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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:21:23 PM EDT
[#1]
Hell yes, they buy it. And they steal it too. In a lot of rural counties on old farms barns are being taken down in the dark of night for this shit.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:21:32 PM EDT
[#2]
Some of the Doug fir full dimension 2x4 I pulled out of houses in San Francisco were 300 hundred years old when they were cut down 100 years ago. You can't buy wood like that today to make furniture let alone frame a house with.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:22:59 PM EDT
[#3]
A friend built an entire barn out of reclaimed barn wood. So, yes, people actually use it.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:23:04 PM EDT
[#4]
This has been a thing forever.
Sucks to work with.  Reclaimed Wood from Old Globe Grain Elevator |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:23:04 PM EDT
[#5]
Well, you will actually get a 2”x4”, not a 1.5x3.5.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:24:24 PM EDT
[#6]
My Dad use to tear down old houses in San Diego to salvage the wood. He would use it in construction projects, or sell it depending on the type of wood, and what was left over was sold to a guy in Tijuana. One of the houses we tore down was solid redwood. Another time we found a wall full coins; it was behind the medication cabinet in the bathroom. There was a slot in it for disposal of old safety razors. Some was dropping coins down it. The wall made a huge thud when my brother hit it with a sludge hammer.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:26:08 PM EDT
[#7]
It's already weathered and has character. It can be wicked cool on floors, tables, stuff like that. I think I'd want new treated wood for exterior walls and such.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:28:45 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: It's already weathered and has character. It can be wicked cool on floors, tables, stuff like that. I think I'd want new treated wood for exterior walls and such. It also has grain that is very tight and simply not available from any other source. If you clean it up it looks spectacular. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:29:07 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Well, you will actually get a 2”x4”, not a 1.5x3.5. Which proves the quality of the wood Tighter old growth grain won't fluctuate as much |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:29:14 PM EDT
[#10]
My neighbors at work do reclaimed lumber. Guy goes all over the country and tears down old barns and stuff and brings it back here. They pull all the nails out, clean it up and redo houses with it. Floors, ceilings, fireplace mantles, you name it. He stays really busy and can charge out the ass for that stuff.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:29:58 PM EDT
[#11]
I used to work for a company that would dismantle barns and pull all the nails and we'd make flooring and furniture out of the lumber.
The installed flooring would be $10-$15/SF and usually ended up in homes that were pricey. They had a wood mizer in one of the buildings and probably 300,000 BF of lumber in stacks in another. This was around 15 years ago. Not sure how much material they have right now or how busy they are but it was pretty cool making T&G flooring and other projects. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:30:00 PM EDT
[#12]
I don't know if its still a thing, but about 20 years ago there was a fad to build new homes using some old barn timbers...looked pretty cool actually.
Mainly the big timbers were put into the main rooms giving them sort of and old castle old beam look. People were paying big bucks for old barns just for the seasoned gray dry wood for decoration frames and fake beams. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:30:24 PM EDT
[#13]
I know a guy who bought lumber from an abandoned cannery and used it to build his house. It looks amazing.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:31:12 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Parts of this are reclaimed red wood from water tanks built on roofs in New York over a hundred years ago. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/33050/Screenshot_2021-02-25_Spector_USA_NS-2_B-1841011.JPG That Is Cool |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:37:06 PM EDT
[#15]
Whatever the reason or motivation, I fully support recycling and limiting waste.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:43:17 PM EDT
[#16]
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:46:16 PM EDT
[#17]
If you want old growth hard woods, the only way you are getting it is salvage.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:48:44 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Beams and wood used in older homes are something you can not get anymore. Lumber quality was higher. Some stuff you can't find AT ALL now. Saw a Dirty Jobs episode from years back where they salvaged wood from river and lake bottoms in WA/OR because that wood really doesn't exist now. They cut that into thin sheets for furniture. Lumber is going to go through the freaking roof here pretty quick too. Just as I got set to build my cabin. Murphy never even gives me a reach-around. Basically this. And I remember that episode! |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:49:23 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted: There is a pretty popular market for guitars made from reclaimed wood as well. Some are quite beautiful. ETA: here is one for sale now https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/51268/4B8F1849-6DCC-45AA-804C-5A7BF81F88F2_jpe-1840986.JPG There was one here made with an old dynamite crate. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:51:45 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Someone is sittin’ on a gold mine here. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/326845/09902D74-2ADC-4688-83BA-3216F64B5477_jpe-1841046.JPG I made a friend a display case for handmade fountain pens out of an ash pallet that a boiler tank was shipped on. Dragged it four blocks to the shop from the boiler company, lol. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:53:42 PM EDT
[#21]
I bought a bunch of old Poplar beams about 4' in length from an Antiques shop up in Asheville NC a few years back. It all came out of and old distillery that was torn down a year before somewhere in TN. So far I've only cut one down and used it to make a coat hanger with old vintage rail road spikes for my office. Daughter made a sign for her bedroom out of the other side of it. I really need to put the stuff to use instead of collecting dust in my garage.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:56:34 PM EDT
[#22]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Beams and wood used in older homes are something you can not get anymore. Lumber quality was higher. Some stuff you can't find AT ALL now. Saw a Dirty Jobs episode from years back where they salvaged wood from river and lake bottoms in WA/OR because that wood really doesn't exist now. They cut that into thin sheets for furniture. Lumber is going to go through the freaking roof here pretty quick too. Just as I got set to build my cabin. Murphy never even gives me a reach-around. Yep, those things were made of "old growth" wood which is going to be higher quality. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 4:58:36 PM EDT
[#23]
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:03:04 PM EDT
[#24]
Quoted: Those ladies are watching hgtv too much and make their hubbies buy over priced barnwood and nail it to a "feature wall" so their friends can ohh and ahh and make their hubbies to the same. It's a vicious cycle. My neighbors give that shit away because it's garbage. Quoted: My cousin covered a wall in it. Wood with distressed red paint was very popular. 
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:14:59 PM EDT
[#25]
True - you can’t get the same quality wood nowadays- we cut it all down.
On the bright side though: - total world population will peak by 2040 now (maybe even earlier) and will very sharply decline after that. Fewer people = less housing = less demand = more trees eventually. In 300 years there will far more forests and far fewer humans. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:16:07 PM EDT
[#26]
Faggotry
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:18:26 PM EDT
[#27]
Have you not been to a lumber store recently? It’s all fucking trash...
You can find some really nice old growth tight grain wood through salvage. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:19:28 PM EDT
[#28]
I'm looking for some reclaimed wood for a fireplace mantle.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:41:06 PM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryThat was awesome and should answer OPs question well. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:41:54 PM EDT
[#30]
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:50:54 PM EDT
[#31]
Meanwhile we just Godzilla old barns with the Komatsu because it’s the easiest way to rid the property owner of the liability
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:51:03 PM EDT
[#32]
Some of that old wood is absolutely beautiful.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:53:20 PM EDT
[#33]
"Live, Laugh, Love" signs.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 5:54:52 PM EDT
[#34]
I'm using reclaimed oak pallet wood for a bedroom floor in our off the grid cabin. Using it because 1) I'm cheap and its free wood 2) it's going to fit the look of the rest of the cabin.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 6:04:06 PM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm looking for some reclaimed wood for a fireplace mantle. I used a old butchering table board to make mine. Sorta cool because it was in the smokehouse of my dad's old home-place. Dad used half for his mantle and I used the other half. Sorta like this but longer and about a inch thicker.  It did not have legs, they just sat it on saw horses that had slots cut in them do the table would not move.. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 6:18:06 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm looking for some reclaimed wood for a fireplace mantle. As many have mentioned, old growth wood has a much tighter grain than the fast grown lumber of today and is hard to come by. I remember bitching about the quality of lumber back in the 1980s when we built our first house, these days I'd love to get the lumber were were getting back then. New dimensional lumber is mostly shit these days. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 6:21:52 PM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Have you not been to a lumber store recently? It’s all fucking trash... You can find some really nice old growth tight grain wood through salvage. I just picked a dozen 10' pieces of decking out of a pallet that were all clear, quarter sawn tight grain 2nd growth fir. I couldn't believe it. Of course it cost me $150. We're not just out of old growth, we're pretty much out of second growth wood too. We exported a ton of it over the last few decades. 20 years ago you could still get good african cedars and such, that's all gone now too. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:03:55 PM EDT
[#38]
I get a bit of free OldGrowth fir & oak locally. Place near me throws out old wood sometimes. Big free pile. I’ve made a bunch of tables over the years, sold it for a great price. My gun / ammo funds. The wood with black nail holes is a big seller. I make my own hairpin legs for tables.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:13:34 PM EDT
[#39]
Thanks for all the input guys, it is interesting. I personally just don't see why the price outside of "tighter grain, dimensional, etc." I don't know many people who could afford to build at the reclaimed wood prices (anything more than small projects). It strikes me as "craft brewed" almost, like a fad of sorts. It has its place, and I too am all for recycling usable and quality products.
How is it that old growth has tighter rings than the new stuff? Doesn't a "modern tree" grow just as slowly as a "old growth", the difference being that old growth was likely larger and had more available wood? I salvaged 15 2x12s that are 14' long from the dump last year. A guy took them in after dismantling his chicken coop (105 years old). Cost me an afternoon prying the old tongue and groove flooring off and I plan to use it for tables and other building projects. I missed the first load the guy brought, so I wanted to be sure I got everything the second trip. Cost me $5 at the dump for all you can haul lumber. I appreciate that people dismantle the barns, and I understand that the time and labor it takes isn't free. To me it is a shock because they're basically saying $32 for a regular 2x4x8 FIR. I could understand the high price if this was all hardwood, but this is just Douglas Fir or perhaps Hemlock. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:14:19 PM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I get a bit of free OldGrowth fir & oak locally. Place near me throws out old wood sometimes. Big free pile. I’ve made a bunch of tables over the years, sold it for a great price. My gun / ammo funds. The wood with black nail holes is a big seller. I make my own hairpin legs for tables. @BHD44 Do you have any pics of your sold projects? |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:34:58 PM EDT
[#41]
I committed to buy 100 reclaimed 16'x2x6s for $100 on offerup a couple years ago. The seller worked for a demolition contractor and they tore down the rodeo grandstand bleachers and were just throwing the old wood in the trash. He brought home a couple trailers worth for a horse corral. And it sat in his pasture for 3 or 4 years.
I loaded everything up he said was part of the deal. Giant jumble of 2x6s with stubs of carriage bolts sticking out where they cut them off from the stands. 184 total mostly 16' long old growth 2x6s milled in the 70s at the absolute latest, possibly in the 50s I used them for everything at the last property and then sold what I had left for $300 |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:41:45 PM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I'm looking for some reclaimed wood for a fireplace mantle. you can wear away the softer portions of the surface with a wire wheel on a grinder, gives a ridged texture to smooth material. I used a 4x10 through bolted with all thread into the brick above my living room built in fireplace.  Attached File |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:46:04 PM EDT
[#43]
Some very old houses in east Texas have been known to be built out of black walnut.
I built a canoe out of reclaimed fur over 30 years ago. At the time is was the only way to get clear wood without paying a fortune. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:46:34 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Thanks for all the input guys, it is interesting. I personally just don't see why the price outside of "tighter grain, dimensional, etc." I don't know many people who could afford to build at the reclaimed wood prices (anything more than small projects). It strikes me as "craft brewed" almost, like a fad of sorts. It has its place, and I too am all for recycling usable and quality products. How is it that old growth has tighter rings than the new stuff? Doesn't a "modern tree" grow just as slowly as a "old growth", the difference being that old growth was likely larger and had more available wood? I salvaged 15 2x12s that are 14' long from the dump last year. A guy took them in after dismantling his chicken coop (105 years old). Cost me an afternoon prying the old tongue and groove flooring off and I plan to use it for tables and other building projects. I missed the first load the guy brought, so I wanted to be sure I got everything the second trip. Cost me $5 at the dump for all you can haul lumber. I appreciate that people dismantle the barns, and I understand that the time and labor it takes isn't free. To me it is a shock because they're basically saying $32 for a regular 2x4x8 FIR. I could understand the high price if this was all hardwood, but this is just Douglas Fir or perhaps Hemlock. It has to do with forest density. A long time ago in dense forests, there is less sunlight per tree, they grow less each year, so the rings (1 per year) are closer together. Now with trees planted for timber, they are spaced apart appropriately to maximize growth and ease of harvest, they will grow more per year so there is a larger gap between growth rings. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:48:24 PM EDT
[#45]
Tore down a 100 year house. The longleaf pine still smelled of turpenine 100 years later. Still good wood.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:48:51 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yes. Hipster carpenters do. There is a local place that buys the shit out of reclaimed lumber to make furniture out of. You pay an assload of money for a table, and get a little card telling you about its history....... One of many examples. I’m actually in the process of starting up a side business doing this. Beats the hell out of flimsy “made in China” bullshit. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:53:11 PM EDT
[#47]
My whole house is made of 150+ year old heart pine. It is a PITA to drill into.
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Posted: 2/25/2021 7:54:59 PM EDT
[#48]
Quote HistoryQuoted: @BHD44 Do you have any pics of your sold projects? Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I get a bit of free OldGrowth fir & oak locally. Place near me throws out old wood sometimes. Big free pile. I’ve made a bunch of tables over the years, sold it for a great price. My gun / ammo funds. The wood with black nail holes is a big seller. I make my own hairpin legs for tables. @BHD44 Do you have any pics of your sold projects? Send me your email pm and I’ll get some pics to you. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:32:47 PM EDT
[#49]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Beams and wood used in older homes are something you can not get anymore. Lumber quality was higher. Some stuff you can't find AT ALL now. Saw a Dirty Jobs episode from years back where they salvaged wood from river and lake bottoms in WA/OR because that wood really doesn't exist now. They cut that into thin sheets for furniture. Lumber is going to go through the freaking roof here pretty quick too. Just as I got set to build my cabin. Murphy never even gives me a reach-around. There it is - the wood available from old structures is no longer available in size, quality, or possibly species anymore. American chestnut? Nope. Elm? Nope. And list keeps growing. |
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Posted: 2/25/2021 8:50:24 PM EDT
[#50]
My uncle was a shop teacher here in KS, and a damn good wood worker. He made good summer money on the side building "rustic" furniture to sell in high end antique and furniture stores in the Lake of the Ozarks and Branson areas. Ladies ate up that kitchy "old country" look when the retired from city to the lakes. Growing up and teaching in farm communities he had an ample supply of old barns, homes and outbuilding to harvest for lumber.
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