Saw some wild old timber framing at a barn in Lancaster County

I was driving through Lancaster County, Pennsylvania last weekend and stopped to look at an old barn being restored. The main frame was all hand-hewn oak, and the joints were these massive mortise and tenons held with wooden pegs. What got me was the scribe rule layout marks still visible on some beams, little knife cuts from like 200 years ago. The guy working on it said they were keeping every original piece they could, even if it meant custom milling replacement sections to match. Made me think about how much we rely on power tools now for speed, but that kind of hand-fit precision is a different skill. Has anyone here worked on a scribe rule timber frame project before?

2 comments

2 Comments

wright.rowan27d ago

Ugh, can't stand this romanticizing of old methods. That "hand-fit precision" is just inefficient. Those guys used scribe rule because they had no other choice, not because it was some lost art. We have power tools and CAD now for a reason, to build things faster and cheaper so normal people can afford them. Saving every rotten beam is a pointless waste of time and money when modern materials work better.

max_foster27d ago

Right? Who has time for that nonsense?