Original growth Douglas Fir

[Rod Sheridan]

350283350280350281350282Hi, my oldest daughter, who has no interest in woodworking, sent me an email in the spring regarding the douglas fir timbers removed from the barrel house in the Gooderham and Worts distillery in Toronto.

The wood was cut approximately 130 years ago and is of course the original virgin forest wood from British Columbia.

I paid $2.25 Canadian per board foot for the timber, square nails included for free, here's a link to the timber site.

http://www.distillerydistrictwood.com/index.html

My daughter worked downtown near the distillery district, and often went to Balzac's Coffee Shop on her lunch hour, which is located in the historic distillery complex.

I purchased a Balzac's mug and poster, and made a frame for it. I also made 2 identical frames that hold a mirror, for my youngest daughter, and my niece.

There were square cut nails about 5 inches long in the timbers, interestingly since they're tapered, as soon as you start to pull them out, they have no holding power, completely different from modern nails.

I've included a few photographs showing the timbers. a nail, and breaking them down on the bandsaw........Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

Continuing the thread, the frames are mortise and tenon construction, finish is semi gloss poly with a wax final coat.

The last image is a frame made for a tile made by a local ceramic artist. It's more fir, with grout around the perimeter of the tile.....Rod.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Very nice, Rod! What do you use to make the mortises?

[Rod Sheridan]

Thank you Dan, I use a hollow chisel mortiser.............Rod.

[Andrew Hughes]

Beautiful wood and beautiful work!

[Frederick Skelly]

+1. Nice work Sir!

[Eric Schmid]

Your frames, and whatever else you build with those timbers, will always have a good story behind them. Thanks for sharing. It is nice to see the care you took in making the frames. After 100+ years of holding up a building they finally get to show their beauty. Good work!

[Brian Holcombe]

OG Fir is really incredible stuff!

[Reinis Kanders]

Super nice!
My neighbor just had an outside door and the side panels replaced and it was a doug fir, super tight grain, no knots, just beautiful. They did paint it though, so I was the only one to appreciate it:( I guess it will be more stable painted.

[Jim Becker]

Jealous I am... :)

[David Helm]

Glad to see someone using OG Doug Fir for fine woodworking. I have used it many times and actually trimmed out all my fir framed windows with it. Good job Rod.

[Jim Becker]

A friend who asked me to assist him with building a new (very large) dining table for his new house as a surprise for his spouse has a line on a "whole bunch" of 2"x9"x20' D-fir from salvage. As a restaurant owner and chef, he also entertains at home and it's looking like a 12' "farmhouse" style table is going to be gracing that space! I'll be pleased to put all the scraps to good use, too. :D