I have much experience building fine furniture but other than some windsor chairs have not done much with green wood. I got involved in a community project to build a Japanese arch (torii) which will be made out of oak logs (vertical posts 6-8 inches in diameter). There will be mortises and tenons. I wasn’t sure whether to cut and fit the joints while the wood is still green or to rough cut the tenons and try to fit them after some shrinkage has occurred, a few months later. Will the mortises and tenons shrink together proportionately? Should I pin them whcile still green? Any advice on this appreciated. Thanks.
Jay
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If you can locate him ( here or in Breaktime) Fenchy is the one to ask.
I timberframe in Montana, and while we use mostly fir, we occasionally use oak. Green oak timberframes are cut, raised, and pegged all the time.
That said, how green? We just cut some trusses from white oak (large timbers...like 14 x 20) that had air dried for over three years, and when you cut them, they were actually wet to the touch and began micro-checking within 15 minutes if not sealed.
We are doing a community project and have limited time, so we will be doing the work in several sessions. We also have to build this arch and erect it in a different location, at a later date. That means we have to fit the joints, disassemble it and reassemble it possibly a few weeks later, after some shrikage has ocurred. What would you suggest as the best approach? Fit joints exactly, disassemble and peg at final assembly, or rough cut and pare to final dimensions just before final assembly? Thanks.
Jay
We do it two ways.Sometimes we cut everything, drill peg holes in mortises (before we cut mortises, obviously), and then at raising, drill through tenons and peg.Sometimes, we drill tenons in the shop.If you are worried about it, do the former. Pull everything tight with ratchet straps, comealongs, and clamps, then drill tenons and peg.Good luck.
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