I am putting together my first frame and am finding that I am getting gaps at some joints. Often I am am to get a tight fit on one face but the other side has a gap. Looking for other people's experiences.

Thank you,

Allen

Allen, I am also a first time framer an I am no expert. It sounds like your timber is not square. You need to make the perfict timber. First lay your frameing square on all four corners to find the corner that is 90 degrees. when you find the best edge mark these two surfaces, now all your layout will be from these two faces. After you cut your joint check them with a square from these faces only. This will keep your joints square with these two faces. I hope this helps , and I will also be looking for for the answers from some of the more experanced framers, Good luck, john

Allen - I am also a first time framer, having just finished a barn. What John Milburn wrote is one possibility. Check Sobon or others for a description of the square rule method. A second possibility is that the beam with the tenon has shoulders that are not coplanar. This can occur if the two faces of the beam are not coplanar and you used these faces separately to determine the shoulder layout. The tenon layout must be made from the reference faces if the beam is not square or the tenon beam must also be squared up. Note that if there is no good square vertex, you need to make one by planing if the tenon beam sits on a horizontal shoulder and the side of the beam must be plumb. Also, Benson in his first book describes the technique of kerfing to correct the gap problem. jekbear

Hello Allen and all on this forum: I just had to jump in----
Gaps at the intersecting joints, a timberframers night mare. All suggestions to correct this problem are excellent, I worked mostly with rough hewn timber, very seldom with sawn faces, but I am well aware that sawn timber very seldom is perfectly square especially when the log is repeatedly rolled to square it up. just a slight variance will compound as the log is rolled during sawing, and can be very much out of square in the end. Hollowing around the base of the tenon is an old trick widely used so that the two shoulders meet neetly as the mortise and tenon is drawn together. With scribe work you can also hollow slightly the seating that meets the tenon shoulder, but I realize in sawn work this may not be possible. Using the two best faces for layout is excellent, but may not erradicate the problem since the other 2 sides of some of the posts and timbers may be used and the gap will reappear such as at the corners when horizontals girts are coming in and meeting the corner posts, or mediary floor timbers are spanning across the framework. Wherever you buy or have sawn the timbers that you are going to use make sure that you have a square handy and check out the accuracy of the sawyer's work, it can save you alot of grief. Good luck
Richard

Thank you for all of the responses. They have been very helpful. Unfortunately I am not able to post pictures. I was hoping the response would be gaps are natural and can't be helped. Where I am running into trouble is assembling the king post trusses. I am assembling on the ground and will pick them up with a crane. I think my difficulty is either that the truss is not in completely level(it is now horizontal on the ground), or plumb when I stand the truss up, or the timbers are not completely square (I am sure now that is part of the problem. What I am planning to do this weekend is use a transit to make sure the truss is level and on the same plane. Then if needed I will attempt to kerf, square, and cut pockets a little of both.

Thank you,

Allen

Allen, I am dissaponted that you ended this so quickly. Your question may have topped Kens design question on the weight of a bale of hay, it was a hot topic. I would like to add to my reply, when you layout and cut from the two square 90 degre surfaces, you can with a frameing square and a combination square wrap around to check the other surfaces.You can also place a pair of winding sticks on the timber at the start of your layout, and check for any twist in the timber Good luck with your project, John.