PSA Barn find story

[cnighbor1]

Has an architect I hear all types of Architectural related stories
PSA BARN Finds remained me of this one
Fellow Architect was doing an addition to a client house
Upon going to the client to consult with him and find out what he had in mind for the addition they on a tour of the house went into the basement
It seems that the client had found a BARN free torn it down carefully and had stored all the salvable lumber in his basement. The Architect upon seeing and realizing it was black walnut stated you just paid for your addition. Has black walnut lumber valve is expensive Many Barns thru out the world are built from what ever trees are growing on the land and in this case the Bard had been located in a black walnut grove .

[jpritchet74]

that's awesome

[bikinchris]

Very cool.
Once upon a time, the Atchafalaya basin was populated with a forest of red cypress trees. Huge trees that they say some competed with sequoia trees in size and are amazingly durable wood. The entire forest was clear cut and today red cypress is extremely rare. Barns made of red cypress are worth a fortune.
There is a restaurant in Washington Louisiana built out of a warehouse that has a huge thick beam that runs the entire length of both the restaurant and bar without a joint. Probably 16 by 16 and 70 feet long. I wonder what it is worth.

[paredown]

I'm so happy to read stories about recycled lumber--old growth of whatever species...

There are a bunch of California contemporaries on the coast that were named the 'bridge timber houses' since they were built with salvage old growth redwood rescued from timber bridges on Route 1, when they replaced the originals with new concrete bridges. In Vancouver, a bunch of people started salvaging old industrial building beams--they were old grown clear fir--a great wood--although not as cool as black walnut (which I haven't had a piece of in my hand since shop class in Junior High...)

Anyone in the NJ/NY area who is interested can find stuff at a place called Boards and Beams. They are salvaging and resawing original timbers from barns and industrial buildings, making them into mantlepieces and other stuff. There's a recycled building supply in Astoria that was recycling New York water tank wood--it typically was cypress and/or redwood, although it looks like they have consolidated in Brooklyn and are no longer doing so...

[AngryScientist]

this is an awesome story, and great that someone who found the stuff knew what it was and it's potential.

i seriously dream about amazing barn finds like this.

thanks for sharing charles.

[Hindmost]

Can you tell us the general location of the original black walnut barn?

When I lived in the North Sac Valley the savy woodworkers there would get to know the local orchardists to be able to harvest walnut wood.

[pdonk]

As a person who tears down barns as part of my job, it saddens me that it is nearly impossible to recycle the wood here. 50 and 60 ft long 18x18 inch straight spruce and tamarack beams get chopped up and either burnt or taken to the dump.

When we take down older black walnut, black cherry, oak and maple trees we can't give the wood away. The mills are too concerned about nails and other issues to take them.

[tv_vt]

Uh Charles, is it just a coincidence your location is listed as "Walnut Creek"? ;)

[cnighbor1]

Yes I worked with an engineer who during college days worked has a diver.
recall those dive suits with a helmet and round lens to see out?
any ways in Oregon at lumber mills they have typically a pond logs float in till needed to be cut into dimensioned lumber
Well some stay in so long they become water logged and sink
His job has a diver was to go down in the very murky water, find them, attach a cable so they could be hauled up to the surface and on to the mill.
dangerous YES!!!!!

[cnighbor1]

Uh Charles, is it just a coincidence your location is listed as "Walnut Creek"? ;)
Yes many homes and many vacant lands still have many of those walnut trees still growing in them and at Xmas nuts are harvested .
Bob roll of pro racing to survive used to camp out in those very same grooves to save a buck on rent

[Ralph]

On a farm my brothers and I owned in SW NC, someone cut down and hauled off a large walnut tree from our property. We never found out who stole that tree. Neighbors said it was worth about $5000 for gun stocks. Doubt if my brothers or I would have ever cut it down. We enjoyed the walnuts.

[pbarry]

Here’s a story about a small scale recovery co:
https://www.npr.org/2013/08/06/209191291/dredging-south-carolinas-rivers-for-long-forgotten-timber

There’s a big outfit working the Columbia a River that dives and places inflatable bladders around the logs, inflates the bladders from their barge, then float them to the surface.

[Hawker]

Has an architect I hear all types of Architectural related stories
PSA BARN Finds remained me of this one
Fellow Architect was doing an addition to a client house
Upon going to the client to consult with him and find out what he had in mind for the addition they on a tour of the house went into the basement
It seems that the client had found a BARN free torn it down carefully and had stored all the salvable lumber in his basement. The Architect upon seeing and realizing it was black walnut stated you just paid for your addition. Has black walnut lumber valve is expensive Many Barns thru out the world are built from what ever trees are growing on the land and in this case the Bard had been located in a black walnut grove .

As a boy in Rochester, NY I grew up with Grandparents who had two huge Black Walnut trees in the backyard. Weird nuts when they were green and still had the husks around them. We used to pick them up so they could mow the lawn and I still remember the smell and stain from picking up bucketfuls. And yes, we also ate them. Ultimately those huge trees died and they sold the wood for a lot of money, and this would have been in the mid 70s. Funny, what brings back memories you assume you had forgotten. Thanks.

[Hawker]

s

[bikinchris]

As a person who tears down barns as part of my job, it saddens me that it is nearly impossible to recycle the wood here. 50 and 60 ft long 18x18 inch straight spruce and tamarack beams get chopped up and either burnt or taken to the dump.

When we take down older black walnut, black cherry, oak and maple trees we can't give the wood away. The mills are too concerned about nails and other issues to take them.

Wow, there are a lot of people who make good money reusing and recycling old wood. They do still sell metal detectors. Wood workers can avoid nails pretty easily. Even if you do ruin a blade or two on a huge beam, the money it sells for can pay for dozens of new blades.

[Hindmost]

Nut producing trees are primarily English walnut grafted onto black walnut roots. Not sure what that means for black walnut wood production.

[NHAero]

The company I work for (https://www.southmountain.com/) has used salvaged and river-recovered wood for decades. We have a yard full of beautiful material. All our exterior trim is river-recovered cypress, never needs paint. The 69 foot long flat trusses holding up the roof in this photo are made from 14x14 Doug Fir.
I trimmed my house on the interior with re-sawn western red cedar, which had originally been used as utility poles, that we'd used on a deck, then that got rebuilt and the decking was salvaged for a second time. It was a lot of work cleaning it up and re-planing/sanding it, but it's gorgeous material. I used the same stuff for my outdoor shower, shown here in progress.

[jm714]

Back in he mid 90’s a city I worked for had a black walnut tree in park that was damaged due to a windstorm. We had some arborists come out and the consensus was the tree had to be removed for liability purposes. We went out to bid to have it removed and the tree removal company that won paid the city $68,000 to remove it and keep the wood. I asked the foreman what was going to happen to the tree and he said probably gun stocks.

[ORMojo]

Makes me want to plant some bare land I own for my children's eventual profit . . .

https://www.profitableplantsdigest.com/growing-walnut-trees-for-profit/

"During the week, Tom Jenkins is a financial advisor, helping others invest for their retirement. On weekends, Jenkins sometimes packs a sack lunch and pruning saw and visits what he calls his “Walnut IRA.” His 20 acres of black walnut trees, originally planted in a 12 foot by 12 foot grid and gradually thinned to a wider spacing as the trees grew, will be ready for harvesting about the time Tom plans to retire. With the high price of black walnut logs, he figures his walnut acreage will be enough to make him a millionaire. Better yet, his property taxes for the walnut stand are almost zero, thanks to a special property tax rate to encourage timber production."


I love using reclaimed/salvaged/recycled wood. In our 3,700 sq ft house, only one small room is carpeted, and one bathroom has tile flooring. The rest of the flooring is all reclaimed hardwood the builder and I tracked down over almost a full year. My favorite flooring has shown up in some of my Paceline Classified photos - the huge boards under the wheel below were originally the gym bleachers at Bill Gates & Paul Allen's Lakeside High School in Seattle.
1697990046

Another room, another bike shot, another reclaimed floor.
1697990047

And all of the rest of the millwork in the house - the siding and all other exterior woodwork, all interior & exterior window & door trim, and lots more - was all hand milled on site from reclaimed logs while the house was being built. These photos show some before/after from our recent exterior repaint.
1697990049
1697990048
1697990050

[glepore]

Nut producing trees are primarily English walnut grafted onto black walnut roots. Not sure what that means for black walnut wood production.
Black walnuts were weedy and invasive in Pa, don't think there's ever going to be a lumber shortage of black walnut.

[redir]

I built this guitar from the barn on which it is leaning. White oak and pine. The barn was built in 1920 as my best guess from giant oak trees on the property. It fell down in a blizzard that dumped nearly 3ft of snow. I've since moved from the old farm but took a bunch of the wood with me. Walnut is an excellent wood for guitars too. Makes me wonder what that guy is going to do with it.

https://i.imgur.com/B96x52ul.jpg

[NHAero]

Beautiful!
What species were used for the exterior siding and trim?

[QUOTE=ORMojo;2633814]snip


I love using reclaimed/salvaged/recycled wood. In our 3,700 sq ft house, only one small room is carpeted, and one bathroom has tile flooring. The rest of the flooring is all reclaimed hardwood the builder and I tracked down over almost a full year. My favorite flooring has shown up in some of my Paceline Classified photos - the huge boards under the wheel below were originally the gym bleachers at Bill Gates & Paul Allen's Lakeside High School in Seattle.


And all of the rest of the millwork in the house - the siding and all other exterior woodwork, all interior & exterior window & door trim, and lots more - was all hand milled on site from reclaimed logs while the house was being built. These photos show some before/after from our recent exterior repaint.

[Ozz]

...

I love using reclaimed/salvaged/recycled wood. In our 3,700 sq ft house, only one small room is carpeted, and one bathroom has tile flooring. The rest of the flooring is all reclaimed hardwood the builder and I tracked down over almost a full year. My favorite flooring has shown up in some of my Paceline Classified photos - the huge boards under the wheel below were originally the gym bleachers at Bill Gates & Paul Allen's Lakeside High School in Seattle....

speaking of Bill Gates....his 66,000 sq ft house used 500,000 board ft of lumber, most of it reclaimed old growth: Bill's house (https://www.businessinsider.com/crazy-facts-about-bill-gates-house-2016-11#its-worth-at-least-127-million-today-1)

While it was being built, a friend of mine (who did cabinet work for other uber high end homes) complained that there was no old growth fir available for any of their projects...regardless of what they were willing to pay!

[GonaSovereign]

As a person who tears down barns as part of my job, it saddens me that it is nearly impossible to recycle the wood here. 50 and 60 ft long 18x18 inch straight spruce and tamarack beams get chopped up and either burnt or taken to the dump.

When we take down older black walnut, black cherry, oak and maple trees we can't give the wood away. The mills are too concerned about nails and other issues to take them.

Thanks for sharing that detail. IMHO, that's insanity. I love those barns, hate seeing them come down, and would love to find a solve.

[redir]

As a person who tears down barns as part of my job, it saddens me that it is nearly impossible to recycle the wood here. 50 and 60 ft long 18x18 inch straight spruce and tamarack beams get chopped up and either burnt or taken to the dump.

When we take down older black walnut, black cherry, oak and maple trees we can't give the wood away. The mills are too concerned about nails and other issues to take them.

If you come across a spruce beam like that again please let me know. In particular if it's vertical grain and 10in across.

[pdonk]

If you come across a spruce beam like that again please let me know. In particular if it's vertical grain and 10in across.

Its a long drive from VA to Toronto, but will do.

Most of the beams are notched and worked for a barn, so not 100% clear.

Looking at my upcoming projects, no barns are left to come down in the near future.

[redir]

Its a long drive from VA to Toronto, but will do.

Most of the beams are notched and worked for a barn, so not 100% clear.

Looking at my upcoming projects, no barns are left to come down in the near future.

Yes it is but I was thinking of some Canadian luthiers I know. It would be a shame to split up such a huge beam but it could make a lot of guitar tops given the right conditions. You would basically saw off 24 inch sections of it then resaw that into 1/4in thick boards with the annular rings running vertical |||||||| like that.

Anyway just a thought :)

[cnighbor1]

The company I work for (https://www.southmountain.com/) has used salvaged and river-recovered wood for decades. We have a yard full of beautiful material. All our exterior trim is river-recovered cypress, never needs paint. The 69 foot long flat trusses holding up the roof in this photo are made from 14x14 Doug Fir.
I trimmed my house on the interior with re-sawn western red cedar, which had originally been used as utility poles, that we'd used on a deck, then that got rebuilt and the decking was salvaged for a second time. It was a lot of work cleaning it up and re-planing/sanding it, but it's gorgeous material. I used the same stuff for my outdoor shower, shown here in progress.
How do handle nails in old used lumber
thanks
Charles the Architect

[Hawker]

speaking of Bill Gates....his 66,000 sq ft house used 500,000 board ft of lumber, most of it reclaimed old growth: Bill's house (https://www.businessinsider.com/crazy-facts-about-bill-gates-house-2016-11#its-worth-at-least-127-million-today-1)

While it was being built, a friend of mine (who did cabinet work for other uber high end homes) complained that there was no old growth fir available for any of their projects...regardless of what they were willing to pay!

Yep, everyone needs a 66,000 sq.ft. house. 66,000 square feet??!! I wouldn't know what to do with 6,000?

[jimcav]

QUOTE=cnighbor1;2634301]How do handle nails in old used lumber
thanks
Charles the Architect[/QUOTE]

circa 1921, my neighbor did a 2nd story addition and basically knocked their house down leaving only part of the front door wall (remodel vs demo trick ). it was only a 1200 sq ft house so they did it so fast i only managed to save one pile of the old studs. I think they are western red cedar, but certainly tighter grain than anything in a lumbar yard now. I built an approx 6'x4' armoir with 3 drawers that has held up well, enduring several military PCS moves. I pulled out all the nails--which took me a few days after work to do that. I missed a few of course, but my little dewalt planer had no issues--not good for the blade, but as someone else said i'd gladly sacrifice a few blades for old growth wood.

[redir]

How do handle nails in old used lumber
thanks
Charles the Architect

I made a simple tool. It's a magic wand if you will. It's simply an 8in piece of wood with rare earth magnets inlayed into the surface. Sweep it over the wood and you will find iron.