Re: Timber frame joint rings

"Snag"  wrote in message news:vdkupa$3iv9n$1@dont-email.me...
   Every truss used in our house has plywood plates and nails . I
cheated though , I used a pneumatic nail gun . The scissor trusses for
the vaulted ceiling in the kitchen/dining room were the most fun .
Nothing has failed and killed anybody yet ...
Snag
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The rings hold shear forces in joints in thicker timbers, as in post and beam framing. In a truss the butt joints in compression don't need them, those in tension won't benefit from them. Other steel shapes can be used to distribute and transfer the loads such as vertical ribs in saw kerfs, rings are just easy to cut and install in heavy timbers with a hand-held drill.
In this case the beams and columns are 5" wide, because I could cut 4 from a 21" wide cant (squared log) that barely fits between the uprights of my bandsaw mill. The shed is overbuilt to store the less than perfect wood somehow rather than use it efficiently. These old trees were cut down because they could fall onto my or a neighbor's house and had disappointingly little clear furniture grade wood in them.
I've been using the 2" pot collet for the first time to turn the steel blade guide rollers. It's repeatability is a considerable help for turning several parts to identical length and diameter, in this case boring the four ball bearing recesses to a hand pressure fit.