04/07/2017
The large entertainment center, made completely of pine posts, joists and sheathing taken from a barn near Carrollton, IL, circa 1900, features: corners posts that supported a hay loft and framing members that once were the skeleton of the loft floor.
The pine sheathing, some planed and sanded, some just sanded, show the character of Pine wood sheathing, along with some of the bolt and nail holes left by the carpenters who fashioned and fastened this barn together.
The true beauty of the salvaged Barn Lumber is not just the grain and character, but more the story of how the barn was likely constructed, and by whom. Construction began in the woods with workers felling large trees that would have been hand hewn for lack of heavy equipment to form the framework of the barn, followed by the art of the journey done with brace and bit, hand saw, axe, and adz to hold the barn framing together. The talent for the layout and construction of the barn, handed through generations of hard working , thrifty men and women , is a testament to the Carpenters, Farmers. and Laborers who hand carried and sawed the boards, drove the nails and built the shutters.
One can only imagine a typical day during the construction of the barn, beginning at first light and continuing until late in the day, taking advantage of long spring and summer days. The framework timbers were likely moved into place with the use of mules and horses, fashioned into Timber Bents which were then stood up on hand laid stone foundations, one at a time until the barn skeleton was complete. Next came the rafters, pulling, and loft framing to stabilize the barn frame to provide hand and foot holds for the workers to continue. Working from wooden ladders and handmade scaffolding, the workers then began installing the roofing materials, most likely had sawn of split "shake" shingles. Finally, the exterior pine sheathing, which may have been coated with linseed oil and then painted to preserve the wood. All this effort put forth to fashion a barn, built out of necessity to support farm life, lives on in this and countless other stories, paying homage to those who left behind these Barnwood Treasures.
