Noggin-Pieces: The horizontal timbers forming the tops and bottoms of the frames of infill-panels.
Nominal Size: Undressed dimension of lumber. For example, lumber with a nominal size of two inches by four inches will have an actual size of about one and one-half inches by three and one-half inches.
Overall Length: Total length of timber including length of tenons on either end.
Overhang: Projection of second story beyond the first.
Partial-Width Notch: A notch on the tension or compression face of a bending member that does not extend across full width of the face.
Peg: A wooden dowel one to one and one-half inches in diameter, usually of oak or locust.
Pike Pole: A long pole pointed with a sharpened spike used for raising frames. These tools were known as early as the fifteenth century, when they were called "butters."
Pin: Small peg.
Plates: Major horizontal timbers that support the base of the rafters.
Plumb: Vertical.
Post: Vertical or upright timber.
Post-and-Beam: Timber frame.
Power Hand Planer: A hand-held planer with rotating cutting blades. Used for finishing surfaces of rough-sawn timbers.
Principal Rafters: A pair of inclined timbers that are framed into a bent.
Purlins: Horizontal timbers that connect rafter trusses.
Pythagorean Theorem: For a right triangle, the sum of the squares of the sides is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. Used in calculating rafter and knee-brace lengths.
Queen Post: A pair of vertical posts of a roof truss standing on the bent plate or girt and supporting the rafters or collar tie.
Rack: The action of straining or winching a frame to bring it into square or plumb.
Rafter Feet: The lower ends of the rafters that are framed into the plate.
Rafter Peak: The point where the tops of the rafters meet.
Raising the Frame: Erecting the bents and roof trusses and joining and pegging the other timbers to the frame.
Reaction: A force pushing up in response to a load.
Rearing the Frame: English term. Equivalent to "raising the frame."
Relish: The material between a peg or wedge hole and the end of a tenon or spline.
Ridgepole: A horizontal timber at the peak of the roof to which the rafters are attached.
Rip: To saw a board lengthwise.
Rip Saw: Saw designed to cut parallel to grain.
Roof Pitch: Inches of rise per foot of run. For example, a 45-degree roof has twelve inches of rise for each foot of run and is therefore called a "twelve pitch" roof.
Roof Truss: A structure to support the roof.
Router: A power tool with rotating cutting blades used in timber framing for rounding or embellishing edges of timbers.
Saddle Notch Corner: A saddle notch is an overlapping, interlocking type of log corner. A saddle notched corner ensures a tight fit and superior structural quality.
Sash: The framed casement part of a window in which the glass is fixed.
Scarf: A joint for splicing two timbers, end to end.
Scribe: To mark a timber by scratching a line with a sharp instrument; also to cut or shape a timber so that it fits the somewhat irregular surface of another.
Seasoned Wood: Dried wood.
Shakes: Separation of wood fibers that follow the curvature of the growth rings. Normally occurs during growth of the tree.
Shear Failure: Failure from shearing along the fibers of a timber.
Shearing: A force causing slippage between layers
Sheathing: The covering of boards or the waterproof material on the outside wall of a house or on a roof.
Shed Roof: A roof sloping in one direction.
Shim: Thin tapered pieces of material such as a shingle. Used for leveling sill timbers.
Shoulder of Timber: Point of intersection at the joint of two assembled timbers. Refers to timber with tenon.
Shoulder-To-Shoulder Length: Length of timber between the shoulders of the two end joints. (The overall length minus length of end tenons.)
Sill Timbers: Horizontal timbers that rest upon the foundation.
Slick: A chisel with a blade two and one-half or more inches in width. It is pushed by the hands instead of being struck with a mallet.
Sloping Timbers: Includes trusses, braces, and herringbone bracing.
Soffit: The underside part of a building such as under a roof overhang.
Softwood: Wood primarily of a conifer or evergreen, e.g., pine, spruce, Douglas fir, etc.
Span: The shoulder-to-shoulder distance.
Specific Gravity: The ratio of a material's density versus the density of water.
Spline (aka: Free Tenon): A lumber or engineered wood element placed in slot cuts, grooves, dados, etc. to strengthen joints between components.
Splits: Complete separation of wood fibers.
Squaring Off: The process of drawing and cutting off one end of a timber so that the cut gives a plane surface perpendicular to the timber's length.
Stand-Alone Timber Frame: A timber fame structure designed to resist loads without the use of shear walls or supplementary structural systems.
Summer Beam: Major timber that spans between grits or plates.
Template: A full-size pattern of thin material for laying out and checking joints.
Temporary Bracing: Method of temporarily adding rigidity to a frame during the raising.
Tenon: The projecting end of a timber that is inserted into a mortise.
- Stub tenon - a short tenon; depth depends on the size of the timber; also a tenon that is shorter than the width of the mortised piece so the tenon does not show (as opposed to a "through tenon").
- Tusk tenon - a kind of mortise and tenon joint that uses a wedge-shaped key to hold the joint together
- Through tenon - a tenon which passes entirely through the piece of wood it is inserted into, being clearly visible on the back side
- Teasel tenon - a term used for the tenon on top of a jowled or gunstock post, which is typically received by the mortise in the underside of a tie beam. A common element of the English tying joint.
- Top tenon - the tenon which occurs on top of a post.
- Feather Tenon - a round shouldered machined fillet or feather which is glued into a machine-made (router) slot or mortise on each side of the joint.
Through Tenon: A tenon that passes through the timber it joins. It may extend past the mortise and be wedged from the opposite side.
Timber: A large squared or dressed piece of wood ready for fashioning as one member of a structure.
Timber Frame: A frame of large timbers, joined and pegged together, supporting small timbers to which roof, walls, and floors are fastened. Same as braced frame.
Tongue and Fork: A type of joint in which one timber has the shape of a two-prong fork and the other a central tongue that fits between the prongs.
Transit: A telescope set on a tripod used for leveling foundation or sill timbers.
Trunnel or Treenail: A peg. Sometimes refers to an extra-large peg.
Truss: Assemblage of timbers forming a rigid framework. Example: A bent
Vertical Timbers: Include posts (main supports at corners and other major uprights)and studs (subsidiary upright limbs in framed walls).
Walking Beams: Two parallel beams laid on the ground used to assist moving timbers with a pivoting action.
Wall-Plates: At the top of timber-framed walls that support the trusses and joists of the roof.
Water Level: A flexible tube with glass ends, filled with water. Used for leveling foundation or sill timbers. A substitute for a transit.
Wedge: A tapered wood element with rectangular cross section used to secure through-tenons, through-splines and scarf joint.
Western Red Cedar: Characteristics - redwood, character grains and knots, and more resistant to insect infiltration.
Western White Wood: Characteristics - light wood, visible knots, and offers flexibility in staining options, from light to dark.
Width: The horizontal thickness of a beam, or thickness of a post.
Wind Brace: English term. Equivalent to knee brace.