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Thread: Cleaning Dirty Walnut boards

  1. #1

    Cleaning Dirty Walnut boards

    Hi All,

    My life has changed a bit in the last 4 months. Besides income adjustments, I've gone from being a homeowner with a cool shop building to living in a church provided parsonage. But thank God, the parsonage is quite nice and I am getting closer to doing some woodworking in the basement.

    I also have some really nice folks to care for in the parish and one of them just gave me a handful of walnut boards that are 30+ years old. In my work there are stories for everything and these boards are no exception. It turns out that they were acquired by his father, who had been a finish carpenter, to be used for some woodworking project. They were moved many times over the years and now I'm the fortunate woodworker to receive them.

    The thing about the walnut boards is that they are covered with dust from being stored in a barn loft for many years. Add in some bird droppings, checking, along with the rough sawing and you get the picture. A couple chipped edges though gave me a peak at some beautiful color on the walnut. Admittedly, they are not in the most ideal condition, but it will be exciting to see what can be usable stock out of them. I'll try to add a couple pictures real soon.

    I'm thinking I should use a stift brush on them first and then maybe wash them down with just enough water so the grit on the surfaces won't damage my tools. All of the boards are rough cut and need to be surface planed.

    My concerns are primarily with controlling possible warpage and I'm wondering how long I'll need to let them dry out from the cleaning. Right now the boards are bone dry.

    Any thoughts?

    Jim
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    Last edited by Jim Paulson; 09-10-2010 at 8:24 AM.

  2. #2
    Jim, wet boards and "green" boards are two different things. Unless you soak the boards for days, once the surface is dry from the cleaning, I would work them. Maybe if you feel concerned, wait several days, but you should be good after that.
    My favorite cologne is BLO

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    port st lucie, florida
    Posts
    49
    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Paulson View Post
    Hi All,

    My life has changed a bit in the last 4 months. Besides income adjustments, I've gone from being a homeowner with a cool shop building to living in a church provided parsonage. But thank God, the parsonage is quite nice and I am getting closer to doing some woodworking in the basement.

    I also have some really nice folks to care for in the parish and one of them just gave me a handful of walnut boards that are 30+ years old. In my work there are stories for everything and these boards are no exception. It turns out that they were acquired by his father, who had been a finish carpenter, to be used for some woodworking project. They were moved many times over the years and now I'm the fortunate woodworker to receive them.

    The thing about the walnut boards is that they are covered with dust from being stored in a barn loft for many years. Add in some bird droppings, checking, along with the rough sawing and you get the picture. A couple chipped edges though gave me a peak at some beautiful color on the walnut. Admittedly, they are not in the most ideal condition, but it will be exciting to see what can be usable stock out of them. I'll try to add a couple pictures real soon.

    I'm thinking I should use a stift brush on them first and then maybe wash them down with just enough water so the grit on the surfaces won't damage my tools. All of the boards are rough cut and need to be surface planed.

    My concerns are primarily with controlling possible warpage and I'm wondering how long I'll need to let them dry out from the cleaning. Right now the boards are bone dry.

    Any thoughts?

    Jim
    DON'T wash them. They are dry. They don't need any moister. Take a wire brush and do the bird dropin's . Do this out side . Now take a air compreaser and blow all the dust off. Now you are going to plane them down ?? This all that you have to do. Enjoy the wood. I have board's older that those you have. And all you have to do is plane them down. Of course do this outside or in a well ventalated room. If you have a dust colector on the planer . This will take care of the dust and bird dropping's also . But is best to get most crap off.

  4. #4
    I'd just use a stiff dry brush and a fore plane (or anything with a little camber so sharpness isn't quite as important when the iron gets abraded by the dust a bit) and plane that layer off.

    Even if you wash it, there's still going to be dust in the pores.

  5. #5
    I agree with del. A stiff wire brush will do the job. I use a wore brush on all rough sawn lumber before planing, even if the boards are not apparently dirty. A little prevention goes a long way to keep planer and jointer knives (inserts) sharp.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Sinking Spring, PA
    Posts
    881
    Jim, first, I think this is a very tedious task, and you should ship the boards to me. I will clean them up for you, mill them to stock, and only keep half, and I'll ship the other half back to you!! Deal???

    Seriously though... I have come across a decent stock of lumber in the same condition... very rough, very dirty.. her is what I do...

    I take the board outside my shop, go nuts with a wire brush. I then take a belt sander with a 120 grit belt to it (for some reason, the 120 works better than an 80, go figure!?). I use the sander until I can see the grain in the board, and try to flatten is "some"... then I shop-vac & blow gun the board prior to planing/joining. This will save your blades, power or neander.

  7. #7
    Don't forget to check them for metal.

    Wire brush to get rid of most of the dirt.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Sinking Spring, PA
    Posts
    881
    Quote Originally Posted by Prashun Patel View Post
    Don't forget to check them for metal.

    Good point! I really need to get a detector!! I've been luck that none of my rought lumber has had any metal in it... I look, but no detector...

  9. #9

    Copper scrub pad

    Hey Guys,

    I took your advice. I scrubbed the boards down with a copper scrubbing pad with the grain, brushed off the dust and then I started planning. I might have used a brass brush, but I didn't have one handy.

    I'm glad I didn't wash them down. I really need them for a project right now. It is one thing to raise the grain and another to get boards real wet.

    There were no signs of steel nails or anything so that hasn't been a problem so far.

    So far I've found some attractive wormy sections and I think I've got some grain that will look great for a table top.

    Jim

  10. #10

    Warning jim

    The advice you've been given about just brushing is good advice. My warning is that it seem from the photos that the boards show signs of powder post beetle residence either now or in the past. Treat them. Various optional methods are available by googling.
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    extreme southeast Nebraska
    Posts
    3,113
    FWIW Dept. I had some nice ash rough sawn timbers given to me that had been in an old barnfor probably 60+ years and the top side was full of dust and then they had been tossed on a burn pile and had lots of sand imbedded in them from being dragged by a tractor down a gravel lane to the burn pile.

    I first used a small rectangular scrub brush to brush them off, then I used compressed air next and finally a light sanding with a 7 inch sander/grinder with a coarse open coat disc on it. I was surprised to see sparks at one point on one of them. The grand kids had evendently crawled up there and inserted about 50 nails of various sizes in it. I had no metal detector at that point. I removed the nails with an old fashioned slide hammer nail puller. I went over the area carefully with a magnetic stud finder and found 2 that had broken off. I was real lucky I guess.
    Jr.
    Hand tools are very modern- they are all cordless
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