All timbers have a V-groove along the face that is facing the brick infill. This way the mortar will lock in place and the infill will not fall out.
EH - That's great! I love learning these types of tricks of the trade....and I've always wondered about this one. (But not really taken the time to think it trough, apparently...) It's right up there with when I learned about chinking a log home by utilizing bent nails to hold the chink to the logs. Cool stuff. Thanks!
