From our good friend, French carpenter yogan. yogan’s work has appeared in four of our building books.
A few months ago with my friends Martin, Thomas and Orso from CopeauXcabanA, we went to the workshop where the new frame of Notre Dame de Paris was being built. All of the framing was done with oak that was 60 to 200 years old.
All the wood was squared on two sides by a sawmill and the other two by axes, following the wood fiber. They used 60 new axes that had been made by master blacksmiths.
In this workshop, 5 months of intensive axe work was necessary to square all the wood for making the framework of the choir and the apse.
Almost 800 trees were used for this part. The longest tie beam was 35×45cm (14″×18″), and 16m (52 feet) long. The largest rafter was 12 meters (40 feet) long.
In the workshop they tested all the frames before sending them to Paris, so we had the chance to climb and see this fabulous framework before it was installed in the cathedral.
Originally (900 years ago) they made all the frames in 12 years; this time it was accomplished in 1½ years.
The reconstruction of Notre Dame de Paris will be finished next summer.
Ten years ago, my friend Menthé and I sneaked into the cathedral, climbed up, took some crazy pictures before the fire!
From these experiences in this magic cathedral, we learned how to square wood with axes and we made our workshop, in CopeauXcabanA with these techniques.
copeauxcabana.fr/projets/atelier
