I challenged myself building my workshop by matching my homes hipped roof. I worked on several framing crews working construction in college. Framing a hipped roof wasn’t that hard. More time consuming but my shop’s roof profile matches my house. 
a gif image of a hip roof frame
Word. As my dad used to say, “Use the tools the people who do the job use. They use them for a reason.”
/hijack
That site is fantastic, thank you very much.
/end hijack
As suggested, any decent speed square or carpenter’s square will have the angles on them. Swanson make the best speed squares, although DeWalt’s are not too shabby, despite DeWalt’s serious decline in quality over the last decade or so. Empire makes very good squares as well.
Best of luck, and good choice with the 2x6’s…
When we build, let us think that we build forever.
Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone.
Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for;
and let us think, as we lay stone on stone,
that a time is to come when those stones will be held
sacred because our hands have touched them,
and that men will say, as they look upon
the labor and wrought substance of them,
“See! This our father did for us.”
—John Ruskin
Thanks again, this has turned into a great and informative thread.
One of the reasons I like to do this stuff myself is the same as why I like the SDMB so much- you learn a lot, and I think I now have a handle on rafter and roof construction, and I spent a few minutes playing with the speed square this evening, tracing out some hypothetical rafters, and I think I have the hang of it. We’ll find out this weekend.
A few follow ups/odds & ends:
Engineer, my miter saw is the same as yours- 0 is really 90, so I knew what you meant.
Fluffybob, in playing with the speed square, I came to the same conclusion: just go with the even 8 pitch, so I put that change order into the capital committee this evening (that would be my bottle of Bitberger and the dog)
Drummond, I went with the 2x6 for a few reasons. They aren’t that much more, at least in these quantities; we get plenty of snow here; the birdsmouth IMHO is a nice, elegant touch compared to most sheds; the shed will be directly under a number of BIG trees which mean BIG branches when one decides to come down; finally, for me part of the fun is overengineering. You should see my garage workbench. I am certain it will take the full weight of the Olds’ 425/THM400 should the need ever arise. 6x6 shouldered legs holding up a 2x8 frame with “joists” 12" oc. Tim Allen would be proud.
Assuming that I don’t get shanghai’d this weekend, I will let you folks know how it went.
Measure once, cut thrice, throw a hammer in disgust, and measure again.
as long as you plan a project using the miscut pieces then it’s OK.
Man I still cut something wrong at least once a week. Usually at the end of the day as I am trying to wrap something up and go home. Most typical is measuring at 1" off an obtuse angel and not adding the inch at the other end - now I have a piece of trim exactly one inch short. Great.
The project for miss-cuts is fire. When we were building custom homes I use to have a nice supply of off cuts and odds of Cherry, walnut, maple and the odd tropical hardwood for the fire pit. Got some raised eyebrows from guests sometimes, but what do you do with an 8" stick of Tigerwood? If your garage already has a collection of 10’ odds you burn that 8" stick.
Olds - I am totally with you on the 2x6 rafters - so much easier to work with for a negligible expense. Lets see some pics when yo are done.
Hey everyone
Sorry for the belated follow up. All the advice in this thread was great. I made the rafters using a speed square and the link posted above and they came out great. Since that time I have got the walls up and the rafters are setting down on the walls just perfectly. Well- I forgot to account for the additional thickness added by the T1-11, so I had to open up the bird’s mouths just a bit, but that’s just my stupidity.
I should be sheathing the roof this weekend
Cool. Remember to start your sheathing from the fascia and work upwards. The bottom of the edge of the sheathing should be even with the top outside edge of the fascia, such that the top edge of the sheathing is proud of the fascia. This allows the sheathing to sit evenly and gives a proper surface to fasten to. It is a common mistake to make the top edge flush with the fascia.
Hi FluffyBob
My plan was to sheath the roof this weekend because I can get some help hoisting up the sheathing (I don’t have many friends or family nearby). I have not yet attached the fascia board, I was going to do that after I sheath the roof, since it is something I can do without help.
Is this a bad plan?
fix the sheathing out beyond the rafter edge just a tad beyond the thickness of your fascia.
put up drip edge before any fastening the lower edge of the roof covering.
This was my plan exactly. I can start the first row of fasteners maybe 8" back from the edge to give just a little flex when I do the fascia and drip edge, then go back and hit close to the edge to secure it
No one has mentioned collar ties. That’s a 2x4 running horizontally across the top plates securely nailed to the rafters. This gives you the triangle structure to support all that heavy snow.
Collar ties are in place. Each collar tie is nailed to both rafter and top plate, and each rafter is toenailed to the top plate as well.
I believe that the shed is actually 32% nails. A framing nailer makes it easy to go overboard.
You can build the first truss as a jig staring with a basic frame.
Cut a ceiling joist exactly the right width.
Lay it on a flat floor, attach an upright the correct height in dead center so you have an inverted “T” on the floor.
Lay and cut the rafter pieces on each side, measuring against your framework T - you can figure our where the notches go to rest against the ceiling joist, and get the correct angles cut for the peak.
Assemble this truss. test fit it on your shed; if it fits fine, use it as the template for all the rest of your trusses.
Of course, if you know math or have the right tools, as mentioned above, you don’t need to do it the hard way.