Hi Northern Hewer,

The non pegged brace depth of (4") that you have observed fits my line of thought previously described above. i.e at 4" deep there is really insufficient room and tenon depth to make a pegged joint work.

I have heard both Rudy Christian and Joel McCarty mention this non pegged feature.

How about it experts - please set us straight.

Incidentally, how did a bunch of Germans get in amongst the English, French and native indians who must have been fighting it out for possession of this land at the time you describe ?
Regards

Ken Hume

I'm not a structural engineer, but I doubt that adding a second peg does very much to make the joint less of a "hinge". Because the pins are still relatively close together, and when the joint is being stressed like a hinge, the entire length of the brace is acting like a lever, very little extra strength to resist the torque would be added. What the second pin would do, however, is increase the strength of the joint in tension (provided the brace and mortise are large enough). But I agree with Richard that the frame should be designed such that the braces provide their strength when in compression. Braces should always be used in pairs, so that one of the braces is in compression, regardless of which direction the racking force is being applied. CB.

Hi there,

We always use bare-faced tenons on our braces (1 1/2" shoulder, 1 1/2" tenon). It is important to remember when doing this to keep the tenon to the interior of the post. The possible downside to this approach is that braces are not universally interchangable: they acquire a "handedness". But they require less work to produce: one shoulder versus two. Also, you might consider holding the perimeter braces in an inch. As the wood dries, your braces will shrink away from the wall, leaving a small space that is very hard to maintain with fresh paint, etc. it also eliminates trim problems near windows and such.

As far pegging braces, I can't tell you definitively why they most often get pegged now. We do, but I know a few timberframers who do not peg braces. We like the look of pegged joinery and often use the opportunity to use smaller pegs and contrasting wood species. 3/4" cherry, locust, osage orange, walnut, and others as they present themselves.

Good luck on your adventure!
Bob

Hi all:
I have really enjoyed all the comments and comraderie, and one thing I have learned over the years is that people did things differently depending on where they come from, and another thing that I have learned is that to not question what has been done before, that doesn't mean that you can sure wonder why they did it a certain way though. As my final comment on this subject and this is for Ken --These German people came up into Upper Canada because they were leaving the area of New York that for about 80 years they had called home. They were very loyal to the British Crown and had fought on its side during the war of Independence, and felt compelled to remain loyal to Britain for the help that they had received about 1700 during their flight from their homeland. I am sure they picked up a few ideas from the British along the way, but one of them wasn't pinning braces in timberframes --great discussion----
The Northern Hewer-----

Hi folks,

Great discussion! I was on the Germany frame tour during the heat of this topic, so was not aware I could even be of help. Looks to me like the replies have done an excellent job of covering the topic, but I do have a little input. Are you surprised?

It is quite true that braces are traditionally flush to one face of the post or beam in American frames as well as late English and German frames. The face they are flush to is nearly always the "layout face" which I have also heard called the "fair" face and "reference" face. This being the case, the layout for the mortice from the face is most often 2" to 2" (4x4 braces) and occassionally 1 1/2" to 1 1/2" (3x5 braces)or "shnaf shnaf" in Sobonese.

As a rule of thumb braces are cut with tenons flush to one face and always used in pairs which react in compression to lateral loading. In my opinion braces cause trouble when designed to work in tension. One interesting tenon layout you will find on old frames has a small notch cut at the back end of the tenon on the short side of the brace. I had heard theories that this was to allow them to "lock" into the mortice. I beleive rather it was a time saver since the mortice would require drilling five holes instead of four for 3x5 braces, since the diagonal was around 7" depending on the milling of the brace. It was much easier to notch the tenons than to drill 25% more holes.

Pegging of braces seems less depended on stock size than I had once thought. I saw frames in Southern Germany where braces are made from 6x6 stock and larger and yet only sport stub tenons with no pegs. In Northern Germany every stick is pegged in the frame including a horizontal 6x6 that was just over 4" long in one building!

I don't believe we are likely to find a difinitive answer to this question. In my studies of frames in Ohio, German frames have unpegged braces while English frames have pegged braces...usually. It is true that you rarely find pegged 4x4 braces, but I think the relationship is based more on taste, style or whatever you want to call it. We peg braces in our frames because the bents stay stiff during the raising and we like them to stay where we put them, but that doesn't mean it's the right way to do it.

So much for my three cents. Glad to be home again, but Germany was a wonderland of timber frame buildings and well worth taking some time off to study.

Now, would anyone like to talk about carpenter's marks?

Rudy

How the braces are alligned depends more on the estetics than the structure to be build.

Pegs are in there not to hold the braces in case they would be pulled by some forces in the structure. They are simply in there to secure the brace. (Even so they quite hold somthing)

In case you don't see any pegs in older structures (200 years+) it is most likely they are secured in different ways.