If you mean "horizontal shear", where the layers of wood slide over one another at a bearing point, then yes, you should consider the published values. This type of failure will always occur before a tearing across the grain itself, for which there are usually no published values, at least in US practice.

In the Australian code the values given for E, the elastic modulus, include an allowance for shear deformation. If you only want it to calculate deflections that should be enough.
What do you want to know for?

Shear modulus of elasticity, G, exists for all materials.  It is calculated as:

G = E/(2+2v)

Where:
E = modulus of elasticity
v = Poisson's ratio

However, I have not had occasion to use it in wood design.

I assume you're trying to check deflections.  I've never had occasion to find shear deflections of wood members, other than plywood diaphragms.

 

I'm pretty sure that the 'Encyclopedia of Wood' by Stirling Publications has Shear Modulii for various species; will check my book tomorrow and let you know.

The shear modulus G in timber design in the UK (to BS:5268) is taken to be E/16.
The central deflection due to shear on a beam from a UDL is calcualted using
wL*2/(8AG) then multiplying by a form factor, C (1.2 for a rectangular section) this is then added to the deflection due to bending.

my references agree with Taro


However I would be interested if anyone knows how this equates to E/16 stated in B.S. 5268 (Part 2 clause 2.7)

Alan

Don't know how the following table will format(?)

Species   Glr/El   Glt/El    Grt/El

Balsa     0.054    0.037     0.005

Yellow    0.074    0.068     0.017
Birch

Douglas   0.064    0.078     0.007
Fir

Spruce    0.064    0.061     0.003
Sitka  

Sweetgum  0.089    0.061     0.021

Walnut    0.085    0.062     0.021
Black

Poplar    0.075    0.069     0.011
Yellow

From Table 4.1 in Encyclopedia of Wood

As you can see, there's quite a mix. 'l' is short for longitudinal, 'r' for radial and 't' for tangential  Glr is the modulus for the 'longitudinal-radial' plane.  If you need the tabular information, I can scan it and email it to you.

Taro:
Wood, being orthotropic, has 6 values for poissons ratio.  Doug fir for example has values 0.29, 0.45, 0.39, 0.37, 0.04 and 0.03 for Ulr, Ult, Urt, Utr, Url and Utl, respectively.