before I leave this photo of the church frame one of the interesting framing features, that seemed unusual to me at that time, was the ceiling tie beams were on the same plane and in line with the upper plates and the vertical posts
It seemed a wonder to me that there was enough wood left at the point of intersection to make a secure mortise--maybe someone could comment. I did theorize that the tenon from the ceiling tie beams passed through the plates, and the tenon from the post coming up through the plate was short, that would be my own solution.
The only thing that I can say is that they seemed to hold securely for the lifetime of the structure, which was probably over 100 years.
It would be nice to hear an engineer's point of view on this topic and what he would do if asked to reconstruct this building.
I was not able to get up and take a look at that time, and when I went back the frame was demolished and gone.
As I stood there that day trying to visualize the raising that must have taken place, it seemed to me that each whole side of the building must have been raised and then the tie beams inserted in the air from scaffolding. Of course the ends would also have to have been raised first, and then both sides, and then the tie beams, in that order.
I must point out that the whole frame was white oak timbers which would make for strong connections but tough hewing.
I hope you enjoyed this trip with me back to a time when framer's did their own thing------
