Brad,
In my gallery on the FF is a set of pictures of the user "engineer" raising. His frame had lots of splines. I traveled to his site to watch his house be raised to see how they did splines.

And his framer, placed the splines in the mortise through the post first. Then put the beams to the post. Raised the bent and then when in the correct position they bored the holes through the spline on one side of the post first. Then slid the spline over a little, and bored the holes through the spline on the other side of the post.
Then slid the spline back again, just a little.
When the pegs were driven in, the beams were drawn to the post, in two directions, left and right.
Very nice to watch.....

Jim Rogers

Thanks all. Mark thanks for the drawing, it was just about how I was planning them, except I had just one peg and only 8" past the post, which seems good for the longitudinal connecting girts, as there is the top plate really do most of the work, but at the tie beam level,, laterally in each bent, I think to use the two pegs and longer spline that you have drawn. Would you have the spline extend a deeper mortise into a 10" deep beam? Do you think it would be better to center the mortise in the posts to keep them stronger? From the drawings I have seen of some spline joints it seems they generally mortise about a little less than halfway( 3 1/2" into 8" deep beam) into the beams, do you also find this to be case? I do like the offsetting of the peg holes so they are not in the same grain line. Jim, I also saw it being raised by inserting the spline first then placingg beams on top except the holes were all pre-drilled and layed out with draw bore in mind. Is the post not pegged because it does not need the extra pin or, as to not weaken the post further with a peg hole? Just some more thoughts. So much to learn!..... tb

Most of your questions depend on what the spline's job is. If we are talking about holding a girt with a continuous top plate above, then the spline is probably doing most of it's work during raising, unless is has a brace involved. If the spline has more work to do, and the timber is a 10x10, I might use a 2" thick spline, make it longer and maybe deeper, but I don't see going too much further into the beam, as long as there is enough purchase for the pegs. I would look at splines the same as the mortises and tenons and keep them spaced 1.5/1.5 or 2/2 from the reference face, rather than going to a center placement, unless you are looking for an aesthetic detail. Even then, it is better to line up everything in a plane related to the reference face, so we do not remove too much long fiber from the post.

Another question about spline joinery:
A joint not very common, where the post is accepting the two girts at the same level, but the post also terminates at this point with its top level with the tops of the girts. I dont see this joint much in traditional frames. Usually either the beam or the post will be continuous.
My question is would this spline joint still be the best for this type of connection?
Anyone have any other input on this type of connection?
It seems when there is not a source for longer timber it might be worthy , at least on exterior walls, where there is sheathing support for the less than ideal connection?
tb

TB:

The joint you're referring to, where two exterior wall girts are joined to a post near its top, sounds like what we've refered to here as "Connected Girt" or "CG" typology.

When this spline topic came up, I had the CG anatomy in the back of my mind. Some old barns here in Maine have this girt-post-girt senario.

There are no splines, M&T, and attached w/ one or two pegs per tenon. As far as your question about the necessity of a spline in this type of arrangement, these old barns have been standing for +/-200 years and have done fine w/out splines. I would say they're not required.

You've got me more than a little curious...do you see these frames in NY? We've been trying to pin down the range of this frame type. Many feel it to be a New England thing, but sounds like you may have seen similar configurations...

I'm a fan of 1.5" or 2" thick splines in 'normal' applications. I've used walnut, cherry, some exotics, and oak. Depending on the job at hand species may make a difference.

Distance into the timber should be a minimum of 4" or so - to allow good cant on the pegs so the axis of the pegs are not inline on the timber. I like a minimum of .5" beyond the bottom of the timber and have used 1.5" with a canted detail cut into the visible part of the spline. The spline should be slightly back cut so that is is tight @ the visible face - you can pare the top 2/3 of the vertical edge back slightly to allow for a tight fit. I also use a 'stub' mortise and tenon, typically 1" deep beyond the housing (esp important on timbers that are not fully housed) to keep the timber from rotating in the mortise (the spline doesn't do a good job at this).

Installation - if done as raising is happening a girt on 1 side is fed into it's housing and stub mortise, the spline is tapped in from the open mortise. As the next girt comes in it is set on the spline and fed into the housing and stub mortise. Pull together with come-alongs, oxen, straps - whatever your pleasure. Drill and peg before releasing.

I'm a fan of 'centered' splines - but this depends largely on your layout system of choice. On mill rule / square rule on S4S timbers it is easy enough to set up.

Timber Brained:

Regarding my last post on this thread... eager to hear from you about this "CG" frame type...have you seen it there in New York?

Our barns, No I have not seen the cg frame type that you are speaking of in New york. What I was referring to was all new builds.
The post would actually terminate at the same level as the girts to allow the floor to be layed on top.
As opposed to cg type where the post continues until the meeting the tie beam and rafter or I guess it is a truss by defintion.
Most, if not all barns, in New York that I have studied(mostly Dutch barns or anglisized Queen post barns)have an extended post with the dropped tie beam, whereas the New England barns in your area are probably more often an extended post with dropped plates instead or perhaps the English tying joint. I have not seen these in my area.
I wonder were those cg barns raised as fully connected side walls,braced, and the trusses placed on top? tb

Hi Timber Brained,

CG frames are reared as cross frames (bents). The interconnecting wall timbers are then added before another crossframe is reared.

Regards

Ken Hume

TB:

Thanks for the reply.

This "GC" frame is thought to be confined to New England, but you never know... It does seem to present the same type of girt-post-girt connection your sline question originally dealt with, however. I wonder when splines came about??

Most of these CG barn frames I see here in Maine display an English tying config. Often there are no top plates at all.

Thanks again for the info.