Reclaimed floorboards identification and sourcing

[Toby Newell]

Then there's the whole issue of Crown Cut vs. Quarter Sawn.
https://www.principaldoorsets.com/product-range/service/veneer-cuts/#prettyPhoto/0/
I've been building an alcove cupboard and whilst the boards used are good quality and relatively slow grown, it's all Crown Cut and prone to cup as it dries - though perhaps in my basement it won't! The alcove cupboard on the other side of the fireplace had survived and the framing and panels were all Quarter Sawn and even slower grown.

I am only really aware of oak being specifically quarter sawn for boards. I know it is more stable and dense but I am not aware of it having a massive effect on cupping. I think the general process of milling and seasoning has to be done correctly. You can air dry for forty years or you can air dry for six months and kiln dry it.

Interestingly I am about to finish coat a little pine parquet floor and I have noticed that unlike many pitch pine blocks are flat sawn (crown cut) most yellow pine blocks seem to be quarter or rift sawn.

 

[Gothichome]

This will not help Devin unfortunately but for comparison in our area of Canada most of the reclaimed wood comes from barns. Older barns are coming down pretty fast. Most have old growth fir and pine usually full dimension 1x6, 1x8’s 10’s and sometimes 12 inches. Usual price ranges from £1.50 per running foot. The large beams are worth a small fortune though.

 

[Toby Newell]

Interesting point about oak having not (yet?) been ruined by modern husbandry methods, but I totally get your points about pine.

The photos below show a piece of wood from a stud wall I removed (with LBC I hasten to add) from my house. It was old but not original to the house and had been added to partially divide a room, probably at least 100 years ago. The other piece of wood is typical 'carcassing' wood available in all good builders merchants and used to build stud walls today (though with plasterboard rather than lath and plaster like the one I removed).

I'm sure I don't need to identify which is which



View attachment 13231

Tbh it's easy to compare in the solid with oak and oak tends to be used in larger section so the minimum harvest time would be c. 70 years vs. 25 for pine. I would totally be unsurprised however if these modern rubbish as F paper thin rotary cut veneers with ridiculously open grain that are used on most cheap doors and panels are in fact a quick growing hybrid.

 

[Toby Newell]

This will not help Devin unfortunately but for comparison in our area of Canada most of the reclaimed wood comes from barns. Older barns are coming down pretty fast. Most have old growth fir and pine usually full dimension 1x6, 1x8’s 10’s and sometimes 12 inches. Usual price ranges from £1.50 per running foot. The large beams are worth a small fortune though.

Canada, the country with the most virgin forest, still chopping it down!

 

[Toby Newell]

This will not help Devin unfortunately but for comparison in our area of Canada most of the reclaimed wood comes from barns. Older barns are coming down pretty fast. Most have old growth fir and pine usually full dimension 1x6, 1x8’s 10’s and sometimes 12 inches. Usual price ranges from £1.50 per running foot. The large beams are worth a small fortune though.

Well, I hope Delvin goes for reclaimed, fox with no tail aside.

 

[Gothichome]

Toby, yes, we have lots of trees, even a rain forest on the coast of British Columbia. That is were most of the really old growth forests are now, but they are always under threat. Were I live, most of the old growth (of any species) were chopped down a century ago but we still have pockets, and they are always under threat as well.
Not familiar with the expression “fox with no tail”.

 

[Toby Newell]

Not familiar with the expression “fox with no tail”.

Aesop

 

[Toby Newell]

Pardon our interruption...

For example, do buy these.

Unicorn. BUY NOW. These are worth £150+ in a yard, going for £25. They won't last long.You cannot buy new 200mm pine bananas for that. 8 inch wide 1 inch thick and almost all over 4.5m long. Lol. Buy them before a dealer does.

Lol. SOLD in less than 24hrs...