Timber Framers Guild in Suriname
Timber Framers Guild in Suriname - 16 of us (including 4 CF members) recently travelled to the South American jungle, where we joined 12 locals for the raising of a 140ft long, 3-story frame for Conservation International. The site is located on Foengoe Island, approximately 120-miles up the piranha-infested Coppername River and in the heart of the 4-million acre Central Suriname Nature Reserve.
The frame consists of 2166 cubic feet of brownheart, purpleheart and kope timbers that were joined by Bob Smith and Donna Williams of Bear Dance Joinery, Adrienne Walker of Dark Horse Timber Framing and 3 local carpenters lead by Surinamer Jarrell Hennes. Each of the 657 timbers (weighing up to 1800lbs a piece) was transported to the site by dug-out canoe, and then lifted onto the island with a site-built highline and shotgun carriage that we designed and Troll McCook helped us span 400ft across the river.
The Guild team was led by Gord Macdonald, Rick Collins, John Miller and Steve Lawrence with support from 'Special Agent' Walker. The frame was raised by hand (including 1 frame that was lifted by the light of a full-moon and to the accompaniment of live music), with single lifts up to 12,800 lbs, and we also laid over 15,000 ft of greenheart decking by hand, before topping-out on Suriname's Independence Day.
Highlights included: checking our mortises for tarantulas, supping on piranha fritters, and skinny-dipping with the Monkey Girls! More info on the TFG website at http://www.tfguild.org/suriname/ and more of Steve Morisson's incredible photography at http://homepage.mac.com/steve_morrison/PhotoAlbum5.html Posted by Gord Macdonald, Photos by Steve Morisson.
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