Hi Will,
Interesting find. Nice and old, even dendro-dated.
It does seem like there ain't much rhyme or reason to the whole purlin vs common rafter thing. This befuddled me greatly in the begining of my poking around here in Maine. Always wondered if it was a cultural choice or something else.
But I'll hazard a guess that common rafters were employed over a major-rafter / purlin system at times simply because they're easier to construct: no joinery to really contend with... I don't know...or maybe sawn stock was cheap and easy in a given cicumstance, vs hewing major rafters ?? What are your thoughts?
At any rate, the photos of that old barn frame look almost like a connected girt type...almost. The plate is quite small, more like its neighboring purlin stock, perhaps used more like a nailer for the wall/roof boards. But there does seem to be a jowled post. So far I've yet to see a CG w/ jowled posts.
Speaking of dendro-dating, anyone know where one can get this done (do you ship a sample, etc)? Is it expensive?
