Crosscutting for kits has traditionally been done by a series of manual crosscuts, perhaps linked to moving stops. The nature of timber frame kits means there are a lot of different sizes some of them very similar.

There are also very long pieces for the top and bottom rails, and quite short noggin/dwang pieces.
Cutting lists are generated either by scaling off drawings, or more often by taking a printed output from the timber frame design packages such as RCS, MBA, HSB etc.

A traditional highly skilled crosscut operator, will typically look at the cutting list and set his stop to cut the longest lengths first. He will then mark these off the cutting list and work down the list. Due to the time involved in resetting the stop or clamp for the size, he tends to cut all the same length first and puts the offcut to one side for using later. This method is not efficient in terms of yield, and involves double handling of timber. He then writes on the cut component the stick length for use in the assembly benches.



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