Members of the Brown County Woodworking Club begin preassembly of a timber frame structure.
other special events on days not booked with performances, according to Executive Director Christian Webb. The community-owned music center sends 100 percent of its profits to the Brown County Community Foundation and the county commissioners for cultural and infrastructure improvements.
“ It’ s amazing to find this many people willing to donate their time,” said volunteer Mike Riebl.“ A group like this doesn’ t come along that often.”
Club members have been working independently and collectively on the music center structure for nearly a year, Riebl said. The 4,800 board feet of timber comprising the 14-by- 28-foot winged pavilion was all Brown County red and white oak trees a year ago. Volunteers always keep their eyes and ears open for trees that fall during storms or need taken down, Riebl said. Members use their personal trucks, tractors, sawmills, planers, wood kilns, and other equipment to gather, cut, hone, and dry the wood into usable timber.
“ The work involved before we ever do the actual timber framing is enormous,” Riebl said.
Timber frame construction is a building method that dates back to 200 BCE where timbers are shaped and connected with simple, wooden joinery and wooden pegs. Equipped with hand chisels, chain mortisers, a behemoth wooden hammer, and a lot of collective brain power, the Woodworking Club worked at Riebl’ s wood shop in Gnaw Bone to ready 120 timbers, some weighing 500 pounds each. He guessed that each beam would cost around $ 1,000 if purchased commercially.“ It would never be feasible or reasonable to try to commercially build a structure like this,” he said.
Club member Jim Stewart said he was excited for the opportunity to learn timber framing in the club because,“ it’ s a skill not many people still do.” Stewart came to the club with experience in construction at Indiana University and in furniture making as a hobby.
Continued on 18
Nov./ Dec. 2024 • Our Brown County 17