What is "traditional joinery"? How is it used in timber frame building?

There are many examples of joinery, a brief description does not explain the cutting of joints, just the fact that some are more labor intensive then others. Tying joints, the basic through mortise and tenon handles moderate loads. It relies on the pins or pegs to resist withdrawal. It's most common use is where the beam ties with the wall post. The housing joint is primarily used in parallel with a tie beam where a reduction is made in both post and beam. This reduction captivates the corresponding timber locking it together.

All timber frame joinery is housed and drawbored, which assures it stays tight even when dry.

Draw bored pegging is a time honored technique described by James Newlands in the Carpenters Assistant (1869) as when a tenon is to be secured in a mortise by a pin passed through both pieces, and the hole in the tenon is made nearer the shoulder than to the cheeks of the mortise, the insertion of the pin draws the shoulder of the tenon close to the cheeks of the mortise, and it is said to have a draught. It gives a tighter fit to the frame. Even after the wood dries and shrinks away, the gaps between joinery stay tight because the joint always remains in tension.

In drawbored frames, the peg holes in the tenons are offset approximately 1/8 of an inch. This offset hole drifts the tenon into the mortise housing. The peg holds both mortise and tenon in tension.

Timber frames of this quality will last many generations.