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Brackenhaw Frames
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Green oak framing

Green oak
frames for the house you are building.

We cut and raise green oak frames for self-builders and architects, one frame at a time.

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One offer, one audience, one next step. Everything on this page.

A framer's hands drive a chisel into a green oak beam with a wooden mallet, pale oak shavings curling out of the cut.
Assistant on your siteEvening

We are building a barn style house on our own plot. Can you frame it in green oak?

Yes. Send us the plans, or a sketch, and we will draw the frame and tell you what the oak needs.

We have drawings from our architect already. Where do we send them?

  • Drawn by the people who cut it.The frame is designed at the same bench where it is cut, so nothing is lost between the drawing and the oak.
  • One yard, one crew.The crew that cuts your frame is the crew that raises it on your site.
  • Oak that is meant to move.We draw for green oak, so the drying tightens the joints instead of opening them.
What we do

Three things, in the order a build happens.

Drawing, cutting and raising. The same yard and the same hands from the first line to the last peg.

A frame drawn in pencil on the bench, a rule and dividers resting on the sheet Design and drawing

A frame that fits your plans.

We take the architect's drawings, or your sketch, and turn them into a frame plan, a cutting list and a raising sequence.

  • Frame plan from your drawings
  • Cutting list and joint schedule
  • Engineer's checks arranged
A tie beam on trestles with a mortise half cut, the mallet and chisel left in the cut Cutting

Every joint cut in our yard.

Green oak, cut by hand and by saw, pegged and dry fitted on the yard floor before it leaves.

  • Pegged mortise and tenon joints
  • Dry fit on the yard floor
  • Braces and purlins matched
A tie beam hanging in hemp slings from a crane hook, coming down onto two raised posts Raising

Up in a few days, on your site.

We bring the frame, the crane and the crew, raise it bay by bay, and leave it ready for the enclosure.

  • Raising on your site
  • Enclosure and roof ready
  • A day to walk it with you
A framing yard with a bay of green oak laid out on the floor and timber stacked behind
The yard The yard, early. Oak stacked in stick and the first bay laid out on the floor.
Work

A few raised frames.

Each one drawn, cut and raised by us. All of them are examples.

A raised green oak barn frame standing open in a field
Hollinwick BarnAn open aisle barn frame with a cart entrance, raised in a field with no road.
A green oak house frame with a jettied upper floor, seen from the corner
Brantlow HouseA cross wing house frame with a jettied first floor, drawn with the architect.
A single bay green oak workshop frame with its roof timbers on, seen through the gable
Corrickfold StudioA single bay workshop frame with a queen post roof, raised in a weekend.

Example projects for a business that does not exist.

A framing bench with a mortise half cut, a mallet and chisel resting beside it
A framer at the bench, turned toward the joint they are cutting
Studio

A small yard, and the people in it.

We started because the drawing, the cutting and the raising kept going to different hands. Here they do not.

  • Edda BrackenhawFramer and founder
  • Orrin SallowDrawings and cutting lists
  • Wren TarrowYard and raising

We take on a few frames a year, and we say so when the yard is full.

Three bays of green oak frame standing newly raised in a field, the last tie beam still in its slings
Questions

Asked before every frame.

If yours is not here, ask us. We answer the same way.

Riven oak pegs standing in a bowl on the bench, a drawknife beside them
Can you work from our architect's drawings?

Yes. Send them as they are. We draw the frame to suit them and send it back for the architect to check before anything is cut.

How long does a frame take?

A few weeks in the yard, then a few days to raise. We give you a raising date once the oak is in and we keep to it.

Why green oak and not dried timber?

Green oak cuts cleanly, pegs tight and settles as it dries. We draw the frame so that the movement works for the joints, not against them.

Do you do the enclosure and the roof?

We raise the frame and leave it ready for both. We can name people who do the enclosure, and we stay in touch with them while they work.

What do you need from us to start?

Your plans, or a sketch and a plot, and a rough idea of when you want to be raising. That is enough for the first conversation.

A plot pegged and strung out on rough grass, the oak stacked and a rolled drawing waiting on a block
Contact

Tell us about the house.

Write a line about the plot and the plans. We answer with what the oak needs and when we could raise.

Or ask the assistant at the top of the page. It knows the yard and the way we work.