Does anyone else find the craftsmanship on the Notre-Dame restoration project absolutely insane?

The sheer scale of the Notre Dame project is hard to wrap your head around if you’ve only ever worked with dimensional lumber from a big-box store. For that restoration, they relly did go back to basics with what they call "The Forest." They used over a thousand oak trees, and a huge chunk of that work was done using **hand-hewing** techniques with broadaxes. The reason isn't just for historical accuracy; when you hew a beam by hand following the grain, you don't sever the wood fibers like a circular saw does. This makes the timber naturally stronger and more resistant to rot, which is vital when you're building a roof meant to last another eight centuries. I’ve done some timber framing on smaller barn restorations, and even on a minor scale, the layout work is intense. You’re using "scribing" techniques where every single joint is custom-fit to its mate becuase no two hand-hewn beams are perfectly square. It’s a slow, methodical process that requires a lot of patience. Seeing a guy get recognized with a wedding in the cathedral is the ultimate payoff for that kind of obsession. It acknowledges that his sweat and skill are literally woven into the fabric of the monument now.

It’s definatly refreshing to see a tradesman in the spotlight for somthing other than a quick DIY tip. Most people look at a roof and just see the exterior, but we see the skeleton and the joinery holding it all together. That guy looks exactly like the kind of person who’s spent years swinging a mallet and checking tenons. I just hope the clergy didn't corner him after the vows to ask if he coud take a quick look at a sticking door or a loose floorboard in the vestry.

Usually, the high-end architectural world is all about the architects and the donors, but this project felt different. When you’re dealing with **mortise and tenon** joints secured by wooden pegs on that scale, you’re practicing a craft that hasn't changed much since the middle ages. It makes a weekend deck project feel small, but the core principles of gravity and wood movement are exactly the same. It’s all about respecting the material you're working with.

That bit about hand-hewing making it stronger beacuse of the grain is wild. I always figured modern machines were just better in every way, but I guess nature knows best. It makes me wonder how a beginner even gets into this stuff. Like, do you just buy a broadaxe and start hacking at a log in the backyard, or is there a specific way to learn without ruining a perfectly good piece of oak? I'm struggling just to keep my 2x4s level for a birdhouse, so the idea of 'scribing' sounds like total magic to me. How do you even practice that without a massive workshop?

One thing people miss is that they’re likely working with "green" oak. Unlike the kiln-dried stuff we buy, that fresh timber is full of moisture. It’s a whole diffrent game becasue you’re engineering the joints to tighten as the wood shrinks over the next few decades. If you’ve ever tried to cut a clean mortise in wet oak, it's like carving butter compared to seasoned wood, but it bites back once it starts to season and move. I remember my first time trying a small frame with unseasoned timber; seeing those pegs pull everything togather as it dries is pure physics. It’s a lost art of timing.

Most people don't realize that alot of those guys are part of the Compagnons du Devoir. It’s an old-school guild system where you travel across France for years to master a single trade. It’s basially a PhD in wood. That’s how they keep those specialized techniques alive—passing it down from master to apprentice for centuries. I’ve messed around with a timber framer's slick a few times, and the precision you can get by hand is actually scary once you get the hang of it. It’s way more satisfying than hearing a shop vac all day. Seeing the church give back like that is rare, but honestly, he probably knows every inch of those rafters better than the priest does.