120 year old firewood?

[Butcher]

My old barn is starting to give up the ghost after 120 years of neglect.

I've been chaining out some of the old beams. Kinda makes my wife nervious me workin under that hulk but hey, someones gotta do it right? Found an old timber that was shoring up part of the old haymow and was thinkin of cuttin it up and throwin it on my stacks. It looks to be elm and is still solid as a rock. The piece holdin it up is some of the 120 year old ceder barn beams. I been busy sharpening chains with this little project I'll tell ya. Whole lotta unseen nails and other such things in this old wood.

That old ceder sure makes for some nice fodder for the farpit on a holiday weekend.

 

[Woody Stover]

I guess you'll be able to tell if it's Elm if you try to split it. Should be dry enough for even Dennis.

Be careful.

 

[ScotO]

I've still got some leftovers from the 1860's barn I tore down, matter of fact I made a whole box of "far starters" out of it last fall...

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/historical-wood.94188/
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/300-year-old-firestarters.94236/

Some of that wood may be PRIMO salvage, make sure you don't throw any American chestnut in your farpit......that brings some big money 'round these parts............

 

[Paulywalnut]

Even the sides are in demand for wainscoting in homes and businesses.
Nails in... even better

 

[granpajohn]

Here's a pretty crafty CL ad for similar stuff:

(broken link removed to http://baltimore.craigslist.org/for/3809941322.html)

Mantles and other items typically found on Hearth.com.

Sorry, no prices given

But....I can tell you that I've seen construction demo sites where the buyer was willing to truck similar timbers as far as Florida. Worth a look (if you haven't already)

 

[billb3]

I have an old garage that will be torn down soon and I've had several guys say they'll help come deconstruct rather than just knock it down and into a dumpster with an excavator, if they can have some of the old timbers.

 

[Bret Chase]

To the OP..... be aware... before you burn the beams... they can be worth BIG $$. I built a new facility for a VERY high end cabinet shop a couple years ago... and old barn beams is their material of choice.... they search out barns being torn down... buy the beams and resaw them... then they turn them into cabinets I would never be able to afford....

 

[Thistle]

Some of my stash over the years includes these pieces trimmed from the 5 x 5 & 6 x 6 110 yr old old growth Doug Fir beams & braces that was part of neighbors roof overhang on their 1 1/2 story Craftsman bungalow....I salvaged everything,roofer even had a couple from his crew carry them to my backyard.The pieces will be resawed for various projects eventually like jewelry boxes,small cabinet/furniture parts & some woodturning.


Some of the tightest grained wood I've ever seen,upwards of 20 rings per inch on some pieces,its very dense with beautiful orange-red color.Just going by the radius of some them,the trees were likely 6 ft to 10 ft diameter when felled over 100 years back...

 

[bogydave]

Might salvage some beams for a wood shed too.

 

[lumbering on]

there are people out here that will pay a fortune to incorporate that kind of "authentic" look into their homes. Hook up with a design or architect firm, sell em, don't burn em.

 

[Applesister]

I have a neighbor down the road who framed his house with old reclaimed barn beams.

 

[fishingpol]

I have purchased barn board for a few projects earlier this year. There are some very particular folks that want to know what type of building it came off of, what town/property was it on and the age of the structure. For me, it just has to have the right look for the piece even if it is only 40 or 50 years old. I saw one ad on CL last year for wood from a tobacco barn. The finished furniture was gorgeous, nail holes and all.

All that stock might add up if the market is there. I can see some nice planed table tops in those beams. Good luck.

 

[Butcher]

The beams I'm pulling out now are not in good shape. That end of the barn was a later scabbed on addition made from salvage. The remaining 3/4's of the barn holds all the goodies. As for a market around here there seems to be almost none. I have several hundred board feet of 1x12x14 foot long cedar siding boards pulled off and advertised and at a cheap price too(.50 cents a foot!). Get some calls but no takers. Here in the middle of corn and bean county there are alot of these old barns still standing in differant stages of condition. Every year I get 1 or 2 barn scrappers stopping in wanting to do me a big favor and tear it down for the lumber. I've had and know nieghbors who have dealt with some of these clowns. They come in, take all the good stuff, leave a huge mess and then they stiff folks on the payment. Then there is the liability issue if one of these guys gets hurt on my land while tearing it down. None of the guys I've had come around are bonded and insured and even if they where it's just a piece of paper I might as well use as bung fodder. AND THEN! There is the POS county my place is located in. If and when I get the barn down I could go into the tax assesors and have it taken off the property tax on my place. The assesor will come out, see that an eyesore is gone off my property and raise the taxes on the rest of the place. Dont laugh or say it aint so, I've seen it happen dozens of times around here.

 

[blades]

Heck here in Milwaukee, WI the city is charging a fee( tax) for water run off from commercial parking lots. Applies to multiple dwelling units also. They also bill ya for snowplowing the city street in front of your house. This all in addition to the excessive property taxes. So yep I can believe that getting rid of an eyesore could be considered property improvement in there twisted minds.

 

[Woody Stover]

This all in addition to the excessive property taxes.

Used to be that the high taxes got you great roads up there; Not so much any more.

 

[blades]

Neighbor just trashed a tire and wheel in a pot hole 20 yards from the drive of our building, they did take out the foot high pressure ridges in the road a couple years back though.