wood identification

[Gregory Mosher]

Hey folks. I got some lumber out of my grandafathers old barn, which i'll hopefully be dismantiling entirely over the summer. I'm a bit of a novice at wood identification when it's rough sawn and aged like this. The woods here in nova scotia mainly consist of white spruce, red and white pine, maple and birch. the odd cedar and oak.

Any idea what type of wood this is? 385896385897

[Dave Zellers]

Spruce or pine- I'm guessing spruce. And a beautiful piece at that. Nice consistent growth rings.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I would lean towards spruce, although it's hard to tell with just a photo. It is a beautiful piece of spruce. If you have a whole barn full, that's going to be a nice lot of wood. I would love to have that for building kayaks- either strip built, or skin-on-frame, and wood surfboards.

[Gregory Mosher]

Thanks folks! Lots of nice lumber from 1x6 up to 6x6. Just a big job to tackle by myself so I have to be careful. Was hoping for oak but I didn't think it was.. Thanks again!

[Prashun Patel]

Can you plane is a little and repost a photo?

That end grain definitely does not look like any oak I've seen. If it's from a barn, there's a chance it's from a previously prevalent species than the common trees you might have now.

[Gregory Mosher]

I don't have a planer and this particular board is about 10'. I've got different planes but I only really use my block plane. If I ever get around to cleaning up my #7 i'll repost a photo for sure.

[John K Jordan]

Hey folks. I got some lumber out of my grandafathers old barn, which i'll hopefully be dismantiling entirely over the summer. I'm a bit of a novice at wood identification when it's rough sawn and aged like this. The woods here in nova scotia mainly consist of white spruce, red and white pine, maple and birch. the odd cedar and oak.


Old barns were often built with what ever was available. I found oak, pine, walnut, and poplar in mine. Keep and eye out for chestnut! (if it grew in your area.)

If you want to identify wood you find there are instructions in section 7 on this page: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-identification-guide/
You can also send off a small sample free ID, but only if you are a US citizen. Read the box "Still Stumped" on the same page.

JKJ

[Danny Hamsley]

It is spruce.

[Gregory Mosher]

John Jordan,

There is actually a few chestnut trees in the front yard, and one down the road from me fell over a few weeks ago. Why do you say to keep an eye out for chestnut?

[John K Jordan]

John Jordan,

There is actually a few chestnut trees in the front yard, and one down the road from me fell over a few weeks ago. Why do you say to keep an eye out for chestnut?

There are plenty of chestnut trees here, as well, but as far as I can tell none of them are American Chestnut, castanea dentata. Nearly all of those died out about 100 years ago due to a blight from overseas, introduced in the north east and gradually spreading to all the trees in the country. Some small trees still sprout from old stumps but they don't live long. There has been a lot of effort to develop a blight-resistant strain. (https://www.acf.org/) If you know of some of the very rare remaining American Chestnut trees the people who are working on this might be very interested. (https://www.acf.org/va/contact-us/report-live-tree/)

From the Wood Database:
Because of the blight wiping out nearly all mature American Chestnut trees, its lumber is both rare and (relatively) valuable. Wormy Chestnut in particular is usually salvaged from old barns and other structures, and reprocessed and sold as reclaimed lumber. Prices are likely to be high for a domestic hardwood.

Some of the other types of chestnut are Castanea sativa (Sweet chestnut, Spanish chestnut, European chestnut), Castanea mollissima (Chinese chestnut). A neighbor cut down a Chinese chestnut tree a few years ago and I got a bunch of the wood. It's ok, but not really close to American chestnut in color or texture. I have acquired a fair stock of A. chestnut and it is great for woodturning. I made these, for example, from some boards a friend cut from a very old log they found buried in the mud in a creek. (Much of what is found is the sought-after "wormy" chestnut.)

387585

JKJ