Master builder or not I believe it was done, or in this case not done, in the name of efficiency....
and i'll stay away from this can of worms - as it could relate to a whole pandora's box of a discussion about efficiency - one that could involve circular mills, band mills, power tools, computers, chain mortisers, cnc machines, etc. etc. - spread across a grand continuum of what any one builder might deem 'effecient' and how this relates to 'the masters' of that ideal time and space of the 'real' timber framers.
i'd posit that the average framer does what is efficient, the master does what is effective.
