Hello everyone I have a question that I hope someone can help me with.

I recently cleared out an old warehouse that was full of old joists, rafters, posts, and beams from an old house. Unfortunately the date and anything about the house is unknown. There were two timber pieces in particular that looked interesting so I ended up keeping them. They look like they were part of the rafters, one has the peg holes and the other has the peg. There are roman numerals on the pieces one has a number 2 and the other has a number 3.

The question I have for the group is, was it commen for men who carved pieces to put a letter on them? I have seen the roman numerals before, but on the pieces I have (as well as on all the other timber pieces) there is a noticable B carved into the wood. There is only a B and no other letters, but it was diliberately done on every piece of timber. Is this another form of markings that was done on timbers (similar to the roman numerals) that I am not familiar with?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Jennifer

Hi Jennifer:

Just noted your post and would like to add my response:
It was very common for the timberframers to use markings to identify the pieces for a future raising. The framing of a building usually involved not only creating the mortise and tenons, but each piece was prefitted (usually) laying out each bent flat on the ground. After the fitting the parts of the bent was marked with numbers or numerals so that each piece found its way back to its rightful spot. What you found was pieces that were marked by some forgotten Timberframer many years ago so that he could successfully put together that which he created.
The Northern Hewer