Tongue and groove flooring from house on Michael Korns, Sr. farm

Flooring near, and extending under, the central load-bearing wall.
FIGURE 1: Flooring near, and extending under, the central load-bearing wall.

Flooring near the center of the house.
FIGURE 2: Flooring near the center of the house; note stairs in background.

end view of the flooring viewed from the outside of the east wall.
FIGURE 3: This is an end view of the flooring viewed from the outside of the east wall.

Flooring from near the north wall.
FIGURE 4: Flooring from near the north wall.

These photographs show the tongue and groove flooring in the old house on the Michael Korns, Sr. farm in Southampton Township, Somerset County, PA. Since the flooring extends under the load-bearing wall in the center of the house, it is original to the construction of the house. The dating question we have is whether or not the tongue and groove edges were formed by hand or machine. If machine formed, that would probably date them to the steam age; i.e. after the death of Michael Korns. I believe that they were hand-planed, for three reasons:

  • The thickness of the boards seems to vary (even considering the perspective-foreshortening of the photos), which seems inconsistent with machine-planing.
  • The edges bounding the groove seem to vary in thickness (even considering the perspective-foreshortening of the photos), which seems inconsistent with machine-planing.
  • The boards are rough-sawn (with a reciprocating saw) on the under-side, so they didn't go through a machine that planed both sides (although I am not certain when that type of planer came into widespread use).

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