On 26/05/2017 09:02, John Rumm wrote:

Is the gate question a trick? H has the brace the wrong way round.

Bill
tesnd to work either way.

No the force has to be compression on the brace.

It does not *have* to be.

No it's fine to do it the other way if you don't mind the gate pulling
apart when a child swings on it.

Granted that is the traditional way,

Because it works much better. There's a reason for most traditions.

but it
will also work in tension if its well fixed.

How would you do that? Very difficult to get the same strength as doing
it the correct way would.

What is required to prevent
racking of the gate is a triangulated cross member. Having it in
compression works well since it can be notched into the other timbers
and will hence work and stay put even without much in the way of
fixings. In tension it relies more heavily on the fixings, but will
still work.

If it relies more heavily on the fixings it's not as good a design. If
extra stress can be avoided it should be.

As has been said though, in the context of the question, where all the
other alternatives simply had variations on right angle joints and no
brace, its the only clear correct answer.

It's the correct answer but it shows that the author has no idea about
basic joinery techniques.

Bill