16"x8" oak beams from a Victorian Mill (Advice or

[ferdinand]

As mentioned previously, I'm clearing out woodworking and other related items from my dad's house.

The magical mystery tour continues. I thought that we had a pile of big oak beams somewhere, because the back door was made out of one a few years ago. They came out of a demolished Victorian mill in Nottingham at about the same time he bought the radial arm saw - i.e., 1995 or so. They have been there ever since, with one being used occasionally.

There are about 10, varying in length from just under 10' to more than 20', with a cross section of 8"x16". I make that perhaps 120 cubic feet, though there would be much wastage.

I guess I need advice on this - it looks like architectural salvage rather than woodworking, and I think they saw 1"-2" off the surface to "authenticise" the inside of restaurants etc then sell the rest on as beams. But is oak quite specialised?

What do I do with them? Will the quality have gone right down?

A couple of pics of the pile. The tape is extended to 1 foot:

This is what it looks like after use:

(A bit dusty due to current work on an adjacent wall)

I am in the Mansfield area.

Rgds

Ferdinand

 

[head clansman]

hi

if the timber in the door pics came from that pile it aint oak that look very much like pine to me , someone correct me if I'm wrong .

what to do with it salvage it, scrape all vegetation off of it, cut away rot that can be seen to try and stop it getting any worse , get it under cover with spacer between and see what you can do with it .

When moving it be careful of what might com slivering out from under it. :lol: hc.

looks like pitch pine to me ? nice

 

[newt]

Definitely not Oak in the doors

 

[Woodcrafts]

Agree with Head Clansman. My vote also goes for pitch pine.

 

[head clansman]

hi

it's been a long time since i worked any pitch pine ,hmm lovely to work with the smell wonderful , don't dispose of it you wont be disappointed .hc

 

[ferdinand]

What a wonderful set of replies. Thanks.

I was beginning to wonder about whether it would be better to "bring in, dry out for 6-9 months, perhaps sand blast, then put on ebay", having looked at some of the prices for reclaimed oak (and I just checked out pitch pine .

I do have a bit of time. Roughly how long would it take to dry out away from wind, rain and snow? Would 6 months be enough?

Rgds

Ferdinand

 

[Max Power]

Another vote for pitch pine, lovely wood to work,but what a shame its been stored like that. As said clean it up and see if any can be salvaged

 

[head clansman]

hi

rule of thumb 1" = one year hc

 

[wizer]

Oak of that thickness will never fully dry out and must always be considered green tbh.

If you want to convert it into useable furniture\joinery timber then it will need to be planked.

The other option is to cut it up and sell it to turners. Also chainsaw carvers may be interested. I'd love to make a carved bench out of a lump like that. But I must not must not must not buy any MORE wood. :lol:

 

[TrimTheKing]

As others have said, if the door is definitely made from one of the beams then it is definitely not Oak, and certainly looks more like a pine.

Why don't you take 6" off the end of one with a saw so we can see what usable wood is in there? As previously mentioned, if it's soaking then it will take you a loooooong time to dry it, and bringing it indoors straight away isn't the way to do it, that will just end up splitting it all the way through.

If you really want to dry it yourself you need to get it to a level area, get it off the ground with some 2" square battens (cheap pine will do) and put it 'in stick'. To do this you need to

- 4 beams side by side on the ground, widest face up, with 3 or 4 sticks (the 2" pine lengths) perpendicular to them, between them and the ground below, equally spaced.
- Then stick another 4 'sticks' on top and another 4 beams.
- Continue until you have them all stacked, the place a plastic sheet over the top and weight it down along the sides leaving the ends loose so airflow can get through.

You will need to leave them like this for at least 12 months, maybe more depending how sodden they are.

 

[FatFreddysCat]

If it's pitch pine then it's unlikely to be sodden (the pitch, see). The local yard I buy pitch pine off stores much of their stock outside and tends just to rip the outer inch or so off a balk then resaws to the required section (on a Robinson band rack with a 4in wide blade). It's only the sapwood which goes rotten with pitch pine, and not always that, so any rot and wet are generally on the outside surfaces only. The heartwood is generally as hard as iron after 100 or more years so it makes superb hard wearing flooring, etc. Don't see it being that much good for turning or furniture because the high resin content can make for problems finishing it

 

[RogerS]

Oak of that thickness will never fully dry out and must always be considered green tbh.

......:

Just to be pedantic, it will eventually dry out. Might take 100 years but it will dry out. Istuck a moisture meter on some old old beams I removed and the reading was 8% or so.

 

[ferdinand]

I'm not sure about the oak/pitch pine yet, so I'll hang fire on that one

But - supplying maximum information - I *am* told that it came on a lorry with a built-in crane, and that it came from one of the original Raleigh Bicycle Factories (on Raleigh Street).

Will it therefore be affected by oil etc?

Ferdinand

 

[Rob_H]

Absolutely pitch pine - no question.

 

[wizer]

Have you got a belt sander? Brush the top with a wire brush and then sand an area away. You could even take a plane (power or hand) to it if you liked, after the sander. Once we can see the clean grain then we can identify it properly.

 

[ferdinand]

Have you got a belt sander? Brush the top with a wire brush and then sand an area away. You could even take a plane (power or hand) to it if you liked, after the sander. Once we can see the clean grain then we can identify it properly.

No belt sander, but I have an electric power plane.

Excellent idea, but I'll leave it for the weekend.

Thanks

Ferdinand

 

[head clansman]

hi

it,s definitely pitch pine , the next problem you will have is cleaning all the growth off it , seeing it's (pitch) pine and the outer surfaces will have more water contents than you would like in them it wont really hurt to use a pressure washer to get into the surface grain to remove all those minuet roots and bugs this is where the pitch in the pine comes in, it will stop the water penetrating to far into the timber ( sort of water proofing if you like ) hc.

 

[ferdinand]

Making progress. I have testimony that proves the species without setting up an extension lead and the planer.

The chap here today building a wall has been able to point me at something and say "while I was here before they made *that*" from "one of *those* beams".

And "that" is this:

It is about 8" by 9" in cross-section. I hate to think what it would have cost per foot run to buy. Pitch pine wins the day.

Ferdinand

 

[head clansman]

hi ferdinand

clean it all up and keep it, you lucky dog, :mrgreen: id hate to think what it was worth then , let alone now. hc :wink: pics please when it all clean.

 

[FatFreddysCat]

Have you got a belt sander?

Wizer

Try that on real pitch pine and the belt will gum up in next to no time :lol: