Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Monday, a slooow rolling start.
What is it called when a log is dressed, then sawed lengthwise, one of the pieces is turned end for end, a metal plate inserted between the two lengths of wood, and the result held together with bolts to form a structural member?
Re: Monday, a slooow rolling start.
obviously this pre-dates glue-lam beams.
As far back as 1700's
Hint:s
It's a ...... beam
Still made today but mostly today with lumber + steel
Used most often on a type of house
Re: Hint:s
Would the beam's name be a season?
Tom
Hummmm--well
it's not a spring beam. It could be a summer (actually a sommier (Fr. "beam")) beam so partial credit. But a "summer beam" could be all wood or all steel. Close, in a generic sense, not the name given for the type of beam for which I'm searching. The two names are not interchangable.
Monday answer
From the net:
Middle English flicche, from Old English flicce.
A flitch beam (or flitched beam) is a compound beam used in the construction of houses, timber frame, barns, decks, and other primarily wood-frame structures. Typically the flitch beam is made up of a metal (iron/steel) plate sandwiched between two wood beams, the three layers being held together with bolts. Further alternating layers of wood and steel can be used to produce an even stronger beam. The metal plate(s) within the beam are known as flitch plates
Because flitch beams are significantly stronger than wood alone
- require less depth than a wood-only beam of the same strength
- are much lighter than a steel beam of the same size
- can be nailed, drilled, mortised into
Taken from the Barn
�The Barn has a number of wooden beams embedded in its brickwork. A purely visual
assessment may have identified some of these as Baltic pine, thought to have been brought into the area with the extending of the Wey Navigation from Guildford to Godalming in 1760. At least one beam appears to be of French Oak while others may be Douglas Fir, which has structural and weathering properties similar to Oak.
Above the loading door is a Flitch Beam over 6ft in length, (9 x 8.5 in. w/h). This is one that has been sawn in half along its length and had an iron or steel plate (�Fitch Plate�) inserted, with the two halves then reversed so that the natural grain is in opposition, the whole being secured together with bolts.�
The web has references under Flitch beams. 18th century references are from England and Ireland where the heavy timbers were becoming scarce much earlier than in America. I�ve not seen a reference that was not a repair early on as in church beam strengthening. References to the beams are easy to come by by 1850 in America.
Today companies make ready made flitch beams with exact tension and mass specs using hardened bolts. Apparently exposed beam second homes at ski locations are big users.