The scope of this study is to evaluate the existing test methods for deciding the in-plane shear strength and stiffness of cross laminated timber (CLT) panels, and suggest a new test method. The evaluation of the existing methods point out that none of the methods isolate the pure membrane shear stress. This means that the results have to be interpreted and modified analytically in the process to define the in-plane shear properties. A new Direct shear test method is suggested to apply pure membrane shear force on the test specimen. In the suggested method the force is applied to a hinged steel frame, which is continuously bonded to the edges of the CLT panel. As the steel frame and the panel are deformed as parallelograms, the applied force are translated to pure membrane shear in the tested panel.