The barn on my family farm is falling down slowly. According to my great uncle who has been dead for 40 years, it was built in the years before the Civil War and one side of it was rebuilt after a storm in the early 1900s. It is a post and beam barn, about half the structure is hand hewn, the rest were saw mill cut. I was there over the weekend and pulled out a few pieces I want to use in pens and turnings.
It is hard to tell what species anything is until you cut it, everyting looks like dusty old wood. I cut off the end of an 8 x 8 beam and a guy in the saw mill business tells me it is "yellow poplar," which really means it is standard tulip poplar that grew very large a long time ago. The inside wood is highly resin impregnated, rot resistant and it has a yellow cast. It should make some fine bowls.
There is a 24" wide x 16 foot long 5/4 board on the floor of the loft, along with about half an acre of other smaller loft flooring boards. Some of them are old walnut and chestnut. Probably about half is still in reasonable condition and usable after I clean off a thick layer of dust, decayed hay and animal droppings. The wood on the outside of the barn is weathered and cracked, not likely to be useful. It is the inside beams, elevated flooring, and inside walls that should be the good stuff. Does anybody have any suggestions about where to begin?
I feel a little like the ship wreck man on a deserted island who caught a 1000 pound tuna. It is all good, but I'm not sure where to begin.
Chasper
It is hard to tell what species anything is until you cut it, everyting looks like dusty old wood. I cut off the end of an 8 x 8 beam and a guy in the saw mill business tells me it is "yellow poplar," which really means it is standard tulip poplar that grew very large a long time ago. The inside wood is highly resin impregnated, rot resistant and it has a yellow cast. It should make some fine bowls.
There is a 24" wide x 16 foot long 5/4 board on the floor of the loft, along with about half an acre of other smaller loft flooring boards. Some of them are old walnut and chestnut. Probably about half is still in reasonable condition and usable after I clean off a thick layer of dust, decayed hay and animal droppings. The wood on the outside of the barn is weathered and cracked, not likely to be useful. It is the inside beams, elevated flooring, and inside walls that should be the good stuff. Does anybody have any suggestions about where to begin?
I feel a little like the ship wreck man on a deserted island who caught a 1000 pound tuna. It is all good, but I'm not sure where to begin.
Chasper
] Seriously it sounds like a super find...I would pick the biggest pieces as they would yeald the most useable wood per piece and also yield the most versatility.
