I wonder how many of us in this forum make their own pegs in relation to those bringing them in from specializing producers. Do you lathe them? shave octagonal pegs on a horse(probably the best)? Hard to find clear wood to use for blanks? Is it worth the effort? or better left for the specialists? Who are some the better peg sources?
A lot of questions, I am just interested because we all need them, and a lot of them, but there are many different approaches to acquiring them. tb

We, my friends and I, tried splitting blanks from a block of clear wood with a froe. And making our own pegs from this stock with a shaving horse.
It was fun, but the block we chose didn't have the straightest grain wood in it and the pegs weren't the best.

We then took regular oak boards and cut them on a table saw into squares just a slight bit larger then the peg diameter and then shaved these into pegs.

We carefully inspected the peg stock for cross grain lines and usually the draw knife would catch on these lines and break the peg while we were trying to shape them.

We found this method to be fairly easy.

When we bought pegs we'd sometimes shape them on the shaving horse increasing or creating some taper for the draw boring of our frames.

I acquire nice straight blocks(Oak) from a friend who takes trees down. I then split, Draw into a tapered octagon then drive through a nominal Die. As far as buying pegs... I can't imagine.
How much is a lot?

Thane

If you burn firewood you have a good supply of peg stock. You can pick through for clear stock with little twisted grain. Red oak is probably the most common, black locust the best, but I have seen red maple and even spuce pegs in old frames. Any hard wood will do.

Mark the end of the piece, split with a froe into the rough sizes you need. Shaving with a draw knife and a horse is easiest and shaving horses are useful for other tasks, but if you do not want to make a horse, pegs can be simply shaped with a chisle or put them in a vice and use a draw knife, especially if you are only making a few.

Several old books tell to split the stock out so there is no cross grain rather than sawing the "stuff".

If you are using green wood, the pegs will dry out fairly quickly.

I bored holes in my shaving horse so while I am shaving I can quickly test the fit.

Using firewood and a horse I can make pegs at a cost of $.50 to $1.00 each.

I have 18" firewood so I put a point on both ends of each piece to get two pegs.

Driving them through a die sounds quick and easy, too.

Jim

i'd love to get my hands on a froe, but until then have made these with an axe and a block plane. the way i've worked it is to split boards off the outside of the block, then split those into 1 1/4" blanks, square them up with the axe, put the taper on with the axe, go octagonal with the axe, then clean it up with the plane. if you hit a block that doesn't seem cooperative, that's firewood.

it's a nice sound when the peg goes in the bucket. something to do at this time of year, kind of leisurely, getting ready for next year's projects. i've used black ash as it splits nice, keeping to the living wood.

here's something similar- if you cut a peg from a 2' block, make it a bit fatter than usual at the front 1/3, it makes a traditional Oji-Cree toy. i don't know the proper name; we call it a snow snake. when there's a crust on the snow you can throw this along the ground and it scoots, jumps and dives like a living thing. it's good to make several because they do get lost until spring sometimes.

We just made 190, 7" long pegs tapered on both ends for a plank wall, 3 pegs per edge, 30 planks down each 43' wall. This was in the kitchen in the evening right at the table. I screwed the horse to the bench and make kindling with the shavings, the stuff is like gasoline. We only made 25 regular pins for the main frame, I will have to add 20 more for the rafters.

Speaking of pegs for plank walls, does anyone know if the original pegs for such were tapered on both ends? Jim D., have you seen any of late? I find them easy to engage the next plank.

As for the questions, shaved for sure. I have only bought pegs once and will most likely not do it again. Finding stock is no problem, try not to use bolts from the butt of the tree. I use mostly red oak and have used soft wood, spruce and tamarack also, along with black locust. Ever notice how locust smells like garbage after it has set for a summer, rank it is.

Tim

I've purchased pegs from Northcott Wood Turning and am very pleased with the quality.

Northcott Wood Turning
http://www.pegs.us/
103 Cheney Hill Rd.
Walpole, NH 03608

Tel: (603) 756-4204
Fax: (267) 378-8897
Email: pegs@northcottweb.com

I would like to point out my reason for not using manufactured pegs has nothing to do with the quality of the pegs. The one time I use such pegs they were from Northcott and the were excellent pegs, I can not complain.

The whole frame which I produce is from scratch, I just like to continue the process and make my own pegs.

Tim

I've only made them once in someone else's shop. He taught me to split the green oak with a froe into square stock, then keep these green pieces of stock in a Rubbermaid storage tub/tote of water until you go to shave them. Keeping them wet and thus more pliable, makes them much easier to shave on the horse- less force, and more control. It was fun and quick. I have my shaving horse about half built at this time, but hope to get back to and finish it in the next couple weeks. I just found the right board to use for the seat plank.

Timbeal. Just curious how many hours total you spend per 100 or so pegs?
Tell me more about this plank wall. I never knew they were pegged. I always thought they were nailed. What dimension planks, how thick,wide ,etc..? What do you mean engage the next plank, are they tongue and grooved, or shiplapped, as well? I'm guessing it is a timber frame, but are there braces as well, or are the planks taking over for the bracing? Hope to see pics, sound real fun! tb