Yeah, I think you are right, the white oak is the way to go. That is a good point about the heat difference TIMBEAL. I like the idea aesthetically of doing the half timbering. I do however want to make sure I think it through fully. There don't seem to be many modern timber framers doing it, perhaps because of the obvious difficulties. It seems like some of the issues, such as the heat difference, would be ones that log home people have dealt with. I'll keep updates coming if the project goes through.