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What species do you recommend?

Started by WolfpackNation, October 31, 2016, 09:27:52 AM

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WolfpackNation

Hey Everyone. Long time viewer of the forum and finally decided to create an account!

I'm in the process of planning and designing my barn and wanted to know what species for timber framing readily available in the Piedmont/Sandhills region of the Carolina's would you recommend. This would be my first attempt at timber framing so that is something to keep in mind.

I can get all the loblolly I need at no cost but not sure if I want to use it. Also I can get white oak/red oak at minimal costs.

I don't mind spending money to acquire what I need. I just want to make sure its done right.

So in short would any of these three species be a wise choice? Or should I start looking at other options?

DDW_OR

welcome to the forum.

what size of barn are you planning
Width x Length x side wall Height

Mine is a Clearly Pole Barn 30x64x12
"let the machines do the work"

WolfpackNation

I'm leaning towards a 30' x 40' gable barn with loft that has sidewalls of approximately 12'.

S.Hyland

Looks like you have access to some promising stuff. White Oak is ideal for sills or anything exposed to weather. The heartwood of W. Oak has good rot resistance. Red Oak would be great everywhere else. Oak is a hard wood but tools really nicely. Very crisp joinery and a real pleasure to work! Main downside is the weight, don't want to move it more than you have to without hydraulic help.
Cut it while the sap is down if possible and seal the end grain with Anchor seal or a similar product. This helps keep drying rates consistent.

I don't have any experience with Loblolly being up North. Is it rather similar to Red Pine or a bit more like White Pine?
"It may be that when we no longer know which way to go that we have come to our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings."
― Wendell Berry

Brad_bb

You can use most tree species.  The thing is though, your frame has to be designed with the species in mind.  A White pine frame are going to have some different dimensions(timber sizes) and joinery decisions than if you're designing with White oak in mind.  Today the most commonly used are white pine, doug fir, white and red oak.  That is because they are most readily commercially available. 

The other very important thing to keep in mind is the quality of sticks themselves.  It's important to learn how to visually grade timbers for where they will be used in the frame.  Rafters are your highest grade material, tie beams are next highest.  Posts are your lower grade.  Top plates can be scarfed together, and while you need higher grade, you can put multiple scarfs in to make up a long top plate.  Braces are a judgement call, but because they are your shortest pieces 5-6ft, it's easier to get braces out of other sticks that couldn't' be used elsewhere. 

I think Steve Chappell's book "A timber framers workshop"  does a good job of describing visual grading.

As an example, a recent frame was designed using the properties of Beech for analysis.  A lot of the sticks were white and red oak, but they have better properties than the beech.  We designed for the wood with the lowest properties. 

Next year I'm working on one that will use Oak, Beech, Cherry, Walnut, Ash, Osage, elm, and maybe a piece of Hackberry even.  It's about understanding what properties you're (the engineer)using for the analysis and grading the material you have and understanding where you need the better stuff.
Anything someone can design, I can sure figure out how to fix!
If I say it\\\\\\\'s going to take so long, multiply that by at least 3!

Don P

Southern Yellow Pine, loblolly is one of the 5 species, has higher design values than red or white oak. I don't have the tables at my fingertips but I'd bet shrinkage is lower. Drying rate is much faster. 

Red and white pine have relatively similar design values, pretty low. Red pine tends to have better knot structure gradingwise than white. SYP has design values more in the dougfir range. Don't discount it out of hand.

Sap actually never goes down. Scratch the branch bark on a pine and you'll see green chlorophyll underneath. Aside from the waxy evergreen needles photosynthesizing, the young bark is also feeding the tree. A cherry is the same, the horizontal lines on smooth cherrybark are lenticels, they perform the same function as the stoma on a leaf. The tree is going slower but it continues to flow through the winter.

If you have good locust around, it's quite dense but works well, is rot resistant, and shrinks little.

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