Man began cutting joints in timber around 200 B.C. nearly 900 years later in 679 A.D. the Golden Hall was completed in Japan. It still stands today more than 1300 years later. Hand hewn timbers jointed together and secured with pegs remained the method of construction across the globe until the early decades of the 1800’s. In the 1830’s as inexpensive machine-made nails and standardized sawn lumber became available, the balloon frame house came into being. The timber frame method was soon replaced by the new, more economical process.
