Demolition continues ..... modern lumber vs good lumber

[Turkey Creek]

Spent some time continuing demolition today. A little difference between "modern" lumber and the way lumber used to be. Got a stack salvaged for the framing of the elevated blind I hope to put together for the kids to rifle hunt out of. Some of the old stuff is so tight ringed you would need a magnifying glass to count it.

 

[Barndog56]

And even better than that, my house was built by the Amish. The wall studs actually measure 2" x 4" or even larger.
And I'm not sure what type of wood they used but it's almost impossible to get a nail or screw through without drilling pilot holes.

Just wished they had insulated a little better ...

 

[Hoytvectrix]

On the new farm we bought this year, there is a dairy barn that was built in the early 1930's. There is quite a bit of older wood in the hay loft that is just like your second photo. Nearly every piece weighs more than what you would expect.

It is interesting when talking with foresters. They appreciate the difference between older and newer timber production. There are lots of inefficiencies in terms of quality built into markets when you are only selecting for quantity. The ag industry keeps wanting to differentiate grain sources with the concept of nutrient density, but I don't think there is a demand there yet. The timber industry obviously shifted towards quantity, just like traditional ag. I suspect as free markets keep demanding cheaper goods, eventually a quality component will creep back into the marketplace, fetching producers a premium for old growth timber or more nutritious crops.

 

[Turkey Creek]

The original 2 x 6 rafters holding the tin were 20' long. Let me just say you would not be carrying 2 of those around at the same time, unless you were 18 and trying like hell to impress a girl. No doubt in my mind each one weighed over 50 lbs.

 

[rocksnstumps]

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Friend was remodeling a 2 story house with a huge attic space above that was built in the 1890s. 2 x6 wall studs are common in older homes built in colder areas. Each of those wall studs was well over 20 ft long. Fire Marshall and resulting codes says no bueno to have a channel in your walls that long. They had to partition off the ones they kept in place.

Beautiful hardwood floors in that home. Lots of wood parquet patterns.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

TC - I like what lumber you found. What a find!! The old stuff was solid.

By pure accident, I found a piece of 120+ year old chestnut from back when it was plentiful and was used for building framing. It was part of a roof truss system in an old building - over 100 years old. When that roof system was demo'd for new roof work, about 10 or 12 of those big trusses were tossed out into a huge dumpster. The wood looked so black, none of us thought about what kind of wood it might be. We assumed hemlock. I decided to take a piece of truss home with me, since it was heavy, straight, and of a size that could be a fireplace mantel.

I was shocked after I started to run a belt sander over it. It was chestnut - no mistaking it from the color and wood texture. I cut a piece off the one end, and the growth rings looked like Turkey Creek's second pic in the first post. Tight, tight!! I cleaned it up, sanded all the black off it, and cut a section right about 8 ft. long. I left it "rustic" and didn't sand it 100% smooth, tough to do anyway with chestnut's "splintery" texture. There are nail holes in it and a couple other "flaws" like 2 or 3 knots. I finished it with Waterlox - no stain - because the deep rich color is already in the wood. It looks like a reddish-brown gem!! I plan to sell it.

If I'd have guessed / known what those trusses were made of back during the demo - I'd have grabbed all of them. You cannot find chestnut that old unless you fall into a situation like I did. There aren't any current-day old chestnut trees left anymore, so wood like this is a real extreme rarity.