Saw a museum display on timber framing and I think they got one detail wrong

I was at the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath last month and they have a whole section on traditional shipbuilding. They had a big display about the timber framing for old schooners, showing how the joints were cut. The info card said they only used mortise and tenon joints with wooden pegs, no metal fasteners at all. But I've worked on restoring a few old barns from that same era, around 1850, and we always find some early cut nails or even a few hand forged spikes in the big beams, especially where there's a lot of shear force. It feels like the museum is pushing a pure 'old ways' story that ignores how practical those builders really were. If a blacksmith on site could make a strong spike, why wouldn't they use it in a critical spot? It makes the craft seem more romantic but less real. Has anyone else found old ironwork in frames that are supposed to be all wood?

3 comments

3 Comments

river1821mo ago

My local history museum does the same thing with pioneer log cabins, honestly.

stone.evan22d ago

Ever think moving them was the only way to save them? I used to, but hearing how much original stuff gets wrecked in the process changed my mind. It feels like we're picking the building over its real story.

scott.mia1mo ago

The museum in my hometown has a whole row of those cabins moved from different spots in the county. I read an article once about how moving them actually ruins a lot of the original building material and context, which @river182 made me think of. It's a weird trade-off between saving the structure and losing the exact place it stood. They always end up looking a bit too perfect and clean on a museum lawn compared to how they were found.