No one has yet mentioned that the advantage in drawbore far greater than how it simplifies raising, is how an offset peg will do much to keep a joint tight as the timber seasons.

As the distance in the relationship of the tenon's shoulder to its peghole remains the same as the timber slowly dries, the same is not true of the cheek of the mortise to it's peghole, the distance between them does change - If the peg is not aligned to that future distance, (compensating for shrinkage) the joint will predictably shrink apart.

The Peg is a Spring not for pulling together an ill fitting joint, but for pulling joints tight as the frame seasons in.

Pegholes are for me and most of those I know and work with, the first in the string of operations when a stick hits the horses, yes before mortises are roughed.

Will, are you saying you bore peg holes before the mortice is cut? I tried that once years ago and when my feed screw hit the peg hole I had problems. It is a bugger, the blow out on the inside of a finished mortice, an irritating thing.

I also subscribe to a drawn peg aiding in continually pulling a joint, to some degree. Pulling a frame together with straps and other gear will not help in this. You may succeed in crushing some fibers, though. If you are using nice dry material that may be applied differently.

I think it depends on a few factors whether or not to drawbore.

We don't drawbore much here. Left to my own devices I would probably drawbore more. But, because nobody is on the don't drawbore bandwagon I'm going to explain why we don't do it more here.

We build mostly barns, workshops, garages here. They are cut rough sawn, and usually stay that way. We use white spruce timbers because they are local. We peg with octagonal pegs because we can usually make them out of scrap hardwood in the workshop.

With the green white spruce and what are usually dry white oak octagonal pegs, draw boring doesn't seem to add much other then labor to the job. I admit I'm going by the carpenters gut, rather than engineering number crunching, but with spruce it seems that the grain might crush or shear before the oak pegs would bend providing this spring effect you talk of as it dries. Back in the day when a barn was clad in board and batten there would have been play in the sheathing to allow for the shrinkage of the dimension of a building as the connections of tie beams and girts shrunk. But, these days the shell outside the frame is usually a lot more rigid. Using SIP screws or lags to attach common rafters also stiffens the frame in this regard.

Any draw boring I've done has been in Douglas fir, oak, or white pine. I'm more comfortable draw boring in these woods. The pegs I've used have been tapered round or fashioned with a draw knife. Done well it is an excellent tool for tightening up joints for assembly and greatly reduces raising time. Its also easier to drill straight holes on the sawhorses rather then off a ladder.

Tim -

I remember the lead screw issue from way back, but mortiser's have been part of the process here for some while. Even then making them done, avoiding that internal blowout and knowing the hole was in alignment from one side of the mortise to the other drove the decision as to when to bore.

It's still a question to me for timbers coming from the sawmill dried in a dryer. I guess in that case the spring effect isn't as important as the timber are kind of seasoned already and the offset should then be reduced! The precision is going to be difficult to realise for such a small of set. I feel it too risky to try for my case, but still don't read someone talking about that type of experience. Anyone?

One thing that can add to the issue is when using white pine for the braces and not oak or another hard wood. More risk to damage the tenon if the offset gives too much tension.

My next frame, I'll use green timber, hard wood for braces and I will drawbore...

Neil -

Here in NNE I work EWP almost exclusively, and don't hesitate to draw it, Spruce either, and this typ with tenons cut to snaf thick.

Depending on your geo-locale timber will stabilize at somewhere around 10% a bit below your 17 to 20. Did your sticks work like they were fully seasoned ? Was the material removed dusty & dry ?

I drawbore as well. However, I use a boring machine, so peg holes must come after the mortise is cut, or the chips will bind in the peg hole.

Schnaff/Schnaff, the secret language of New England timber framing.

I have made this point in the past. I draw bore everything. One of the main reasons is to ensure the peg doesn't push the joint apart. Any error in the wrong direction will have the opposite effect as a draw. So I am always over compensating by drawboring. Drilling holes while standing on a ladder, what fun!

As explain before, I got them dried from the sawmill but the climate here is changning a lot (mountains close to the ocean) and I have been working outside alone, from june to september. So that humidity changed a lot during that period, with some rainy periodes and some sunny and/or windy periods.
I could see the timbers twisting or crowning, but nowadays, even if they changed again, they still fit properly when pre assembling.

Those two last week, i had alternatively rain and frost, not easy to make that last part done in those conditions, and the coming weeks are not going to be a lot different.

What do you mean by "sticks" and "material removed dusty"?!

Sticks is short for timbers. The wood that was removed was it dry and dusty or wet and moist?

Jim Rogers