[Strawbale] plywood vs. osb for gussets

[Ken Simonelis]

         Well I asked for it ! If I get any more educated about this matter I fear I may well turn into a quivering mass of well informed 'jelly' that is unable to make a decision as to which direction to go in! ( Naw, just kidding )
          Rob, firstly I'd like to say I goofed in saying I was thinking of a 24' or 32' arch ! What I meant  to say was  a 20' or 24' arch. I've become a confimed believer in the wisdom of being a  " small houser "as Shay Solomon, author of ' Little house on a small planet ', puts it.  You get a good feeling for the real cost of a square foot of house when you do your own from the logging all the way to painting the trim! The real kicker for me though is cutting your fuel wood to survive the winter. I've gone through two generations of Belgian horses, and damn near one lumberjack keeping the shack from freezing and still the winter returns . Hmmm time to cut down the square footage , and not the forest !
        Chris, although I'm not a lumber grader in any sense of the word, I've handled enough sticks to feel  confident enough in my ability to sort out the keepers. ( I think I'm probably a bit pickier than your average grader as I bought about 50 pieces of 2x4 for a small project ( mill is buried in snow and my own stock of 2x4's is low ), Said #2 on the stud but I'd a probably  set 25 % of them aside if I was sorting.) 
        Like most farmers here in North East Alta. I've spent some winters working in sawmills, the bush and the oil patch and seen a few lumber graders in action. What a job, I go cross eyeed after 20 minutes and they just keep at it 12 hours a day , day after day. I pretty sure they weren't hitting 98% accuracy so my hats off to you for that talent.
         What helps me along with the quality of the lumber is the fact that much of the logs I saw are Spruce 'Salvage' . This ain't junk, however. With the endless exploration for oil,oil,oil, the boreal forest is looking more and more like swiss cheese. Very sad. Anyway seismic cut lines go according to the compass regardless of whats in the way and that means straight thru stands of what can only be called old growth Spuce. Most of this stuff used to get piled up and burnt or left to rot but they (Forestry boys ) are fially getting stricter about carting these trees off to a mill, no excuses. As a result I'm able to buy the odd semi load of the most beautiful logs you'd ever see. Most cants square up to 18" or better and no knots at all  untill the top log or so. As you can imagine,even a rank  amature like me can do quite well 'grading '.
          Rob the surface of a band saw cut board is quite a bit smoother than the one cut with a circilar saw. ( Providing the blade is properly sharpened, set, and your saw well tuned ). Is it good enough for gluing up ? Don't know, but I'll try a few experimental joints this summer and find out for sure. As for providing for cavety space for insulation, especially in the roof, I'm with you on that. A parllel chord truss sounds like just the ticket for this project. Now does anyone know where I can download some patterns for DIY parallel chord trusses ?!
         Well this epistle has gone on for too long as it is so I'll sign off with a heartfelt thanks to all for info and opinions, and help given. Seems there are still quite a few ' good eggs' left kicking around the planet !
                                                                                                                 Cheers to all,                  
                                                                                                                          Ken