First off what a great resource this site and your input has been as I searched through old posts. Having only a burning desire and zero experience please excuse any ignorance on my part. :-)

I've eventual plans of constructing a shop and want to use timber off our land for the construction. I could hire a miller to process the logs into lumber but timber framing appeals to me more. So I'm in the process of learning as much as I can.

As a newbie I'll stick my neck out and ask my first question about using butt joints and metal connectors instead of traditional joinery.

I realize this could be sacrilegious but it seems like it would simplify the process for me. I do appreciate the skill, beauty and strength in traditional joinery and am in awe of the work I've see done that way.

I'm sure most or all of you are familiar with Rob Roy's book on timber framing and his use of steel plates and bolts to join the frame.

So I'm looking for any input on this aspect of "contemporary" timber framing.

Thanks in advance,
Nate

Nate:
That kind of construction is called "post and beam". It is not timber framing for sure.
You can do it yourself if you like but be careful of the bolt spacing as if it is done wrong it can weaken the pieces. You need to understand the correct locations for the bolts so that it makes it stronger and secure, and this may take some research on your part to find the answers.
Good luck with your project.

Jim Rogers

Thanks Jim, something I just came across, this may be the answer for me...

http://www.socketsys.com/index.php?id=svg&goog=product+details#3

I can recommend these fasteners:
http://www.timberlinx.com/

Don't discount traditional joinery until you've experienced it. Take an introductory timberframing class/workshop for a week. It will prove well worth the cost and time in the skills, tips, tricks, technique, knowledge and experience you'll pick up. I cannot stress more to you to take a class! You may find that traditional joinery is the way you want to go. Once you get some hands on at how it's done, how long it takes etc, you may want to go that route. It sure snapped some students into reality when I went. Some realized that it was way too much work for them (no matter which method was used- they wanted to hire someone else), but some like me could see how long it takes. I also realized by the end that there were some effeciencies that could be picked up when doing my own...aligning like timbers to make all the same cuts at once for example. You'll see in a class that you don't cut the entire mortise or tenon with a chisel. You can use power tools to rough out or hog out the material and then do your fine tuning with the chisel. Again, I say don't choose to go post and beam without first trying traditional joinery first. Metal in wood aren't alway the best combo in the long term. Acids in the wood can attack and corrode steel. Doesn't mean that big bolts won't hold for 100 years, but traditional joinery can last 400 years...

"Metal in wood aren't alway the best combo in the long term"

I'll second that. Wood moves, metal does not. If you connect the two you are establishing strain that can be avoided (especially if it is still green). For example if you connect a post to a beam or plate (not familiar with the hardware that would be used) you would have strain on the post because of the tangential shrinking and possibly causing a failure on the post.

Is this a sound judgment?