What size pegs?

[Dan]

 Hi everyone, I`m getting ready to build the shed in Jack Sobon`s book, but not sure what size pegs to use. The timbers are 8x8.  ???

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Most pegs are from 3/4 to 1 inch in most frames.  Now there are times when this is not true because I have seen larger but the timbers were of some size.  I would say unless there are lots of cuts in a small area that any size in the 3/4 to 1 inch range would be fine.  Most of mine are 1 inch octagons of white oak.  I have never taken a peg out smaller then 3/4 from a frame nor used one.  Most 3/4 's were where they had used two pegs per joint.  Hope this helps.

[Jim_Rogers]

There are some standard "Rules of thumb" on peg sizing and placement.

Usually the peg diameter is one half the thickness of the tenon. So a 2" thick tenon would use a 1" peg, and a 1 1/2" thick tenon would use a 3/4" diameter peg.

And next to determine the tenon size it should be 1/4 the width of the timber. So a 8x8 means a 2" tenon, and a 6x6 means a 1 1/2" tenon.

Usually pegs over 1" in diameter are only used when specified by an engineer.

The placement "Rules of thumb" are then based on this diameter, which is called "D" in the NDS books and the hole for the peg has to be so many "D's" from the end of the tenon and the side of the mortise, based on the type of wood being used as in the tenon, and mortise. There are different rules for hardwood frames vs. softwood frames.

Hope this helps.

Jim Rogers

[beetle]

Here is what I did, right or wrong:

Cut 1" square blanks out of green white Oak and used the shaving horse to taper and knock off the 90 degree corners to make a octagon peg that fits snuggly in a 1" test hole. Then as the pegs dried they shrunk a little bit so I bore a 15/16" hole, nice fit, not too tight, and not loose.  :

[Dan]

Thanks for the help, I don`t have the time to teach myself how to make the pegs, so I will be using 1 inch pegs from Northcott.