>>Is there no end to idiocy?   It was the best building at the farm when
I was there some years ago, due I am sure, to what, at a casual glance,
appeared the be original paint, sort of greeny-gray and aged like some
of the rest of us!<<

Actually that must have been quite some years ago since the building has
been dark red for quite a while. That's OK since I told the collections
manager that the building couldn't have been moth balled 30 years ago
since I remember being in it when I was a kid...oh yeah. Bummer that
time traveling. The only obvious evidence of the recent move is the few
places where the inevitable "drift" of the battens during reconstruction
allowed the old colour you refer to to show as a shadow. Kind of a nice
effect really. Of course that will be lost with the new paint job.

One of the interesting lessons during the "caressing" process was
determining, by mill dimensions and saw tracks, that the building was
two different ages. The main building (my guess is c.1890) was a post
and beam/balloon frame hybrid built before 4x8 sheet of sheathing were a
consideration so the post pattern was 10' O.C. with studs at 30" O.C.
using full dimension 2"x4" and 4"x 4" material. When the shed addition
(c. 1915?) was built, the 4"x 4" framing (the shed mimicked the main
building) was put together with two 2"x 2" pieces. It also showed very
different saw tracks.

When Henry Ford took possession of the building it arrived in a pile
with no as built drawings and one decent photo of the disassembly. We
were told he had his assembly line guys reconstruct it to "look good"
which was his style. It was very obvious they had mixed the parts of the
shed in with parts of the main building and vice versa. My compulsion
was to right the wrong, but my instructions were: "Since it was done in
1940 it's historic and has to stay."

Kind of reminded me of the time we were up on Rollin's pass and had a
flat tire. The spare was flat too, but it had a bent rim, so we changed
flats and drove back down. Doing things right is obviously a moving
target.

Rudy

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