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Walked through a 150-year-old barn frame in Vermont last weekend and noticed something about the joinery
There was this old post and beam barn being taken down near Stowe, and I stopped to watch. Every single joint was hand cut with a chisel and mallet, no metal fasteners anywhere. The oak tenons were still tight after all that time. The guy running the crew said they hardly had to replace a single timber. Makes me wonder if we lean too hard on screws and brackets these days. Has anyone else looked at old timber framing and felt like we are overcomplicating modern builds?
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lunawilson2mo ago
Helped my buddy frame a tiny cabin a few years back using some old barn salvage wood. We did the whole thing with pegged mortise and tenon joints, no metal at all. It took way longer than if we just screwed it together, but that thing has been through two rough winters and it barely creaks. The pegs actually let the wood move a little, so it settles instead of cracking. Makes me think our modern obsession with rigid connections just fights against nature.
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