Book with post/beam sizing and span tables?

[evjim]

Hi, I bought Jack Sobon's "Timber Frame Construction" book hoping it would have information on picking post/beam sizing and how long the beams can span. It has a ton of information and is a good start but seems to only use 8x8s. Does one of the timber frame books have span tables?

I want to use 6x6 posts and 6x8 beams. I have fir logs available that could be milled to that size.The building will be 1.5 stories tall in a tudor design. And the beams would ideally span 10feet.

Also, in the design there are a few spots where a post would have two beams entering it from opposite sides. What are the types of joints that could be used there?

I have seen the calculator here and used that for some beam sizing. Do I have to plug in the information for the dimensions of the tenon to this calculator or does it assume that? As the tenon will be about 1/4 the crossection of the beam I assume that is the weakest point

[Brian_Weekley]

In Sobon's other book, "Build a Classic Timber Framed-House", there is an appendix with some examples of sizing beams.  This, with the Forestry Forum Tool Box, you can make some good estimates.  However, once you start adding joinery, I don't know of a text that will give you a definitive answer.  There are engineers out there that specialize in timber framing who can check your sizes (e.g., Fire Tower Engineering in RI).

[Don P]

WSDD (Wood Structural Design Data) available as a download on the awc.org website has span/load tables based on bending strength/stiffness and a good description of beam sizing.

For checking something like your example tenon you need to find out what is happening at that point. The beam calc on the forum is looking for the maximum bending moment in the beam for example, which is at the center of the beam, your bending moment will be close to nil. The horizontal shear will be at max at the ends and is the tenon's reduced section. The calc is not checking bearing capacity of the tenon, the surface area of the bearing vs the allowable compression perpendicular to grain. Two publications in the same publications library from above will help with those;
DA6 Beam diagrams
Supplement to the NDS, Design Values for Wood Construction

The red and green design books from the TFG are also helpful

Good luck