Pegs etc.....

[Norm from Ottawa]

Hello All,

I am a just about to embark on my first timberframe. Scared to death and excited as hell. I have a million questions....so thank goodness for this forum. I have already read every post and have learned a lot. I expect I will be posting alot of questions in the near future, and I hope they aren't too silly.  Well here we go...

I was wondering if anyone knows of a source for pegs in Canada, particularily Ontario or Quebec. I have been to the pegs.us website and they seem to be a great source....just hoping to save on shipping, and duties and, and exchange rates, and.....

Thanks in advance for all the help I anticipate from the world of experience found on this forum.

Norm

[Ernie]

Welcome Norm

I am no help to you here but there are so very many really knowledgeable people here that you will get good answers to virtually anything you ask.  Even about GRITS :D :D :D :D

Ernie

[Jim_Rogers]

Norm:
Welcome and ask away.
You could make your own pegs.
There are several very good methods to do it, depending on your tools on hand and your skill level.
We make our own pegs using straight grain red oak, white oak, and locust.
At last Saturday's workshop we cut some dry red oak boards into 12" lengths and then ripped them on a table saw into 7/8" squares for peg stock blanks.
Then sitting at a shaving horse a student cut them to size using a draw knife.
The seat of the shaving horse has a test hole bored through it and he could test each peg until it was shaped just right to fit.
With proper prep work it really doesn't take that long to make up a batch of pegs.
There are also jigs you can construct to trim your squares to octagon shape on a table saw and go with that.
Also, you can use a router table to create a round dowel for your pegs. Do you have a router table?
To make a round dowel shaped peg on a router table first joint and plane your squares to be truly square and to the size of the peg 3/4" or 1" whatever. Then using a round over bit with a radius of half that size 3/8" for 3/4" and 1/2" for 1", run each peg square over the router table four times rounding each corner.
Like this:


When you do this just make sure that you don't run the stock completely past the router bit so that you have one end square to register against the fence and table. So plan your peg stock longer so that you can trim off the square end if you choose too.

HTH
Good luck
Jim Rogers

PS. in the above photo that was an one and one half inch dowel for a commander handle.

[submarinesailor]

Norm,

Have you consider taking a class taught by one many schools in the northeast.  I attended a one-week class at the Shelter Institute in Woolrich, Maine – about 435 miles or 8 hours east of Ottawa.  My wife went with me and we had a blast.  Made lots of new friends – some we still keep in touch with after 4 years.

subsailor

[Norm from Ottawa]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the responces....

Jim, I have considered making my own pegs and I do have a whole bunch of red oak siting on the site right now. My concerns are (as always) time and money. But, of course, there is the satisfaction factor of making your own...
Hey maybe I could get rich making pegs in Canada...then again, probably not.

Sub, I have looked into some seminars/workshops. We even have one here at a big reclaimed lumber supplier, as well Lee Valley in Ottawa has a one day seminar (sold out by the time I found it). Again...time and money. I am a contractor and our season has just taken off....not to mention, my timbers will be here in late May, and I still have to build the garage, excavate, footings, ICF foundation, slab......I like to force myself into "no way out situations".

Thanks again for the support.

Norm

[Mobilesawyer]

I appreciate your time crunch predicament Norm but thought I would let you know about Jason Gibson. First  let me step back a little I have a small lumber mill just outside of Ottawa in Merrickville. Two years ago I decided I wanted to take a crack at timber frame construction. I told a client who contracted me to remill some old timber for use in a timber frame addition for his home. He pointed me at Jason Gibson's timber frame course which was being held a couple of weeks later at "The Wood Source".
I took the course and loved it and with my new found knowledge build a small machine shed. The course was offered again the following spring and I took it again (call me remedial) and learned a bunch more. I then convinced Jason to let me host a course here at our farm. I can tell you from personal experience that the hands on, friendly approach that Jason and his foreman use is worth all the books written on the subject.
His web site indicates that he will be giving the course twice this year, once in July and again in September. Check out their web site at: http://www.gibsontimberframes.com/
Good luck with your project and if I can be of any help look me up at : www.mobilesawyer.com

[woodbowl]

I took a course from Pat Wolfe in scribe fit log home building several years ago. We made all our own pegs from small diameter growth in the woods. It was all in learning what could be done. Just make sure you have a good dry peg when you drive it. Better that a dry peg swell a bit from moister rather than a wet peg dry in the hole and loosen up.--------Anybody here taken a scribe fit course or built using these methods?

[beetle]

Norm,

I put a shaving horse together in one afternoon so I could make my own pegs. You may be surprised at how many you can whittle out in a short period of time. When I have a 1/2 hour or so to spare, or do not have the time to get into anything major, I put the horse under a tree, pop a top on a cold bottle and draw knife out a dozen or so. It is relaxing and before you know it you will have 200 done.

[Norm from Ottawa]

Okay.....so you may be starting to convince me. Some questions......

When you make your pegs do you account for shrinkage, or just wait a see and drill holes accordingly.

How long would they take to dry? and best method?

I have red oak for the pegs (cut last year) and I'm using eastern white pine for the timbers....how do you think this will look, or are they that noticable?

Norm

PS - Just framed up the garage/Timber Framing Facility.....although the joinery of timberframing is beautiful....you have to appreciate what 3 air nailers can do.

[Jim_Rogers]

Norm:
You asked: "When you make your pegs do you account for shrinkage, or just wait a see and drill holes accordingly."
We make our pegs from air dried oak lumber. We cut it to length and then rip it into squares, of course using as straight a grained piece we can find. When you begin cutting your pegs to shape, using a shaving horse and the grain is not straight the peg will sometimes split and you'll see this and put it in the firewood pile. 80 to 90% of the stock can be used.
If you are sawing your pegs to size then be sure it's as straight grained as you can see.

You asked: "How long would they take to dry? and best method?" As mentioned use old air dried stock.

And about the holes, we don't bore the holes in the mortises or tenons until we do the full frame fit-up just before the raising. That way the holes won't distort while other timbers are having their joinery cut.

Also, when using eastern white pine (EWP) the moisture content will be higher than the pegs and when you put your frame together, these dry pegs will suck up the moisture in the EWP and swell up. This will hold your frame tightly together until you have it enclosed and buttoned up.
And you can use a method of pulling the joints together called "draw boring". This will insure your pegs won't "fall out" of any hole.


Years ago I did a job where I had to cut some old beams to a smaller size. Doing this I sawed through a mortise, tenon and peg. Here is a photo of this:




As you can see even after hundreds of years the dry peg hasn't shrank much.

Hope this helps.
Jim Rogers

[mike_van]

Just wanted to add in what I did - I needed 150+ pegs for my addition, I had some dry locust 1 1/8" thick  boards that I ripped on the table saw to 1x1+, cut these strips to length 4 at a time on a chopsaw, and turned all the pegs on my wood lathe. I had a 1" steel ring loose on the tail spindle, when it just slipped on that end, I was done.  After you do a dozen, it's like you just know.  Using a big roughing gouge it goes pretty fast.