Hi Gabel,
I might just owe you an apology !
I was inside "The Mount" Silchester today in Northern Hampshire. This is a 3 bay cruck house dating from circa 1405 i.e. 600 years plus old and I paid particular attention to the arch braces fitted on the central open hall truss and noted that tapered pegs had been used which of course implies draw boring. Where draw boring is employed then the peg holes are full on the driving side and only partially full on the exit side. That was the case at The Mount. With parallel pegs the holes would be full on both the upper and underside faces. The cruck blades are "see sawn" halved from one tree to make a book matched pair and are only about 7 - 8" thick with wane on the back face so these blades are a bit short of 12" posts that I was previously thinking about.
This finding should not be taken as substantiation of a general rule but I will now fastideously check each centre line mounted arch brace that I encounter and especially those fitted to wide posts and report back on outcomes found.
I can send pictures to anyone who has a particular interest in this kind of feature.
Regards
Ken Hume
