I'd like to build a fishing cabin or two on my property. The dominant species of tree on my property are Sugar Maple, Bitternut Hickory, Ironwood, Black Locust. Can any of these be used for timberframing? I have remote stands of white pine, but they're deep in the woods and are harder to get to. Also have significantly fewer quantities of red oak.

A follow-up question would be....what properties and values of wood are important for timberframing (and are they different depending on timber role (post vs beam vs. rafter)? I downloaded a copy of the "wood as an engineering material" document so I can reference that to see.

They'll all work, but it's going to be heavy. They're also pretty tough woods to work. The properties of wood for timber framing might include: strength in bending and deflection (Fb and E), rot resistance, stability as it dries, weight, ease of working, and sexiness. You can certainly mix your species in the frame, that's what was done historically, and it often just makes sense.

Hello,

How about this:
Black Locust for mud sills & pegs - rot resistance, easy to split
Sugar maple for all braces - compressive strength
Hickory for beams and joists - tinsel strength
Ironwood is a name used for different woods in different places usually referring to a type of wood that is a lot harder than the predominant wood species of the area. So I don't know exactly what this means in this case.

For vertical members, or posts, a mixture could suffice.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

Thank you for your responses.

lol, not to worried at present about "sexy", maybe that will come in future generations.

I didn't know Ironwood was a generic name. The species name I'm referring to is Hophornbeam. (When I say Hophornbeam locally, they don't know what that is, they only know it as Ironwood). Generally, it doesn't get large enough, but it is strong. Probably will be too difficult to work.

Is there a document or book anybody can refer me to that discusses the different properties from a TF perspective?

I agree with the Don's assessment. You could try the hophornbeam for braces if it's big enough. One of Sobon's books lists out some of the northeastern woods, and their attributes. Ang there's a fairly recent article by Will Beemer in Timber Framing on the same issue.
With all that hardwood, I'd recommend planing the timbers to show all that cool wood. And sexiness is just the relative factor of...I'm gonna put this ugly piece of locust in the basement as a sill, and I'm gonna put this sexy piece of locust in my kitchen so everyone can see it. By the way, locust will lose that toxic green color from when it's freshly milled, and turn a very nice orangy color.

Some of the old forebays in our area have the bottom framed up with sugar maple, because the stuff is very strong, but it's also very heavy. Also we have tons of it around here. So it was used where its weight would not cause problems but its strength could still be of benefit.

The upper frames are usually made of a mixture of oak and ash, because they are both strong (and ash is fairly light, relative to oak and maple) and occasionally black cherry is thrown in.

Personally of the species you mentioned, I would use Maple for posts and maybe braces too, if your ironwood can't be used for it.
Hickory for horizontal members -but not rafters, it's too heavy.
locust for sills and maybe also for bottom floor joists, if you plan on having framed floors. This stuff won't ever rot.

If you can get to the pine, that's what I would choose for rafters. If not, then maybe oak could be used here if you have enough of it.