We are frequently asked by a client to put something special into our oak frames, something unique to them, whether it be a name or date carved over a door, or a family crest on a tie beam. In this case we were asked by the client to carve a pair of crown posts to a specific detail from the 11th century found in a book on medieval timber frames. After studying the design we rose to the challenge and the fun began. The Crown posts started life as a pair of plain 250mm square oak posts which we sliced onto octagons on our rack bench band saw, they were then marked out for the removal of the centre section to accept the braces. The marked out section then had around one hundred passes with a circular saw to set a depth and were finished once again on the rack bench. Once roughed out the posts were tennoned into their tie beams and the down bracing was scribed and fitted. Fitting the braces first protects the carving from damage. The posts were then fitted into the purlin and the process was repeated with the up braces. Back to the carving, each end was divided up into sections according to the original detail diagram, e.g. scallop, ovolo, half round, bull nose and so on. Each was the painstakingly treated with different chisels and gouges, generally smoothed out with a low angle hand plane. Each post was finish by hand with some high grit sand paper. And the transformation from plain post to unique feature was complete. These two crown posts were installed into the frame at our client’s home where they retain their structural function whilst looking stunning. We are always delighted when asked to put our mind to additional features that will complement the frame, and very willing to go the extra mile to make your frame unique.