Here is the text of the story I wrote about this in 2003
The other day, at the beginning of a timber framing workshop, we needed to get some timbers out of the pile for the frame we’re cutting.
I had cut out all the timber for a frame quite a while ago and had them stacked up on 4x4’s in one tall pile. The 4x4’s were 4’ on center and each row of timbers weighed about 1000 lbs as that’s the limit for my forklift.
When we removed that 2” stock that was on top of the pile of timbers, working as a weight to hold them straight and flat, we found one of these timbers had “taken off”. Shown here, it’s the one on the left in the above photo.
Now you can see the heart/pith of the timber in the center on the end facing us, as it’s marked with a red lumber crayon, as a plus sign (+). But this heart/pith wandered a bit as it traveled down the timber from this end towards the other end. And about where the forks are it came out of the top for about 3” and then went back in. It was centered on the other end. This wandering heart/pith of the tree, I believe is what caused it to not stay straight. The other two next to it were in the same row under the same load and are very straight. The middle one is a hemlock and the right one is an eastern white pine same type as the bowed one on the left.
While doing another job, cutting up some dunnage blocks, for a customer who was going to use them to block up his cottage while they dig out a cellar, I decided to try cutting some 6x6’s in different patterns to see what would happen to them.
That is the photo with my gloves on the timbers.
Well I cut this very large log into nine 6x6’s. Three across and three high, like a tic-tac-toe pattern.
These three timbers (pictured shown above) are the ones from the 9, middle, and 3 o’clock positions.
The nine o’clock timber has my left glove on it, the three o’clock timber has my right glove on it and the middle one is in the middle.
You can see that the 9 o’clock timber has “taken off” and bent quite a bit. (You can see the opening in between the timbers as the ends touch each other). I knew it had because it did as soon as I released it at the mill. It almost sprang off the cant.
The middle one is some what bent also, and the heart/pith doesn’t truly run down the center of the beam. The 3 o’clock one seems to be the straightest of them all.
These bent timbers were not wasted as the customer just needed them 3’ long so they were all cut up and sold. And they were straight enough for him to use.
I’ve set aside the 3 o’clock timber for the next frame and also milled out a boxed heart replacement beam in case it moves before we get to use it.
This was kind of an experiment in milling timbers for a timber frame. And I thought I’d show you what happened.
You should always “box heart” your beams as they are the straightest and strongest.
Jim
Hope this helps you...
Jim Rogers
