What do you guys see?

I have only seen drawn or otherwise shaved pegs in frames around here. And they're always made of dense, virgin, heart pine (southern pine) never a hardwood. Most pegs seem to be hastily made -- "good enough" seems to be the rule of thumb on the shaping. Some are roundish, some are octagonalish, some are very tapered along their whole length, some are pretty well straight w/out much taper, some

I have seen evidence in these 40' kingpost trusses from the 1840's that at least some of the pegs were made from the waste blocks from the timbers -- there were some crudely shaved pegs with the end left square. On several of them, one face was water sawn and 3 were riven and on one peg, 2 adjacent sides were riven and the other 2 adjacent sides were water-sawn, which indicates it came from the corner of a sawn timber or plank. All of the wood in the trusses except the 42' long bottom chords was water sawn.



I have seen photos of old frames w/ turned pegs and I have heard of pegs shaped by driving them through a hole in an iron/steel plate. Have any of you guys seen these kinds of pegs? If so, in what building?

What different kinds of pegs have you guys seen in old work? are they tapered or straight? what is the point like? are they octagonal or rounded?

Gable, I see mostly rived spruce pegs, 1", 8 sides, with a 4 sided point about 1-1/2" long and not much taper, fairly crude I don't mind saying. Once and a while I will see some hard wood pegs Oak or Maple.

I love my hand made pegs, they taper far more than the one I see of old.

I have tried sawing peg stock and shaving the taper and extra 4 sides with a draw knife, it was ugly. Riving is the way to go.

I need to take a closer look to see if the few buildings which are square ruled have tapered pegs, or at least more taper than the scribe ruled buildings, which form the bulk of the buildings In my area. Tim

Hi Gabel,

Metal plate dies are really used to check the final size of a rived peg to make sure that it does not overfill the peg hole causing split out the cheek or tenon thus a normal tapered octagonal peg would be made and then tapped through the hole. Should any excess wood be removed then this would leave a cylindrical surface on the leading "edges" of the peg. The aim is not to completely fill the peg hole but instead allow slight edge deformation on the peg facet edges

Peter McCurdy (builder of the Globe Theatre) brings along a bag of pegs when he teaches sessions on the Timber Building Masters course at The Weald & Downland and this bag contains all sorts of rareties and oddities that tend to alter long held perceptions on the right or wrong way to peg a joint.

Some simple considerations might be as follows :-

Durability:- where a peg is exposed externally then the ability of the peg to survive weather and bug attack is important so oak and chestnut would be a good choice and ash a poor choice.

Flexibility:- pegs will deform in service and in fact need to be able to do so otherwise the tenon relish might split or pull out, worse would be when the peg is located too close to the edge of the arris causeing the cheek to split out. The likelihood of this type of failure mode being encountered is made worse by using rows of close spaced pegs e.g. as in arch braces where large shrinkage is expected. Ideally pegs should behave like springs rather than fixed restraints allowing a degree of movement but basically holding everything together. Soulace brace joints present a particular challenge for pegs.

Failure:- Pegs should fail preferentially before tenons or cheeks. Its much easier to replace a peg than repair a joint. Peg grain should be set with the annular rings parallel to the direction of developed force such that all rings are made to work together. There are differences between the crushing strength of early and late late growth wood and also differences year to year. The objective is thus to reduce the effect that weaknesses in annual growth rings might have in allowing preferential crushing or worse still ring separation potentially resulting in the loosening of a joint.

Grain:- not sloping and ideally wood species that exhibit long fibres with peg material taken from any clear wood avoiding juvenille and sap wood with clear growth areas being found between annual growth knot whorls or branches. Pine can be used along with oak, chestnut, cherry. Avoid brittle woods such as yew and elm and some (black) ashes where separation or "shelling out" can be encountered. Don't use soft pulpy woods such as aspen, willow, poplar which will yield in service.

Profile:- tapered pegs are used to draw a joint up tight that employs offset boring. Parallel pegs are used on drilled through assemblies where joints are pre tensioned by pulling up with come-a-longs or equivalent Spanish windlas. Parallel pegs are also used on centre line set tenons where a tapered peg might fail to pull the joint up tight before locking on its outside (thick) end. Square pegs are used to lock lap joints or joints where separation of both parts is to be resisted e.g. cruck blades, rafter peaks, common rafter to purlin.

I hope that this helps.

Regards

Ken Hume

Thanks for the info Ken --that is a thorough intro to pegging that many will find quite helpful. Perhaps when we can add topics to TFwiki that could serve as a start on a peg entry?

You mentioned Mr. McCurdy's bag of odd pegs -- I infer that there is quite a wide variety in types and shapes? Is there one type that is seen more than others? Is there any consistency across regions or time frames or does it seem to be locally and date specific? (or random?)

pegs here in ontario are all riven, then drawknifed hardwood, mostly oak. I see the old builders doing the same thing I do, in that there are different tapered pegs in some holes. I assume this means that the builder knew which holes where over drawbored, etc.

Hi Gable;

I agree with everything Ken wrote. In my experience in Northern New England I have never seen evidence of a peg shaped by driving it through a metal plate. I had formed my own opinion that draw-bored joints have long, slender gently tapered pegs. Sometimes they very in diameter which makes me think they may have been adjusted in size if the draw-boring holes were too far out of alignment. Red oak seems to be predominant but I have seen red maple, pitch pine (the only southern yellow pine which grows in Maine), and spruce. Powder post beetles seem to like red oak better than softwoods and the oak pegs show more damage than the framing. Most holes I have measured are 7/8". The smallest holes I have seen were 5/8" in a lightly framed 14'x40' carrage house.

Jim

Two more things, I have only seen one barn in New England with un-pegged braces although I understand having un-pegged braces is the rule in parts of the Mid-West and Central Canada. I have only seen one barn (circa 1857) in New Hampshire, with turned pegs.

Does anyone have a preference to call pegs pins or vice versa?

Jim

Yes,
Pegs are for hanging your hat on.
Pins are tapered pointed articles to secure things together with.

So it should really be pins, but pegs, possibly derived from architects specifications for repairwork, has held sway for many years now.
Walter Rose, in the Village Carpenter, writes about Pins, from his recollections of carpentry in the 1880s.

What about "tree nail" or trunnel... I could be wrong, but I doubt there is anyone alive using these terms. What say you Northern Hewer!?1?

I like "peg."
"Pin" sounds/ conjures up images of the metalic for me. But that's just me and likely reflects my woodworking history.

I did not pay paricular attention to pegging during my recent barn surveys. But I do remember most pegs had a rustic-looking nature... I don't believe I saw anything nice and smooth like turned pegs. And I think everything was tapered and protruded a good distance from the timber.

I don't recall seeing unpegged braces, but have heard of the practice.

And regarding "steel plates"... I know I've read this and seen diagrams in books. The thick plate had a concave/chamfered set of holes. The peg was rived to approx. diameter and then pounded through... I don't know how historically accurate this really is. Wouldn't it make a poor and weakened peg from all the pounding?? Straight grained wood should have been quite easy to rive to an approximate diameter. A block plane could have been employed if you really needed to get it perfect.

As far as draw-boring, I assume the only way to tell if a joint was draw-bored would be to dissasemble it. But would tapered pegs be used on a non draw-bored joint? I would think a slight chamfer would do fine on a non draw-bored joint, but I don't ever recall seeing chamfered pegs, only long tapers. Does that mean they're all draw-bored joints?

"Tree nail" is an interesting word/phrase. I have often wondered if siding/boarding was ever attached w/ pegs. Nails were costly luxurys back in the day. Has anyone ever heard of boards being attached w/ pegs? If you bored holes at slight downward( or even opposing) angles, I'd think you could attach wall/ roof boards this way.

Sussexoak; do you make any distinction between pins being used for attaching planks to framing verses holding a mortise and tenon together? I originally learned to say pegs but I have seen your distinction between pins and pegs before. Often in dictionaries, etc. the words pins and pegs are used interchangeably and dowel is sometimes used. It seems these defintiions are cloudy enough that if someone intends a specific meaning they should spell out there intent. I will try to say "pins".

Not to further confuse the use of the word pin, I have come across a discription of a housed dovetail joint being referred to as a pin-and-socket type of joint, in generic terms.

Don, I do not recall seeing boards pinned to framing but it was common to pin floor planks to joists and vertical wall planks to sills/girts/plates. One type of rafter foot is cut flat without a tenon and a 2" trunnel installed through the rafter foot into the tie beam.

Jim