At 3:11 PM -0400 7/23/98, Bill Millios wrote (Hi, Bill!) on Carl
Muhlhausen's dime:
>our woodworking club took a look at [a] timber frame building from the
>early 1800's. I seem to recall someone saying that the pegs (tree
>nails?) were supposed to be left protruding and hammered back it
>as the structure loosened up. The attic was made from massive oak
>timbers held together with wicked looking wooden  12" spikes.

        Now you guys went and made me get all cobwebby.  My house was built
c. 1853 of what around here is called "post-and-beam" construction, like
most old barns and much like modern timber framing.  Inside the crawl space
above the leanto roof off the main 1 1/2 story section the beams are still
exposed, and after following this thread I just had to look at the pins I
remembered were visible there.
        One central post is a full 11" x 8", red oak I believe, with cross
beams mortised in at the level of the upper floor.  The end of the pins
that were pounded in still protrude about 4" into the crawl space.  I'd
have to cut a sample to verify, but I think they are of white oak, and were
made square and then chamfered down to an irregular octagon shape, still
somewhat larger than the 1" round holes probably made by a boring machine.
Closer inspection shows that the pegs (trenails) are compressed by a
visible amount where they enter the holes.
        I grabbed and tried to wiggle each of the four pins I could see,
and they are as tight as if part of the beam itself, after about 145 years.
                Tom Holloway