Newby, Thanks to Joel for all his encouragement and advice.

Here's a story. Winter, feb, 05-06 a local(NJ) farmer was pushing down some trees. I stopped by and asked if I could get some wood for the stove. "You cut the stump off and you can have the whole tree" he said. He was to burn the brush.
He ended up taking down about 60 trees, mostly field grown black and scarlet oaks and a good number of mature hickorys. One monster white oak and a dozen or so big sasafrass and a big cherry.
He loaded my little trailer and I draged tnem home, along with help from a good friend (wildman)who is a sawyer for the western fire crews and NJ fire service,and his own tree service. My boss also helped with a small dump truck.
Over the next two months I spent about 2 hours a day cutting up limbs and flushing off the stumps after preeure washing them so as to get the most yield. I had been dreaming of a timber frame for over 30 years and here it was.
The logs we stacked as good as possible. early spring a friend and well driller (as I am) offered to lend me a small cat crane which came in handy in re-stacking the timber. By that time I had cut and stacked about 10-15 cord and was hunting for an experienced sawyer to mill the logs...Into what, I did not know.
Mr. Benson advises that you MUST have a good plan befor cutting the first piece. Sage advice.
Bill was suggested by Woodmizer and is a top knotch sawyer. His rates are excelent and he is thurough. He is careful about safety and never,ever get infront of a bandsaw mill while running around him.
Our inner fear was steel in the logs. We found nothing. His approach to a beam is square the log, reduce the cant by taking off 5/4 or 4/4 boards and finish with a all heart timber. Most of the logs I cut were about 12'-6" to travel, some longer 13,14' and one was 19' Three or four visits processed about half the timber during '06. He estimated the shelf life of the raw logs at about 2 yrs. We cut the last dozen logs around labor day this year into 12X12's 13x13's and one cherry into 5/4X12 boards and 3/4 X 12 boards 13 ft long (about a dozen each) I had hopes for the cherry because I hear it's nice wood. Bill filled me in on what to expect. Cherry pith is soft and unstable. The heart is usually fractured and he was right on. He did manage to get some very nice cuts for finish work...if I ever get done.
All winter I worked on ideas for a simple one room addition. Our small haouse has no formal living room and this is the opportunity I was looking for.
I built several models at 1"=1ft. One was 16 ft wideX24out and later I enlarged the idea to 19 ft wide by 26 ft out, owing to what I thought were long enough timbers. With a 12" pitch, finish rafters need to be at minimum 13-6 " long. I need about 20. Turns out I can get maybe 7 from the invintory.
This past week I pulled out a post 7X6X13 ft and one of 4 long bent girts 6X6 x19 ft and commenced to choping out the first tennon and mortise I ever cut. (Bought some great chisels on Ebay)
The first connection took a day and a half. I then calculated a brace, 4X6 X 55-1/2" oal and after a lot of work made it fit ok. Braces are...well you probably know, very tricky.
The aged oak was stacked and stickered but still has some warp and twist. It has some long checks and a few bug holes. It cuts like butter.
Old Joe is a great neighbor. WWII navy vet still gets choked up if you ask about his experience. We dont have many like him left.
Joe built homes on Statin Island for 40 years and is still a master perfecionist when it comes to his work. He is always around with advice and anything else you need . I wondered if I could use a router for cutting the brace connections, so he lent me his HD Dewalt. It is a handfull. After numerous adjustments and rethinking I was able to make two braces for the first bent.
I now have the lower part of the first bent cut and now feel that a hidden skill, learned generations ago has awakened. I worked in the rain two days ago with no problem. Covered everything up and made a shelter over the work area. I love it.

We built a "patio" this past summer for the work area. It is about 30X40 and is level subgraded and filled w/ crush concrete. We made nice horses from oak for the work about 3 ft high. They are essintial.
I have made mistakes. Not listining to Ted was #1. I still dont have any real plans, and last nite I did some rough calculations for loads and find my housed tennon connections to have an H of less than 40, but the 18ft span 6x6 has only a Rf of about130#/in of width, and I need more (and deeper)bent girts if I want a loft.
The little woman is skeptical and I dont blame her. If I can cut the frame, and IF the building department aprooves it, I still need foundation preperation, re-route electric, ISP panels, windows, doors, roofing, and perhaps a million other things.
But for some reason I am driven. Call the funny farm and make me a reservation.
Comments, suggestions, tips, LONG OAK timbers, and folks needing good firewood in central NJ drop me a line.
Thanks Joel for getting me out here, and I will be joining the TFG soon if I have any money left after this year.
I like to write, spell poorley, and am a Ebayer (Bid2you)
Good luck to all.
Dave T