Originally Posted by
Bob Falk
Bruce,
Like you, I scored a gym of 15' and 20' long DF bleacher seats. This was about 10 years ago. Got it cheap ($300..... not as cheap as you) from a local school district who wanted it gone yesterday. Funny, it was on CL for a couple days and no one responded as the ad was so poorly written. Luckily it was already removed and stacked on a trailer. They delivered and helped unload for an extra $100. Amazing deal. I used a lot of it for trim on the 1920's historic Tudor remodel I was working on. Nice to have full length trim with no joints. I drilled and plugged all the bolt holes. About 1/3 or more was vertical grain and many boards had very tight growth rings. At the time, a timber broker offered me $1.25 a foot. He said they rip the boards to avoid the bolt holes and remill into T&G flooring. I am also building a sauna and am going to use instead of cedar. The tight grain is beautiful wood, but as was mentioned it tends to splinter when machining. I am trying to figure out what to do with what I have left (all vertical grain). Oh, a couple other things....wax your planer bed.....the gum wants to stick to the beds. Also, the ends of the boards had two long screws (I think to help prevent splitting) and you'll want to remove those before machining. Don't ask me how I know.....ruined one table saw blade cutting through the 1/4 steel screw.