The humble builder traveling the country side building barns most likely didn't have a calculator to check the statistics of his timber, something else was built in though. Same thing happens today.
Tim
sure. i'd bet that most were making the best of the material on hand, using what knowledge there was about how long, how big, and how far things could go. you wouldn't cut down a 40" tree to make a 6x8. you'd optimize the best you could what the land could give you with what you needed in size.
sometimes this worked out... other times, in terms sizing - it didn't. plenty of undersized timbers, odd joinery, etc. in the barns i've seen. i'm sure there are plenty of examples lost to history as well.
i certainly don't want to piss off ourbarns1 - yes - there were many 'masters' of their craft and they deserve respect and study - but my sense is that people are people no matter when in history one studies their lives or their works, and as there are today folks building to a minimum standard - there were folks then building 'just good enough' with what was available - and this includes how / why they decided to hew, what joinery they cut, etc. etc. etc.
