My post are no where as wordy as yours are, Jay. So there is much to be read between the lines of my post. As you say, some Asian cultures have been actively framing for over 4000 years into today. Did they ever design a boring machine? Not that we know of. The rush to build timber frames was dying out here by the late 1890's and all but forgotten very soon after. It took nearly 100 more years to dig it out of the dust bin and brush it off(timber framing). The boring machine as we know it only had a life of around 50 years. The feed screw was invented in the late 1790's, it still took them a few years to turn that T-auger into a bit you put into a machine and turned with cranks and gears. There must be a lull in timber framing in the Asian world, did it coincide with what we saw here in the States?

I agree with your last statement. The US is a very young country, and as such it has no where near the building history of Europe and Asia. But we were industrious and built sharply with an innovative approach, which is why timber framing almost died.