140yo Lumber from the Family Farm (Pics and some Qs)

[Ben Martin]

So, about 3 months back when my parents were at my grandmothers house, my grandmother got on a kick complaining about some lumber from the old barn that was in the new Morton building "taking up space" (nobody lives on the farm anymore, and the barn is only used to store my uncles tractors with plenty of space to spare...). Knowing that I would probably like some of that lumber, my father told her that he would take care of it!

Fast forward to this past weekend when my father and I headed out to the farm to figure out what we had gotten ourselves into, none of us knew what the wood species was or size of the boards. We were met with the longest boards that I have seen in my life, ranging from 26-28' long, a full 2"x10", they were the old floor joists from the barn. I still cannot determine the species of the wood weather it is Pine or Douglas Fir, it smells like a tubafor. We ended cutting most of the boards into 3 pieces, to ease transport. As you can see from the pictures, I not only have a lot of wood, but also a lot of work ahead of me, being joists, these boards have hundreds, if not thousands of square nails.

Now on to some pictures, the boards once we cut them to size and loaded them, sorry no pictures of the 28' long board, you will have to take my word for it...

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/208715997_photobucket_528_.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/208715997_photobucket_537_.jpg

Tight growth rings...

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/208715997_photobucket_535_.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/208715997_photobucket_529_.jpg

The farm was started in 1876, so I would expect that this barn was built around that time. My Dad and I were debating today about whether my 2X or 3X great grandpa was the one who built this barn.

This barn was located 30 miles south of Des Moines, Iowa in case anyone wants to take a guess at the species. I do plan on sending a sample in for testing.

My father brought the lumber up today and we have it stacked under my 2 story deck, on top of pallets, with a tarp on the top to protect them from the elements but allow for air circulation, is this a good way to store the boards? I am planning on building an additional lumber rack in my basement shop once I get all of the nails pulled.

I took one of the boards into my shop tonight to joint and plane it to size, amazingly this board had no nails. It was surprisingly easy jointing a 10" board on my 8" using the rabbeting ledge and a shim to plane it to size. As you can see, some bugs have gotten to the boards in the past 150 years and the boards seem to have a lot of splits in them. Any tips on the split? I expect using a thicker poly on the boards might fill them in and you won't be able to notice. Also any tips on getting around the bug spots would be appreciated as well. I can easily get 2 3/4" thick pieces out of each board, so possibly using the newly exposed faces from the inside might be the best bet, since hopefully the bugs will not have gone that deep.

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/494252253_photobucket_995_.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/494252253_photobucket_996_.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/494252253_photobucket_998_.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/494252253_photobucket_1002_.jpg

Any tips on pulling the nails would also be appreciated, I have read a couple of past threads on the subject and plan on purchasing the specialized nail pullers/pliers that lift the nails out.

Thanks for looking.

Ben

[Eiji Fuller]

Sweet! That old wood looks really nice! What do you plan on making with it?

[joe milana]

Douglas fir. PP beetle damage.

PS. I just bought two 2" x 12" x 12' d grade finish douglas fir boards and paid over $100 each!!!

[Ben Martin]

Douglas fir. PP beetle damage.

PS. I just bought two 2" x 12" x 12' d grade finish douglas fir boards and paid over $100 each!!!

Ugh, I guess I need to do something about killing the beetles than, huh? No clue if they are still there, but I did see some bugs crawling around the boards as we were unloading them into my backyard.

[Andrew Arndts]

Well it isn't what I saw Norm Abram use but I would imagine it might be useful. Nail Puller (http://www.woodcraft.com/catalog/productpage2.aspx?prodid=28327)

[Ben Martin]

Well it isn't what I saw Norm Abram use but I would imagine it might be useful. Nail Puller (http://www.woodcraft.com/catalog/productpage2.aspx?prodid=28327)

Thanks Andrew, that is the type of tool I was planning on getting.

I found a lot of good info. on pulling nails in this thread:

http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=124133

[Paul Johnstone]

I don't mean to be a downer, but there's no way that I'm aware of to fill in the splits.. The only thing I can think of is to rip the wood along the split line, and glue it back together. Maybe someone else has a better idea.

[Doug Swanson]

Yes looks like Douglas Fir. I did the same thing from my parents place in Iowa. I made a desk out of it for them plus a couple of end tables. I finished mine with watco and shellac...has a nice amber color. Looks like you have enough for a few projects.

[george wilson]

You probably had better kill off those live bugs before you infect the other wood in your shop,or in your house's timbers. We used a thick mixture of borax at work,but it wasn't cheap at all.

Maybe fumigating in a plastic tent would be in order. I don't know. I don't usually buy bug infested wood. Better check on how to kill the bugs though. It could be a big problem.

[Ben Martin]

Ugh, got home from work (had left the board inside all day) and was greeted by this little critter...

I was wondering since the wood has been in the new barn for 20 years, if the beetle damage might have been older, and if they were gone, guess not...

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/494252253_photobucket_1146_.jpg

I have called the place I usually get my lumber from and they will put it through there kiln for $2.50 bf but they said it might be cheaper. She also recommended a place in Chicago that will fumigate the lumber, I haven't been able to find them listed anywhere. My wife played in a softball tourney this summer with a guy who was a arborist, I am going to call him tomorrow and see if he has any suggestions.

Appears that salvaging this lumber into something usable is going to be a bit of a chore. Oh well, you can't buy lumber with this type of family history.

I do not believe the splits are a deal breaker, they should easily fill in with a couple coats of Poly. My only concern is if I want to resaw the lumber, the splits might compromise the structural integrity

[Neal Clayton]

there's not a whole lot you can do about the surface splits. the tree is very similar to the old longleaf pine we have in the south, which also suffers from surface checks on flat sawn boards.

on the plus side, those boards should still be pretty stable, it's rare that the board will split all the way in two from surface checks.

better kill the beetles before they get in your other boards...

[David Nelson1]

Ugh, got home from work (had left the board inside all day) and was greeted by this little critter...

I was wondering since the wood has been in the new barn for 20 years, if the beetle damage might have been older, and if they were gone, guess not...

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/Martin%20Family%20Farm%20Lumber/494252253_photobucket_1146_.jpg

I have called the place I usually get my lumber from and they will put it through "there kiln for $2.50 bf but they said it might be cheaper." She also recommended a place in Chicago that will fumigate the lumber, I haven't been able to find them listed anywhere. My wife played in a softball tourney this summer with a guy who was a arborist, I am going to call him tomorrow and see if he has any suggestions.

Appears that salvaging this lumber into something usable is going to be a bit of a chore. Oh well, you can't buy lumber with this type of family history.

I do not believe the splits are a deal breaker, they should easily fill in with a couple coats of Poly. My only concern is if I want to resaw the lumber, the splits might compromise the structural integrity

Ben,
This has to be a typo 2.50 a bdft is an outrage. I paid .30/bdft for 4/4 and .35 per for thicker wood.

[Ted Wong]

While the wood may have sentimental value the powder post beetles would be a deal breaker for me. Nonetheless fumigating the material will probably do nothing since it most likely will not penetrate the surface. Kiln drying would the most effective and immediate method of killing them off. You could chemically treat the surface which will eventually kill the adult bugs as they emerge and prevent re-infestation but this will take at least one or more life cycles of the bug. Of the chemical treatments you could go with the expensive stuff like Timbor or Boracare or you could opt for the DIY type material, Termite Pruf that doesn't penetrate as deep but is effective nonetheless. In any case the borate solution is what kills the critters.
IMHO, I'd be hesitant to invest any money in that material. It doesn't look to be in all that great of shape and unless you like the rustic look (nail holes, bug tracks, splits etc.) the material doesn't look like it would yield very much defect free usable lumber.

[Ben Martin]

Ben,
This has to be a typo 2.50 a bdft is an outrage. I paid .30/bdft for 4/4 and .35 per for thicker wood.

Nope, that isn't a typo! Welcome to Chicago!

[Ben Martin]

While the wood may have sentimental value the powder post beetles would be a deal breaker for me. Nonetheless fumigating the material will probably do nothing since it most likely will not penetrate the surface. Kiln drying would the most effective and immediate method of killing them off. You could chemically treat the surface which will eventually kill the adult bugs as they emerge and prevent re-infestation but this will take at least one or more life cycles of the bug. Of the chemical treatments you could go with the expensive stuff like Timbor or Boracare or you could opt for the DIY type material, Termite Pruf that doesn't penetrate as deep but is effective nonetheless. In any case the borate solution is what kills the critters.
IMHO, I'd be hesitant to invest any money in that material. It doesn't look to be in all that great of shape and unless you like the rustic look (nail holes, bug tracks, splits etc.) the material doesn't look like it would yield very much defect free usable lumber.

Thanks Ted, I appreciate the response. Some more research its definitely in store for me. I do not believe the splits are that bad, and would go un noticed by must once the piece was finished.

[Myk Rian]

I have some 105 year old wood that looks just like that. It was from the old Detroit elevator building in Detroit.
Some of it smells like turpentine when cut.

[David Weaver]

You probably had better kill off those live bugs before you infect the other wood in your shop,or in your house's timbers. We used a thick mixture of borax at work,but it wasn't cheap at all.

Maybe fumigating in a plastic tent would be in order. I don't know. I don't usually buy bug infested wood. Better check on how to kill the bugs though. It could be a big problem.

Ditto on this. There is a mixable powder called Tim Bor that different sellers have on ebay. It's not too bad price-wise. As far as I know, it's just boric acid, but it eliminated the powder post beetles that were starting to work on a post on my back porch, and from what I understand of the experiment use of boric acid in NZ where they have huge woodboring bug problems, houses treated with it 50 years ago still don't show a sign of bug damage.

Just mix it with water and slap it on the wood with an old brush. It'll kill anything that gets close to the surface, or at least it has in my experience.