I am building a small TF barn, and would like some input on which wood species would be the best to use. Local sawmills have White Oak, Burr Oak, or Cottonwood. If you have any information on shrinkage, twisting, etc. for these woods it would be appreciated.

I would imagine it would have alot to do with the timeframe for building and assembling the frame. How quickly will you be able to cut the frame vs. put it up?

Generally your oaks and hardwoods are going to shrink and check and twist more violently that your softer woods.

While softwoods like white pine are more stable when drying, they also are not as strong.

You should really look up the specific shrinkage and strength characteristics in a wood species table. I have a hard copy printout of one in my shop, but don't know of a book reference off hand...

I thought I read somewhere, can't remember where or when, that said cottonwood was not good for timber framing. I could be totally wrong. But as mentioned more research is necessary. There are formulas for figuring out the amount of shrinkage a beam will have. One book that has them is by Steve Chappell called "A Timber Framer's Workshop". I believe it's available through the online store. If not it's available through foxmaple.com
I just review his chapter on this and cotton wood is not listed on his chart of shrinkage values.
Good luck, Jim

I took the Guild workshop at slate run and white oak was selected as the wood. The instructors chose it for rot resistance as the structure is open on two sides among other things. Depending on you needs that may be very important or less so.

The wood was all VERY green and easier to cut than I expected. It was VERY heavy too.

White oak does have a high shinkage, if the building is unheated this will lessen the "violence" of it's movement. For whatever reason Burr Oak is excluded from the strength tables for generic red/white oak.

Eric