Hello Don,

Save me from myself, you and I could probably, if we got together in person, really enjoy the conversations we would have over debating the finer points of things timber related, as we did recently. Tonight, I racked my brain to remember a point I was going to add to my previous entry about fitting draw joints. (I do agree with you, pegs, trunnels, or toognagel, they do have many names.) Now I can add it, but no better will I state it, than you have.

If you are assembling a timber joint, that is intended to be drawn together by an offset in the peg hole, and you can see that it is out of alignment, the use of an iron "Draw Pin" or "Drift Pin", (toogijzer-thank you Don,) was commonly used in traditional assemblies, this was not always the case, but more often than not, it was.

Since Don jogged my old memories, I should relate one of the first time I used a gouge on a timber frame and saw a real "toogijzer," (and I use that name as a nod thank you to Don,) and the fact that it was Dutch in origin, and belonged to the Amish barn wrights I apprenticed to. We are going back to about 1974 or 75, I was but a teen and only helping at that point. A bent was being assembled, there was numerous stages of fitting occurring, with the hands that were present for the raising. One of the joints had rejected it's "drift pin," and the timber was withdrawn. You could plainly see the misalignment, indicated by the compression line caused by the "drift pin." The layout of the hole was to close too the shoulder of the joint. One of the three men I answered to, came over and with a piece of chalk, darkened the compression line, and pointed to my gouge. (My mother was an artisan in several mediums and by that age I had already assisted her in roughing out carvings in both stone and wood, so I was comfortable with tools of this nature.) These men were kind but blunt when working, said little and expected work out of you. He pointed to the crescent shape of the chalk mark, said "cut no more," and walked away. I removed the designated amount, (about ~4 mm) the joint was reassembled. The "drift pin," was driven in, quickly removed and an oil soaked locust trunnel driven home. This would become one of countless lessons that I learned, that I have never read in a book, at least not in English. Again, thank you Don for the reminder, and a trip into my own memories.

Regards, jay