>I've been talking with a co-worker for a while about a stash of old heart pine lumber he unknowingly acquired with the purchase of a house last year. Friday I finally got time to stop by for a look. The lumber came from demolition of an old building in historic Petersburg, VA.
He told me to take whatever I wanted, so I pulled out a solid timber that measured 2-3/4" thick by 10-inches wide by 12-feet long. We cut it in half to fit in the back of my truck. Judging by the tenon on one end and the number and spacing of the many 1-1/4" square-cut nails along one edge, this timber must have been a vertical frame member. Because of the equal height each nail was exposed above the edge, wooden lathe strips, used below plaster, were probably attached at one time.
One look at the freshly cut end grain revealed very thin growth rings that were very, very close together. The timber I picked had quarter sawn grain on the face. I dressed a small cutoff, ripped it to remove a split, re-sawed the two pieces into eight 1/2" pieces that I dressed at the planer. I'm thinking about making a few boxes with it when I get time.
Looks like I'll be making another trip to get some more soon! ;-)
>David--This is great wood. I recently got some from an old house destruction here in Georgia. After resawing, one piece of 2x8 had over 120 growth rings (as opposed to about 30 in a modern pine 2x8). That, coupled with the fact that the lumber was harvested in the 1880s, this tree could have been growing in the 1600s!
It is beautiful with a clear finish, but watch out, it will really gum up a planer or sawblade.
>You are very fortunate, David. I don't think there is a finer wood in the world than the old heart pine ! I love the smell of it in the shop. I love the way it finishes. The way it can gum up the blades is a small price to pay for the end results.
>Other than a few nice pieces I have stashed away I haven't seen decent sugar pine for something like 15 years or so. When I lived in Minneapolis a local dealer used to sell D and better pine. about 5 years later they stopped carrying it and I haven't seen old growth pine since.
>Great find David, I sure would love to get a hold of some old growth pine. SWMBO really likes pine but I refuse to use what I can find in this area. I have Cherry, Oak, Walnut, Sycamore, Poplar and Hickory in my shop - but she wants pine!
>Try to get as much as you can of this stuff. I rescued a sizeable stash from an old railroad depot that was destroyed by a tornadoe in Stoneville, NC. The building was built in the early 1900's out of what looked to be 150-200 year old heart pine. Beautiful grain, hard and heavy. Makes some fine looking furniture.
Flooring companies sell this stuff for over $10.00 per SF, unfinished. So get as much as you can, even if you don't need it now.