I am working on the design of some set-in dovetail lap braces for a project I am on right now. The concept here is a simple one, yet the design variations for this joint are numerous. I don't have a whole lot of experience with this joint. Do any of you know the advantages of certain variations, such as angle of entry, angle of the dovetail, etc.?

In reality, the braces themselves on this particular structure are not actually very important structurally. They are more of an assembly aid and architectural feature than an engineering necessity. The completed structure is braced by other means.

For this building, we are replicating a very very old technique known in the Swiss Kanton of Bern as Heidenkreuz, or the Heathen Cross. This is a trait of some of the very oldest buildings in the region, and folklore attributes the practice to Pagan superstition. Here are a couple of pictures, both from houses dating from the first half of the 16th century. The Heidenkreuz is a double brace used to support the ridge post of these structures until the log or plank infill can be added to the gable to serve as permanent structural bracing.



The building we are constructing is an attempted reconstruction of what everyday buildings in this region may have looked like in the latter Middle Ages.