Having strong ties to the Textile arts and trades...they very much do where those "cat-walk kind of clothing"...actually quite often...just not in too many areas you will find many practicing Timberwrights ...Greenwich Village, Milan, Hamptons, Beverly Park, Marseille...to name just a few...have "nightlife" and social gatherings where these types of attire, especially for Women, are very common...
The "Belt and Suspender" metaphor was about perfect in my view, as they do work much better together if you carry stuff in your pockets...Actually, when you really look at all the folks that do where suspenders, especially cultural groups I have always worked with through the years like the Amish, River Baptist, Mennonite etc....all...wear belts and suspenders. I suspect for the same reason Tim shared (and their common cultural habits in attire.)
From the literary and conversational comparative the reason we have the "peg and wedge" setup...is very much for that same reason...Wedges are much better at really drawing a joint tight. Nevertheless wedges can work themselves out of place (in some applications) when in the horizontal position. This is why we find the vertical orientation so often in furniture, which actually must endure a great deal "human created" tectonic loading...A horizontally wedge on a "Trestle Table" will need more "tapping in" and retightening than its vertical wedged cousin...I should clarify from one of my comments above that when I said this joint was "rare" in timber framing...I meant in exactly this configuration...As for "vertical wedging" joints in general...they are extremely common and in many different styles and applications...yet outside the context and understanding of most "Western Timberwrights."
We are actually only getting to "scratch the surface" of testing and videos of them, when we are lucky enough to get folks like Ben and Joe of FTET...Joe is our current PE on the project we are working on currently. We spoke of this very video over lunch just a few months back, and there work testing these many joints is invaluable to the rest of us in the field working with timber frames...!! For those of our readers that really like this type of testing and timber frame examination, I would strongly encourage learning some other languages as it relates and applies to our craft. The Japanese (et al) not only "timber frame" way more than most other timber frame cultures (now and historically) but they produce literature and video of actual competitions to present different wall assemblies under load and failure. They do similar empirical comparative analysis of traditional joints like we get from our wonderful FTET gang as well, at many such events. They even have competitions where the only event is to see how well you can tune and use a Kanna (plane.)
Here are a few more video (tip of the "iceberg") that folks may find interesting...
I added this one as you can see the many examples of both horizontal and vertical wedging joints that are used...
This is an example of "Nuki Beam" testing (also a wedged joint and why I included it here in this post)...one of the most common "horizontal bracing" modalities employed in timber frames architecture, and perhaps the oldest in application and understanding, as it is highly resistant to "catastrophic failure" in tectonic loading. It is a very keen point of interest even today as there is a very clear rift that has formed between "big construction businesses" and their "industrial housing" methods as compared to the traditional builders still holding out that these "traditional systems" (overall) are much better in application. The draw back is that "Big Industry" can manufacture and sell these methods as profitably and fast as they can lesser "stick framing" and metal fastener methods...It is a normative "building culture" as much as it is actual aspects of good practise....
Point of interest to the many groups like it in Japan...
Mortise and tenon joint testing
Another spline joint with "vertical wedging" common and one I like to use on frames...
...Greenwich Village, Milan, Hamptons, Beverly Park, Marseille...to name just a few...have "nightlife" and social gatherings where these types of attire, especially for Women, are very common...
