nicely said Ken and in your usual sharing mode.
Would you please email the reading list to me too? In celebrating my mostly Scotch and Irish ancestry I am continually amazed at the early cross culture information exchange. My ancestral home is post and beam built circa 1804-1811 using mostly local oak and supervised by an itinerant shipwright also Scotch. The corner post to sill joinery is unlike any I have seen anywhere else. Some old references may just shed some light on the origin of the method for soldifying large hand hewn oak in any direction.
Thanks,
Emmett (aka Deralte)