Black Locust Kingpost Trusses

Joining round logs is one thing, but achieving a tight scribe-fit through the rugged furrows of black locust bark is quite another. Adam spent a few weeks teaching Carolina Timberworks staff how to seamlessly join black locust logs into kingpost trusses so that the crew could complete a larger project. This required formulating a rather involved scribing protocol. The results, however, were excellent, and complete the exterior of a rustic retreat in the North Carolina mountains. Here’s what Eric Morley of Carolina Timberworks wrote of this collaboration:

“When the opportunity arose to work on a unique and challenging project with round bark-on locust logs, we knew we had to consider the unknowns and ask ourselves tough questions about our in-house capabilities. This process, which we call a pre-mortem, led us to the second crucial step: knowing who to call. In this case, the choice was clear—Adam Miller. We convinced him to join us in North Carolina for several weeks to figure out how to not only scribe and join irregular locust logs with engineered mortise and tenon joinery (and some hidden steel) but also to do so while keeping the bark intact. To add to the challenge, we asked him to teach our team enough so they could complete the project after his departure. Reflecting on the experience, did we call the right expert? Absolutely.”