where can i get info on wood joint design.

Take a look at the Design Workbook available in our online store at http://st1.yahoo.com/tfguild/deswor.html

Does the book tell me how to design the
joints?

Does it say what type & magnitude load the
joints can withstand?

Rick:

Guild members have access to two research reports on joint strengths. One is known as the "Peg Report" and the second is known as the "Joint Report". Both are academic research that was supported by the Timber Frame Business Council and conducted at the University of Wyoming over the last few years

However, from my experience you will need more than such data to satisfy a building commission. It will probably take a set of plans stamped by a licensed P.E.


[This message has been edited by Brian W (edited 08-26-99).]

So the book you recommended, Design Workbook,

doesnt tell me how to design the joint.

Your message refering me to the Design
Workbook was misleading.

rr

There is plenty of material in the Guild's Design Workbook to help with joint design. In fact it is the single best resource currently available. Recommended articles include

Frame Engineering
Joint Engineering I
Joint Engineering II
Engineered Tension Joinery
Joinery Decisions
Pegging Design
Design of Joints in Traditional Timber Frame Buildings
Experimental Evaluation of Traditional Timber Connections
Analysis of Frames with Traditional Timber Connections
Tying Joint Evolution 1690-1790
Variations on the English Tying Joint

Rick,
I have taught joint design workshops for the Guild. There is not yet a truly "one stop shopping" reference on joint design. In putting together the Guild courses, I drew from a number of sources, such as the NAtional Design Specifications for wood strebgth, some structural engineering texts, texts on timber design (mostly bolted connections), and various articles.
I don't know your background, but It would appear that you can determine the loads that the joints must resist. It has been my experience that the maximum loading on most joints comes from some combination of gravity load (snow, dead weight, ...) and horizontal live load (Wind, earthquake). It is the horizontal portion of loading that presents the most difficulty in determining the joint loading. Good results rely on a proper structural analysis of the frame as an assembly.
Good joint design depends on good knowledge of the loads the individual timbers are bringinh to the joint.

First I want to thank all for your time in posting to my questions.

I did get the Design Workbook & indeed it is
very useful. so useful that i showed it to the Bldg. Safety wood plan reviewer in Anchorage & he is going to order one. Also, a structural engineer who has designed frames using RISA is going to get it.

Here the bldg officials wont approve the wood joints for Eq loading. They go by the code and only approve shear panels or cross-bracing, even cables, or a combo.

I want the frame to meet the eq design w/o the other methods, although i will use some of them. For this reason im going to use
steel/bolt connectors. Mayby split ring
, shearplates or steel side plates. Im also
going to use hidden steel splines where possible.

These methods aren't pure Timber Frame but
Post & Beam as others have said. However, this will speed construction & cost & meet EQ design criteria.

BTW, where im building is deep in the wooods
on a 1/2 section & a building official will never see it. <g>

Regards,

Rick Harvey, PE