Hi folks.

Just a few years ago before Richard Babcock stopped doing frames.

He told me about "secret joinery",that is how certain frames were "locked together", come Hell or High waters.

You had to lift a corner to assemble the frame, or to take it apart. Otherwise it was "locked together".

What he told me made sense.

Jack was working for him back then.

I have friends that were too, but but they were mostly grunts. Regardless, I will ask.

Hi Tony,

The tie / plate / post joint on the Nipmoose Scottish barn is not secret joinery as the entire configuration of this joint can be fully understood by external examination of the joint.

Secret joinery is something that is only reveealed upon disassembly of the joint e.g. as in the case of secret notch lap brace joints or maybe end of tie beam taces.

Regards

Ken Hume

What's a tace?

Hi Brad,

The term "tace" might well be another Cecil Hewett invention.

Check out his fig no 286 on page 276 of English Historic Carpentry.

He lists 2 examples for this end of tie beam joint but I can add a third which is in the Bishop's Camera roof at Farnham Castle, Surrey and this tie beam has now been dendrodated by Moir with a date range of between 1306 and 1338 (Moir, 2006) which is almost midway between Hewett's proposed date range of 1200 - 1400.

Regards

Ken Hume