I was wondering if any one can tell me if wood can be to old or to dry to use? I was very lucky to be able to get about 200 to 300 walnut gun stock blanks. They are as old as 1979 to 2004 and are in great shape. However I dont know if some of them are to old to use. They are all 3 to 4 inches thick and are 18 to 48 inches long. They are about 6 inches at one side to 3 to 4 inches at the other. They are rough cut. So I milled some down and the grain pattern is very nice. Not sure what I will do with them yet but Iam sure I will find a something to do with them. Anyway can wood get to dry and if so what can you do? Can you get them wet? Any help would be great. Thanks for the help, Dave
-- Davesfunwoodworking
6 comments so far
FrankA
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135 posts in 675 days
posted 661 days ago
Having reused some 100+ year old oak barn boards I would say it can never be to old to work. That being said it does seem that old wood requires sharp quality tooling as it seems to dull edges a bit quicker. Sounds like you got quite a find, I’m sure you’ll find a good use for it.
-- Frank Auge---Nichols NY----"My opinion is neither copyrighted nor trademarked, but it is price competitive."
GaryK
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9533 posts in 884 days
posted 661 days ago
Wood can’t get too old, unless it’s turning to powder.
Are these gunstock blanks? If they are and have some nice figure you can sell them for $50 – $200
each on eBay.
Sounds like a small fortune there.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Davesfunwoodworking
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259 posts in 771 days
posted 661 days ago
Yes they are gun stock blanks. There is alot of them that have great figure and are black and some english walnut. I dont think I would sell them as hardwoods are getting some what harder to get. And the price is going up all the time. But thanks for the info about ebay.
-- Davesfunwoodworking
GaryK
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9533 posts in 884 days
posted 661 days ago
At just $50 each and only 200 of the that’s $10,000. That could buy a lot of lumber in a size that is
more usable. Not to mention a lot more tools!
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
rikkor
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11335 posts in 770 days
posted 661 days ago
Nice find. I am interested in seeing some projects from this stash.
Ethan
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751 posts in 1070 days
posted 660 days ago
I use 100 year old oak in more than half my projects, mostly because I was able to get a ton of it from an old farm house on a family farm.
The biggest difference between this wood and barn wood is that this wood was internal sheathing for the house and protected by the weather from clapboard siding. Because of that clapboard siding, it doesn’t contain any silica grit from sand and dirt; it has never been painted; in fact, it isn’t even silver – it looks just like older milled lumber.
Pulling the nails out was a real pain, however, as all of the tips were hammered over after they were driven in.
Anyway… what was my point? Oh, yeah, old wood is grand. Has tighter grain and looks better, in my opinion.
It also allows me to be a bit more of a “green” woodworker, using reclaimed lumber in most of my projects…
-- Ethan, http://greystonegreen.blogspot.com/