I am looking for information on the layout technique of a wedged stop splayed scarf joint. Could anyone help me with this, or point me in the right direction?

Brian:
In Tedd Benson's book "Building the Timber Frame House, The Revival of a Forgotten Craft" with James Gruber, starting on page 103 there is a layout description showing which order to cut each line for a stop-splayed scarf joint with under-squinted butts and tabled with wedges.
There is also a rule about how long to make it, which I heard at the last eastern conference. That is the length of the scarf should be 2.5 or 3 times the height of the timbers. For example if your timbers are 8" tall then the scarf could be three times that or 24" long.
I'm sure there are other methods of laying out these joints, and some of the types of scarf joints are shown in Jack Sobon's History American Timber Joinery, A Graphic Guide, available from the guild.
I hope this is the type of joint you're looking for info on.
Jim Rogers

Hi Brian,

Another good place to check out various scarf joint design options is in pages 263 - 271 of English Historic Carpentry by Cecil A Hewett (ISBN 0-85033-354-7) published by Philimore.

I think that this book is now avaiable in a paperback version in the USA. Unfortunately Cecil only illustrates the joints and gives no dimensions but as per the advice above you can easily figure out proportionate dimensions by applying Jim's simple rule of thumb.

Regards

Ken Hume
http://www.kfhume.freeserve.co.uk

Brian,

Another source for scarf joint types is the extensive 100 page pictorial glossary in Timber Building in Britain by R.W.Brunskill. ISBN 0-575-03379-7. It does not give specifics for layout however.

Rudy R. Christian

I will point out the obvious and say, Don't forget to look at your Local Barns, and public structures, where you will see scarf joints of various ages and types and get a chance to see, for yourself, What was done, what worked, and what might not have worked so well, under a wide variety of conditions, including,

Neglect.