Hi Jim and all:

First of all let me say that I am only stating techniques used by timberframers from years gone by. I have examined many but not by any means all of the standing frames in my immediate area, but those that I did I paid particular attention to details that was necessary for authentic reproduction, and this included the pinning of joints.

One thing that I have noted is that framers varied widely in their style of pinning and attaching joints

As far as the fastening of corner joints in the bottom mud sills, I did the best I could to duplicate the methods of attachment. What I did to varify the pinning of the corners of a standing frame that I was to reproduce, was to slide in a thin blade and verify the position and number of pins used. In most cases the corners were held with at least (2) 1.5" oak pins, the odd time (3) 1.25" pins staggered slightly. these pins were placed about 2" from the shouldering, leaving enough room on the flat surface, for the mortise of bottom tennon of the vertical corner post.
In most cases the long side sills would pass over the shorter end sills.

It is always a good idea to bore a drain hole in the bottom of the mortises along the bottom sills for drainage should rain water happen to enter the mortise for some reason.

I hope this explanation helps to clarify the techniques that I have to offer on this forum.

NH