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Pile pulled from a demolished pier.

Started by Solomon, January 11, 2016, 11:52:28 AM

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Solomon

I have a dozen twelve foot sections of pileon that was pulled up.
They are clean and slick, no forigen objects.
They are not green Pressure treated, nor do the appear to be creosote treated.
Are they treated at all.
They are not pine but some kind of very very hard wood.
Splits like oak but I don't know,  it seems to be extremely hard.
Harder than Hickory or Pecan.
Thinking about just doing four cuts on each one turning them into 8x8's or 10x10's  whatever I can get out of them.
Anyone know what spiecies they might be ???
Time and Money,  If you have the one, you rarely have the other.

The Path to Salvation is narrow, and the path to damnnation is wide.

terrifictimbersllc

Couple years back, I sawed up marine piers which were chestnut.  Wild colors greens, reds & purples I remember.  Stinky stinky. 
DJ Hoover, Terrific Timbers LLC,  Mystic CT Woodmizer Million Board Foot Club member. 2019 LT70 Super Wide 55 Yanmar,  LogRite fetching arch, WM BMS250 sharpener/BMT250 setter.  2001 F350 7.3L PSD 6 spd manual ZF 4x4 Crew Cab Long Bed

Joed

Greenheart?? Very hard wood. Used on lots of piers and docks here on Cape Cod.
Valley Big Green Monster

Ocklawahaboy

Some reclaimed piers make very marketable lumber.   Don't make it firewood or dragline mats until you are sure there is no other use for it.

Chuck White

~Chuck~  Cooks Cat Claw sharpener and single tooth setter.  2018 Chevy Silverado and 2021 Subaru Ascent.
With basic mechanical skills and the ability to read you can maintain a Woodmizer  LT40!

Solomon

The guy that gave them to me cut them to twelve foot long to fit on his dump truck and couldn't do anything with them as it turned out for him.  He only kept the lenths that were drivin into the channel or bay floor, (Not sure exactly where they came from)   Somewhere around the Tidewater area .   Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach or maybe Hampton or the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
Anyway, long story short, they are freshly cut to length with a chain saw and there is no green or black ,  It it an even tan color all the way through and I suspect that the heart wood color blead into the sap wood because theese pileons were obviously made by simply stripping the bark from them.
A few have knots and bumps protruding off of them a couple inches.
Looks like while the trees were still standing on the stump, branches were cut off and the bark grew back over it leaving a nice smooth bump on the side once the bark was srtipped away after the tree was harvested.  This leads me to believe that theese pile were drivin before the pole lathe came into wide spread use.
  The guy told me that they were an absolute death warrant for a saw chain.
That is why I am considering just making four cuts on each one to make beams or large posts .    Unless they turn out to be some really valuable wood.
  Chestnut was mentioned, if that is the case, I would surely mill it into 4 or 5 quarter.
   Any advice on dimentions if it is Chestnut ?
Time and Money,  If you have the one, you rarely have the other.

The Path to Salvation is narrow, and the path to damnnation is wide.

sealark37


WV Sawmiller

Solomon,

    Any chance they are black/yellow locust? Not sure if it is used for marine applications but it is widely used for fence post and pole barns around here because it is so durable.

   Locust splits pretty well when green.
Howard Green
WM LT35HDG25(2015) , 2011 4WD F150 Ford Lariat PU, Kawasaki 650 ATV, Stihl 440 Chainsaw, homemade logging arch (w/custom built rear log dolly), JD 750 w/4' wide Bushhog brand FEL

Dad always said "You can shear a sheep a bunch of times but you can only skin him once

WLC

Any idea how long they had been there? I assume salt or brackish water?  If they have been there a long time it could very well be Chestnut.  Probably have to have been put in the ground before the 50's or so.

If you determine it's Chestnut I also suggest 5/4, or keep them as cants and cut to order. when you sell them.
Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

larrydown60

I removed 6 - 24's from a dock in 2004 in Jacksonville Fla and they were so hard it took 6 chainsaw blades to cut them in half. they were only 8" round but the sparks were flying. I think they were petrified from being in the water. I also tried to cut them with a big sawzall with Lenox bi-metal and metal blades blades just ate the blades and burned up the sawzall. Good luck

Solomon

Locust may be a possablity,  I don't know how long they have been around but it is surely a very long time and I do know that they were just pulled up recently  (within the last 3 months).
If I find out that they are Chestnut , I will take that advise of cutting them to order, that makes perfect sense.   I think a customer is more likely to pay a premieum to get exactly what he or she wants.   :P
Time and Money,  If you have the one, you rarely have the other.

The Path to Salvation is narrow, and the path to damnnation is wide.

LeeB

Any way to get a clear, closeup pic of a clean view of the end grain? That would help to identify it.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

Roxie

I'd be useless to identify anything, but sure would like to see a picture.   :P
Say when

Solomon

I will take a couple pictures tomorrow, I'm going to need one of you to walk me through the posting of pictures.  I'm computer stupid. ::)
Time and Money,  If you have the one, you rarely have the other.

The Path to Salvation is narrow, and the path to damnnation is wide.

beenthere

You did well previously with adding pics.

But if taking with an iPhone, take them with the volume button pointing down..

Then you can click the line below the post window "click here to add Photos..." and a window will pop up. There you can pick which of your albums you want more pics (or make a new pier album) and browse to find your pics on your camera, computer, or phone (I load camera pics onto the computer and get them in .jpg format)

Click the pic found from browsing and you will see it upload. Then scroll over (this is a small window and your pic may be out of the window). Click on it and it will enlarge. Then just below that enlarged pic is the instruction how to copy and paste that line in your post.

Hope that helps. Shout out if a step or two hangs you up.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

WDH

5/4 (1 3/8") for table tops if they are chestnut.  Could turn out to be very valuable. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Tom the Sawyer

I milled several pilings last year.  They had been part of a railroad spur line established in the early 1900s near St. Joe, Mo.  They were red and white oak, about 12" in diameter, with hand-hewn points.  Client had removed them using a track hoe with a thumb, just pulled them out of the ground, some up to 16' long. 


 
They milled, and smelled, like a fresh cut log although the mud had stained them a bit.  Being a railroad installation, I shouldn't have been surprised the one time we hit metal.  That Kasco blade sliced right through a 1" railroad spike, although the cut quality suffered after that :)  Since he didn't have a specific use for them, we milled them at 9/4 and I oriented them so that every plank had a remnant of the hand-hewn point.   


  
07 TK B-20, Custom log arch, 20' trailer w/log loading arch, F350 flatbed dually dump.  Piggy-back forklift.  LS tractor w/FEL, Bobcat S250 w/grapple, Stihl 025C 16", Husky 372XP 24/30" bars, Grizzly 20" planer, Nyle L200M DH kiln.
If you call and my wife says, "He's sawin logs", I ain't snoring.

Kbeitz

Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

Solomon

Just got home from work, and it's dark out now, I will shoot for tomorrow on the pictures.  Sure is Hard being one man.   Beenthere, I will follow your instructions to the letter.
I just got the latest iphone 6 somthing or another.   Supposed to be all the rage,  It has about a million  fetures that I don't have a clue how to use.!!!!!
Rest assured, I will be asking for help !!!
Time and Money,  If you have the one, you rarely have the other.

The Path to Salvation is narrow, and the path to damnnation is wide.

WLC

Woodmizer LT28
Branson 4wd tractor
Stihl chainsaws
Elbow grease.

dchiapin

did you ever saw the pilings?
Would be interesting to see the product after sawing.

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