Hewing
Casual hewing in the woods, 2024
Before
industrialisation, hewing was the most common way to convert timber into beams, laying the non-seasoned trunk on bearers or tressels, using different types of
axes, and sometimes adzes.
With the increasing struggle of globalized industries hewing has the possibility to become more and more popular. It reduces the intermediates in between you and the tree, allows for curves and specific surface finish, and in some cases, ends up being cheaper than traditionnaly milled timber which is suffering from supply shortages. As an example, if the trees are well selected, I can hew 2 times 4 meters of 6"x6" in a day.
Notre Dame de Paris
Hewing of some timbers of the nave for Notre Dame de Paris, winter 2022-2023.
For the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris, french architects and historical monuments decided to re-do the roof as it was built nearly 800 years ago. I worked for a month alongside many other french and international carpenters, to hew a small part of the roof trusses, timbers ranging from 4 to 10 meters long.
Other
Notched finished on this future spine beam of the bakery of Marnay-Sur-Seine, fall 2018
Usually, the carpenter works each of the four sides at a time. He does notches and splits the wood in between the notches with a felling axe and finishes the surface with a finishing axe.
Beautiful winter (2017) morning to hew grey poplar posts in Marnay-Sur-Seine, France.
Casual hewing in the woods, 2023 and still going :)