Not sure about your recycling point: the structures are barns with typical barn footprints and floorplans so they aren't converted homes, and home conversions are a modern phenomenon, nor are there any historic structures in the area that even suggest barn conversion.
Properly sized 8' forebays aren't a stretch. There are many examples in PA. The timber sizes remian normal in the forebay with the exception of a lighter plate. I suspect this can be attributed to mot having the large door openings.
The material in the early barn is mixed with oak, poplar,walnut, and chestnut - possibly others. Conversion is a mix of hewing and circular sawn. The newer barns are almost exclusively circular sawn oak. Right now I am trying to sqeeze in as many barns as possible; spending 2 - 3 hours in measuring, photgraphing, and talking. I haven't looked at boxed heart or quartersawn conditions, but will on the barns I go back to.
Layout so far is either true square rule, or modified mill square rule. No scribe found to date.
