces that mortice and tenon the the rear face of the long wall main posts and lap joint to open mortices on the cruck blades.

The cruck frame parts are trial assembled to make sure that they fit together perfectly and align with the the layout lines marked on the spot boards.

A lorry strap is used to pull up tight the cruck and collar assembly and then nudged into position over the spotboard layout lines.

After the cruck frame is disassembled the outside faces of the blades are profiled to provide space to accomodate and match up with the intermediate wall posts

Ken Hume
Executive Trustee -Oxfordshire Woodland Group

Now check out Cruck Photomontage at Woodland Building Site