Lucky me - diamond in the rough

[Todd Burch]

Close to 10 years ago, I picked up this massively heavy chunk-o-lumber out of a guy's sawmill yard who had recently relocated. It's been in storage all this time, and I've almost thrown it away multiple times. I wasn't sure if it was creosote treated, or what. It was pretty rough on the exterior - embedded rocks, mud, shake, etc.

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Last night, I figured I would take a looksy to see what I had. I took about an inch off of one side, and even before I got through the first cut, I could SMELL that I had something good. Old growth heart pine! Very heavy, very dense. It is 54" long, 6" x 6 3/4" after cleaning up. It weighs 58 lbs. A little over 15 board feet. Now, I have to find a project!

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[frank shic]

hmm.... what to make with that jewel?

[Neil Brooks]

[cough]you suck[cough, cough, cough]

[Van Huskey]

Very cool, now the fun begins... whta to build?

[Todd Burch]

I'm not sure. I think something lightweight, using thinner pieces would be nice. I could get 2 or 3 decent sized drawers out of it (assuming solid bottoms as well), but that's no fun - I want to see it! Perhaps a shop cabinet with poplar face frames and drawer fronts, veneered with this might be nice. It would stretch a long ways that way.

Perhaps a hanging display cabinet... with wavy glass... storing some nice hand planes... that would be a looker!! I reckon I could get a 2' wide x 3' tall cabinet out of it, maybe 6" deep. A couple doors in front. Maybe a small drawer @ the bottom too (or maybe not?).

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What do you think?

[Joe Angrisani]

One vote for no wavy glass. Ya wanna see those planes!

[Andrew Joiner]

So cool Todd. I love doing that. It's like finding buried treasure.