Charpentiers Sans Frontiers event – Amboise, September 2021

As I write this, I am on a ferry on my way back from the most memorable week I have had in years.

I set off to join the ‘Charpentier’s Sans Frontiers’ to join a project rebuilding the apse part of the roof of the Chapel St Hubert at the Chateau of Amboise in the Loire Valley, this is the chapel that Leonardo Da Vinci has been buried in since his death in 1519.


Leonardo Di Vinci’s grave in the Chapel St. Hubert, Amboise.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.


I packed my bags and some hand tools into my van one Friday evening in September 2021 after finishing work. The next morning, I set off from my home in Devon to catch the ferry from Portsmouth to Caen. As the ferry left the harbour I realised how long it has been since I last left the British shores! Once in France, I headed for Amboise and managed to manoeuvre my yellow Ford Transit van through the narrow streets of the town towards the castle. My extremely rusty French managed to get me into the castle where I was greeted by a friendly bunch of French and international carpenters and also, Francois Calame – the driving force behind the organisation ‘Charpentier’s Sans Frontiers’

The next morning, most of the 25 carpenters that had been invited to participate had arrived. We were presented with stacks of oak trunks which we had to hew and saw on trestles to the required sizes. A collection of amazing hewing and broad axes appeared from various tool bags and we started to get to work.


Preparing for hewing in front of Chapel St. Hubert, Amboise.

Photo – Guillaume Tampier.

At work – hewing.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

Lifting a beam onto the trestles to be sawn.

Photo – Guillaume Tampier.

Using frame saw on trestles.

Photo – Guillaume Tampier.

Finishing off the hewing.

Photo – Guillaume Tampier.

Stack of beams ready to be scribed and cut.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

At this point, the French carpenters started to apply their system of geometrical layout, stereotomy, or more precisely known – “L’art du trait”. This was a personal highlight of our work for me, as I had wanted to see the process first-hand for a long time. Before the work started they had already produced a 1:10 scale drawing of the structure to be utilise in planning the layout and organising the right length timber which had been felled in the winter before.


1:10 scale drawing of the Apse layout.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

They started to get out several OSB boards, screwed them to the ground and went to work drawing the plan and elevation view of the apse roof in full scale. After the only truss in the structure had been scribed from the elevation drawing on the floor, we set the king post onto the drawing again to scribe the 4 hip rafters that would meet the apex and join onto the sides of the king post. The 2 inside hip rafters had almost regular backing cuts, whereas the 2 outside hip rafters had irregular backing cuts.

I learned how the French offset the 2 sides of the backing cut on the hip rafter so that the centre line of the hip rafter remains completely centered, even with the angles of the 2 backing cuts being different. This gave me a very small glimpse into the wonderful world of L’art du trait or ‘the art of the line’, and I am very keen to learn more. It is a glimpse into the world of the very rich and highly developed craft tradition who origins can be traced as far back as the 13th century.

These mostly young French carpenters already have such a high level of skill that an NVQ can’t even begin to compare itself with – this in depth craft education has been passed down for centuries through the guilds and the ‘companion’ tradition.


Drawing the layout full scale onto OSB boards.

Photo – Guillaume Tampier.

Scribing off the full scale drawing.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

Another personal highlight of the week was the fact that out of a total 25 carpenters, 5 of us were women – that is 20% of the workforce! Usually women only account for anything from 1%- 5% of the total workforce in the manual trades, particularly in the carpentry trade. The female carpenters were – Lou, Pauline and Aleksandra from France, Alicia from the US and Astrid (myself) from the UK.


4 out of the 5 female carpenters: Left to right; Astrid, Aleksandra, Alicia & Pauline.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

Pauline and Astrid cutting tenons.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

Francois had organised lectures and entertainment for the whole crew every night, from a lecture on the gothic spire in France, a visit to the residence of Leonardo Di Vinci and a boat and kayak trip on the Loire which included a dinner stop on an island in the river! The food was absolutely amazing, it was kindly prepared for us everyday by Kinga and her 2 helpers. It was mostly vegetarian but very balanced and nutritious so everyone had plenty of energy to carry out the physically demanding work throughout the week!

On our final day of work, we had completed all joinery and raised the apse roof in front of the Chapel St. Hubert. There, it will remain on display for visitors of the castle until the complete restoration of the church is at a point at which the work on the roof will be undertaken.


Remy Desmonts with the model of the apse.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

Current apse in the Chapel – in need of replacement.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

Finished apse roof.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

The whole team on completed apse roof.

Photo – Astrid Arnold.

I packed my tools into my van once more and headed home after some emotional goodbyes and the best working week ever! I drove through the French countryside to catch the ferry back to England with a very warm feeling in my heart knowing that I had made some amazing friends who are just as nerdy when it comes to carpentry as me.