English tying joint peg

A barn I am restoring has english tying joints. But the way it is pegged is different than any described/shown joinery in the books that I have read.

There is a peg thru the teasel tenon and tie beam as expected. But there is no peg thru the rafter tenon and tie beam. Instead of this normal peg, there is a larger 1-1/2" to 2" peg inserted vertically down thru the rafter and tie beam. How common is this? Please see attached picture. Thanks.

Looks like they continued the method with the purlins as well. I wonder if it has a tenon on the rafter foot?

It's not uncommon, at least in southern Maine and NH where Arron Sturgis has documented it and shown it at TTRAG symposia (even as the t-shirt graphic once!) See the right photos at the top at http://www.preservationtimberframing.com/photos/.

Tim - No Tenon, the peg essentially acts as a large nail - And the peg on the Common Purlins is not as atypical as the pegged Principal Rafter to Tie Beam. Unbroken often full length Purlins are through pegged as often as not.

George - As Will suggests this is a regional variation, though I wouldn't describe it as ever having been common, not even to it's small home region, (I've seen it but a handful of times) it was probably used by a finite few framers who all worked with and influenced each other

Where is this barn? It would be good to know, just to help establish how widely this variation was used. Do you have any sense of when it was built?

I'd like to see it if time can be found before I return to the current project restoration.

I'm kind of a student of these things, particularly home region variations - And speak to that, and the current project in my last two weblog entries > Link below

I will try to see if the rafter foot has a tenon or not...

By the way, they used 37" legs for the braces. This is a small 20'x20' shed.

I really would have liked an opportunity both to have seen it, and to meet another area Framer.

That, and I would like to know where it is for the same reason stated earlier...

Town > Eastern Rockingham County?

The known examples are not far flung.

Will - The barn is located in Carroll County, NH near the lakes region, up aways north of your location.

And I'm not sure of when it was built (been too busy to research that).

If the snow does not get too deep over the next few months, then maybe a time can be arranged so that you can stop by and see it.