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Thread: Reclaimed Lumber

  1. #1

    Reclaimed Lumber

    Hello, I am looking to do my first project (door) with reclaimed lumber, and had a couple questions for people that have used it before. I am looking at some old barn wood in a brown board type lumber from an interior of an old barn.

    My questions come down to the preparation and finishing. I really like the patina and want to keep it as is, and if I mill it I feel it will rid the entire look of the board. The same goes with the sanding process before putting a finish on it.

    Am I missing something or do you just try to find boards that are as flat as possible for joining, and completely forego the milling/sanding process?

    I am going to do simple screw joinery from the rear of the frame instead of making shiplap joints, mortise and tenon, etc. I only need one good side and the frame and weathered look will hide the pocket screws as much as I need it to on the backside.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    It doesn’t sound like you’re missing anything. If you want to keep the patina and need to clean up the board, try a wire brush. I’m not clear on what you’re building, but board selection is important. It’s also helpful to design the layout of the pieces and joints so that cut edges and ends don’t show.

    Often the patina extends a little past the surface. It doesn’t disappear at the “skin”. As you remove material it fades into bright wood. If you have enough of it you can experiment in small pieces to find the look you want. I suppose this varies with wood species and the conditions the wood was exposed to, how thick the original pieces are, etc.

    BTW, I’ve seen heavily weathered wood used in picture frames where a fresh cut from a router bit is exposed to create a profile on part of the face. This appears as intentional and not as an oversight or unsightly compromise. From a design perspective, it’s your art. Experiment and find the look you like.

  3. #3
    Ryan, sounds like you are on the right track. The architectural millwork firm I worked at did reclaimed barnwood as a one of our interior cladding lines. Here is what I can share:

    -You don't finish the exposed face. Just leave it raw. No sanding, no nothing. Any machining you do the exposed faces will obviously alter the character.
    -All machining was done on a large bandsaw. Running it through the moulder or an SLR would have destroyed it. Basically, an S4S profile but you don't touch the exposed face.
    -We purchased lots of the stuff from various brokers or dealers. In all cases, we had to discard about 30% of it right off the bat. Boards too warped/splintered/punty to survive the machining process. This was expected and part of the pricing calculation. Also, most of it was rendered really thin by the time we got through resawing it.
    -In our experience, barnwood would never be suitable as structural lumber. Only cladding, due to the reasons above. We suggested pin nailing it to the substrate. I doubt you could get it to take screw.

    Just my experiences. Good luck with your project.
    Ex-SCM and Felder rep

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2020
    Location
    New Orleans, LA
    Posts
    42
    I have used lumber the way you want to a few times to make picture frames. I try get all the sides possible as flat and square as I can, besides the one to be shown. No idea what kind of wood you are working with but living in New Orleans I get access to really old 4x4x12' pine occasionally from contractor friends. It may be worth seeing what is underneath the worn outside if there is enough to play with. Everything I get has the old saw marks and nail holes from lath board and is usually beautiful underneath the age on the outside. When I use it I try and incorporate elements of both the old and the new. Some floating shelves I made a while ago are milled down top, bottom, and back but the front side was barely sanded just to take down the splinters from the old saw marks. Old nail hole stains in the wood can go pretty deep and give you the same worn look while allowing you to mill it down a little. The frames I have done can usually be touched up with glue/sawdust mixed to hide little areas where a miter may not line up perfectly. The steel wool/vinegar trick can help hide little areas of fresh wood that may peek out at you. I've also used wood hardener on one particular picture frame where the wood I used had almost no integrity and was rotten through a couple of different spots. I used a watered down glue wash coat on the wood to make sure it did not blow up when I took it to the saw. Glueing/nailing to a solid wood or plywood backer would be my choice if it was going to be in use. Then age down whatever exposed wood from the backer you can see. I have done this in reverse to use picture frames where the frame is falling apart and the worn/cracked plaster was to be saved by making simple frames for the backside to secure everything. Picture frames hang on a wall though so a lot of this is not for anything structural. Just wanted to pass on what I've learned from working with reclaimed lumber and maybe you can pull something from it.

  5. #5
    Thank you all for the very informative responses. I really appreciate all of the insight.

    I am doing an indoor barn door, with only one side that will be exposed. Most of the reclaimed wood here is Pine, Doug Fir, and Oak from what I am told. I live in PA, and they are mainly all from old Amish barns. Whether that be the floors, siding, doors, support structure, etc. There is some really nice looking reclaimed wood, I am just not familiar at all working with it.

    After reading through the comments I see a few things I am definitely going to try. I brought home a couple pieces of scrap and just want to see what they look like milled down. The boards have some really nice nail holes and saw marks in them, and would really like to keep the patina.

    One thing I may be able to do is just mill one side (edge and face) to get it as flat as possible before joining. The way I am building the frame and then the panels, you will never see the back of the boards. The back leads into a storage room that only I would ever go into anyways.

    I was thinking about just putting a little Rubio Monocoat on it at the end to have something, but we will see how the samples turn out.

    Thank you all again!

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Ouray Colorado
    Posts
    1,392
    Building good doors out of reclaimed can be labor intensive. If the material is reasonable straight and flat you can do a light facing and skip plane. That’s what we did on these white oak doors. The edges are slightly rounded at the joints and edges and wire brushed anywhere cut edges show. I touch up these areas mixing Rit clothes dye to match. No finish on any faces.
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    Gray pine barn wood takes more work as it is usually pretty warped. It is resawn and applied to every face and edge over a stable core. If you try to skip plane this material I’d does not work very well.
    BE90C250-F770-4AC8-B879-6A4D051DF8FE.jpg
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  7. #7
    Joe,

    Thank you very much for these pictures! I have some work ahead of me. The boards I looked at preliminarily seemed pretty flat. I picked up a couple samples. I guess we will see how it goes. This could be a very expensive test run...haha. I can't believe the price on reclaimed wood.

  8. #8
    Joe, how do the thick veneers hold up? I would think that old wood will absorb and release moisture fairly easily, especially without a finish. Any issues with the glue bond over time?

    Beautiful work, as always.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Ouray Colorado
    Posts
    1,392
    Eric, the majority of barn wood doors I’ve made are interior. The gray pine on the LVL core was exterior on a restaurant but was well protected. There was some concern about oil from customers hands changing the finish and was discussion about oiling the door. I don’t know if they ever did but I looked at it a while back and it looked fine. Barn wood gets a pretty thick crust that I consider nature’s finish. If it’s oiled it changes the look quite a bit. The old mine buildings up high here have weathered out to a nice patina over the last hundred plus years and the vertical boards hold up well as long as the roof is on.
    I don’t do a lot of barn wood but a couple shops here specialize in it. Another key thing is they both have kilns to bring the MC down since it’s usually been outside.
    I normally would not do LVL core with thick veneer but the stiles were narrow. The rails on this door were solid wood stave core.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Peoria, IL
    Posts
    4,444
    Your biggest concern should be powder post beetles. It's very common to see infestations in old barns. I sent an email once to the TV show Barnwood Builders. I could see the powder post beetle holes on the show and asked them what they did to sterilize the timbers. On a recent show they mentioned heat treatment to kill them. Bringing that stuff into your home before sterilization could get expensive!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Western Nebraska
    Posts
    4,680
    Nothing to add except that there are some really good options for rustic look, but with new wood. Dakota Rustic is the product we use. Way cheaper and easier than finding authentic old barnwood, comes in a bunch of colors.

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