Adze: An axe-like tool with its blade at right angles to its handle, used to shape or dress timbers.
Anchor Beam: Major tying beam. Joined to post with shouldered through-tenon, wedged from the opposite side.
Anchor Bolt: A bolt protruding from the top of the foundation onto which the sill plate is fastened with a nut.
Auger: A tool for boring holes in wood.
Backfilling: Replacing excavated soil around a foundation.
Baseboard: Interior trim used on the wall of a room, along the floor.
Batten: A thin, narrow piece of lumber used for covering panel or siding edges.
Bay: Space between tow bents.
Beam: A main horizontal member in a building's frame.
Beam Pocket: A notch in a wall or receiving member prepared to receive the ends of a beam.
Beetle: A large wooden mallet typically weighing fifteen to twenty pounds. A maul.
Bent: Structural network of timbers or a truss that makes up one cross-sectional piece of the frame.
Bevel siding: Boards of varying width, tapering to a thin edge, and used as covering for sides of buildings.
Bleeding: An exudation of resin, gum creosote, or other substance from lumber.
Blind Mortise: A mortise that does not extend completely through the piece.
Blue Stain: A bluish discoloration, caused by certain fungi, which seldom penetrates beyond the sapwood, mostly Pine.
Bird's Mouth: A V-shaped notch that resembles a bird's open beak. It is cut into the base of a rafter and received by the plate.
Boring Machine: A hand-operated device with gears that drive an auger bit for boring large holes.
Board Foot: The quantity of lumber contained in (or derived from) a piece of rough, green lumber, 1 inch thick, 12 inches wide, and 1 foot long, or its equivalent in thicker, wider, narrower, or longer lumber.
Brace: Braces add rigidity to a frame. They typically run diagonally between posts and girts, and help prevent the frame from racking (leaning) in high winds. Braces are occasionally used in the horizontal plane, running from one girt to another.
Braced Frame: Timber frame.
Bressumer: English term for a beam supporting an upper wall of timber framing.
Bridging: Short pieces of wood placed between beams or joists to prevent lateral movement.
Broadaxe: A type of axe that has an unusually wide blade beveled only on one side, with an offset handle. Used to hew timbers from logs. A side axe.
Buck: Frame of dimensional lumber set into a log wall and used to frame windows and doors.
Buckling: Bending of a timber as a result of a compressive force along its axis.
Builder's Risk Insurance: Insurance policy carried during construction that covers damage to home or property caused by fire, wind, theft or vandalism.
Building Code: Standards of construction designed to protect the health and safety of a home's occupants.
Building Permit: Permit issued by a municipality that allows construction work on a specific site to go forward according to approved plans. Ensures that all proposed construction work meets building code and is added to the tax rolls.
CAD (Computer Aided Design): Software technology we use for all aspects of design with the possible exception of preliminary sketching.
Cant: A triangular strip of lumber, which is made by ripping a square timber diagonally.
Cantilever Beam: A projecting timber that supports an overhang.
Casing: Lumber used as interior trim around window and door frames.
Carrying Sticks: Sticks placed under a timber to provide an easy hand hold for carrying. Typically, two carrying sticks and four people are needed to carry a timber in this way.
Chamfer: A simple bevel done for embellishment of a timber.
Checks: Separation of wood fibers following the direction of the rays. Caused by the tension of uneven drying.
Circular Saw: Power saw with circular saw blade.
Clear: Lumber almost completely free from blemishes, defects or knots.
Coarse: As applied to the grain of lumber, that which has unusually wide growth rings for the species.
Collar Purlin: Horizontal longitudinal beam supporting collar ties.
Collar Tie: Horizontal connector between a pair of rafters used to reduce sagging or spreading of rafters.
Combination Square: A tool that can be used to lay out 45-degree or 90 degree angles. The stop is adjustable along the blade for use as a depth gauge.
Come-Along: A hand-operated ratchet winch. Used for pulling joints together, as a safety tie when raising a bent, and for pulling the frame together during the raising.
Common Rafters: Closely and regularly spaced inclined timbers that support the roof covering. Independent of bent system (see principal rafters).
Compression: Caused by a pressing or crushing type of force.
Conduction: A movement of heat through a material.
Convection: The transference of heat by circulation or movement.
Corner Chisel: A heavy-duty L-shaped chisel struck with a mallet. Used for cleaning out corners of a mortise.
Cope: A circular-arc notch cut on the tension face of a bending member adjacent to the members bearing surface to reduce shear stress parallel to the grain notch.
Cost-Plus: Type of contract made between a general contractor and a home owner that stipulates the owner will pay for the cost of building materials as the project progresses, plus an added percentage for the general contractor's fee. This type of contract is opposite of a fixed-price contract.
Crosscut Saw: Saw designed to cut across the grain.
Crown of Timber: Convex side of timber.
Crown Post: Central vertical post of a roof truss that connects the bent plate or girt to the collar tie or collar purlin.
Cruck: Primitive truss formed by two main timbers, usually curved, set up as an arch or inverted V. Each half of the cruck is called a blade, and a pair is often cut from the same tree.
Crushing: A compressive failure. Permanent deformation resulting from compression.
D-Log: A profile you can choose for milling log home timbers. Named for its shape, each log is milled round on the outside and cut flat on the inside, resulting in a traditional log home look outside with a straight log wall on the inside.
Dead Load: Weight of building (roof, floors, walls, etc.).
Demurrage: Additional fees charged by the transportation company to cover delays in delivering a product.
Depth: The vertical thickness of a beam.
Design Agreement: Outlines the process of designing your new timber frame home.
Diagonal Grain: Grain that is other than parallel to the length of a timber. This will greatly reduce the strength of a timber.
Dimensional Lumber: Planed lumber that is sold according to its nominal size.
Disc Sander: Circular-action power sander.
Dormer: A design feature in gabled roofs where small perpendicular gabled roofs are added to the roof system to form valleys with the main roof.
Douglas Fir: Douglas fir has a complex grain structure and is less prone to checking and twisting. Common to the Northwest, this wood species shows extraordinary structural strength and flexibility. In addition, Douglas fir is readily available in a wide variety of sizes and diameters for your home.
Dovetail: A tenon that is shaped like a dove's spread tail to fit into a corresponding mortise.
Dowell: A cylindrical wooden pin used for holding two pieces of wood together.
Draw Boring: Intentional offsetting of holes in a mortise and tenon joint such that the joint is drawn tight during peg installation.
Draw Knife: A knife blade with handles on both ends that allow the knife to be pulled by both hands toward the user.
Dress: To plane one or more sides of a piece of sawn lumber.
Drift Hook: Drift pin.
Drift Pin: Used to pin joints temporarily when test-assembling a frame.
Drop: Ornamental pendant. The tear-shaped termination to the lower ends of the second-story post of a framed overhang. Also known as a pendill.
Dutchman: A timber patch to cover defect, previous joinery, or other blemish or error. Color and grain matching make them hard to find.
Eased-Edged: A piece of wood slightly rounded or "bull nosed" on each edge.
Eave: That part of a roof, which projects beyond the face of a wall. The distance from the center of a peg hole to the edge of the member, measured perpendicular to the grain direction.
Edge Distance: The distance from the center of a peg hole to the edge of the member, measured perpendicular to the grain direction.
Edge Grain: Lumber that is sawn along a radius of the annual rings or at an angle less than 45 degrees to the radius is edge-grained; this term is synonymous with "quarter sawn."
Egress: A unit (door, window or skylight) from which people may exit the building. Local egress code requirements vary.
End Distance: The distance from the center of a peg hole to the end of the member, measured parallel to the grain direction.
End Match: To tongue-and-groove (T&G) the ends of lumber.
Equilibrium moisture content: The moisture content at which wood neither gains nor loses moisture when surrounded by air at a given relative humidity and temperature.
Excessive Bending and Deflection: Values of allowable bending of timbers within a frame that have been established by building codes. Anything greater than these values is considered excessive.