I'm looking for some help for designing joinery for 4 valley rafters connecting at a king post. The kingpost and the valleys are 8x8. There are also 4 'collar ties' which tie the valleys to the kingpost just above the pendant. There are no ridge beams.

This is for a small frame with 2 equal gable roofs intersecting at 90 degrees (in plan view).

I'm thinking of using some hardwood splines as opposed to tenons at the top.

yes Derek, my first reaction to this post was that the kingpost is too small. Could a 10x10 or 12x12 be found???

hey, could you describe the "pegged oak slip key" a bit further??
I haven't dealt with this situation before, but the 45deg rotation makes sense for the valleys, what about other members entering the kingpost??? That would be a question for Dave...

Derek and Mark,

I think a picture would explain this much better. I sent a pdf to Jim Roger's and he gave me some great feedback. Should I forward it to you? I sure would appreciate any feedback.

As far as the orientation of the post (Jim says it technically isn't a king post but closer to a 'king block' or 'king pendant'), in plan view, each valley runs perpendicular to each face of the king 'thing'.

As far as size, I considered a 10x10 but this is really a pretty small building - 600 sq. ft with roof spans of only 14 ft.

yes please send the pdf's, I enjoy looking at any tf plans....
mark@wpltree.ca

I wonder if someone could forward me that picture of the the 'jacob slipskee'.

matchamp@hotmail.com

thanks