Framing Chisels, Slicks, Mallets, and Saws

A small kit

A timber frame can be cut with a surprisingly small set of tools. North House’s list for students building their own frame is a good minimum: a 1 1/2-inch chisel with at least a 5-inch blade, a wooden mallet of 20 to 40 ounces with a wood, plastic, or rawhide head, and ear and eye protection. Optional: a framing square, combination square, tape measure, pencil, circular saw with a sharp thin-kerf blade, extension cord, hand saw (Japanese pull saws with crosscut and rip teeth work well), a corner chisel, and a slick ¹.

The framing chisel

A framing chisel is a large, heavy, socket- or tang-handled chisel, typically 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide with a long blade, struck with a mallet to chop mortises and pared by hand to clean surfaces. The 1 1/2-inch width isn’t arbitrary: in many small frames tenons are 1 1/2 inches thick, so mortises are 1 1/2 inches wide, and the chisel matches.

Good framing chisels are made by specialty makers and by Barr, Sorby, and others; less expensive contractor-grade chisels work if they hold an edge and are measured to be exactly the stated width ¹.

The slick

A slick is a very wide chisel, often 2 1/2 to 4 inches, with a long handle, pushed with body weight, never struck. It pares tenon cheeks flat, trues shoulders and housings, and cleans the walls of mortises. It’s one of the most satisfying tools in the shop when sharp.

Mallets

Use a wooden mallet or a dense plastic or rawhide one on wooden-handled chisels; a steel hammer splits handles. A heavier commander (a big wooden maul) drives tenons home, pushes joints together, and drives pegs at assembly.

Saws

• Crosscut shoulders and ends: a sharp crosscut handsaw or a Japanese pull saw, often after a circular saw has cut most of the depth.
• Rip tenon cheeks: a rip saw, or a circular saw set to depth with the waste broken out and pared.
• Circular saw: the workhorse in modern hand-tool framing, for kerfing shoulders, cutting cheeks in several passes, and squaring ends. A 7 1/4-inch saw cuts about 2 1/4 inches deep; big “beam saws” cut deeper.

Cut on the waste side of every line and pare to it.

Layout and measuring tools

• Framing square: the big steel square, 16 by 24 inches, for layout, checking square, and laying out brace angles and rafter cuts.
• Combination square and a small try square for marking lines around timbers.
• Tape measure, a sharp pencil, and a marking knife for crisp shoulders.
• A slick-sided story stick for repeating measurements without reading numbers.
• A level and a long straightedge.

Sharpening

Green wood is easy to cut with sharp tools and miserable with dull ones. Keep chisels and slicks honed to a keen edge on stones (coarse, medium, fine, then strop), and touch them up often during the day. Bevel angles around 25 to 30 degrees suit framing chisels; flatten the back first. A slick’s wide back needs to be truly flat to pare well ².

Working safely

• Keep both hands behind the edge when paring; clamp or wedge the timber so it can’t roll.
• Wear eye and ear protection, especially with power tools.
• Lift timbers with enough people or with rollers, cant hooks, and a come-along; green timbers are heavy (a 6×8 × 12-foot pine timber can weigh well over 100 pounds).
• Work at a comfortable height on sawhorses or timber trestles.

What to take from this

The core framing kit is a 1 1/2-inch framing chisel, a wooden mallet, a slick, a crosscut and rip saw (or a circular saw plus handsaw), a framing square, and a combination square. Keep edges very sharp, cut on the waste side and pare to the line, and handle heavy green timbers with care.