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Old wood worth buying?

Started by Satamax, June 10, 2013, 04:08:30 PM

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Satamax

Hi guys.

Well, this is a mountain hamlet in northern Italy, quite near to where I live. 25/30 miles or thereabouts.  Before I do any research. Would this be worth buying? It's to make the walls of my future home, above the workshop. It would have to be modified of course. It's all larch. And old larch is extremely tough. Hard to work, I mean! All hand hewn tho!









On top of a gravel road, with hairpin bends etc. I have a little 3T5 truck tipper 4x4. ( iveco daily 4x4) Can't get my crane there I think.

Thanks a lot guys.

French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

clww

I'd buy it (for a good price). :)
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Brad_bb

Only you can make this judgement, and determine which pieces are usable for what, and what is firewood.  You need to evaluate the integrity, size, defects etc.  Was it taken down by force and therefore do you have to look for damage from that?  What is good wood, and what is rot?  Will you be millng it or using it as whole sticks as it is now?  Do you know how to visually grade pieces that will potentially be used as a beam, post, rafter, or brace? Just because it's old or dry would not be a deterrent.  You do need to take into account the sizing for loads and give yourself some margin of safety. 
Many framers will use reclaimed beams, once all that stuff above has been taken into consideration.

Oh, and as said, you should make sure that you pay a good/fair price.  Here in the US, it seems some people get the idea that their old timbers are made of solid gold.  Pay according to market value, condition, character desired etc.  Try to have in mind exactly where the material will fit in to your design.  You'd hate to buy a bunch of sticks, and then do your design after, only to discover that your sticks are too small/not dimensions you can use.
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Satamax

Thanks a lot guys.

Brad. I wouldn't use that for the roof. I would use only sticks as they are to build the walls. Well, I'll inquire whose this is at the town council. And if they let it go for cheap, I might consider it.  But I'm not paying more than a fifth of what good roofing sound sawn wood would cost.

Thanks again.

Max.
French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

Thehardway

Satamax,

I have spent many hours salvaging wood/timber telling myself I would use it for a particular project.  Most of the time, the wood was more trouble to get than I had originally estimated and ended up not being used for what I had originally planned.  When considering a salvage project there are several things to keep in mind.

1.  Safety risk.  Disassembly, loading, transport and unloading all pose a certain amount of risk to life, limb, health, and property.  If you get killed in a collapse, break an arm or leg, pull your back, blow up your truck or have a timber fall off on to the highway, your salvage value will evaporate.

2.  Intrinsic value of the material.  If it is just wood, and has no particular added value over a currently available specie, then it may be a waste of time and effort.  You would be better off to pay for new than buy old if the price is marginal.  If it is rare, old growth, has historical value, emotional value, or it has been dried, kept dry, and has stability and character that you can't reproduce then it may be worth salvage.

3.  Will it speed up or slow down the project

4.  Will it be used immediately or require storage and if so, what is the cost.

There are some very good responses to help you.  All that glitters is not gold and so it goes with salvage too.   It can be far more work than it is worth.  On the other hand, I have passed up some stuff that I wish I hadn't.  I would be tempted to salvage if it was free and rare.  If it is common and they want $ then I would probably pass on it.  In reality they should be paying to have it torn down and cleaned up.

Those stone walls look interesting.

Norwood LM2000 24HP w/28' bed, Hudson Oscar 18" 32' bed, Woodmaster 718 planer,  Kubota L185D, Stihl 029, Husqvarna 550XP

Jay C. White Cloud

Hey Satamax,

We repurpose professionally many vintage frames, and for the most part the material in these old structures is good, but takes tremendous labor to restore.  Use wood (90% of the time) is not less expensive than new, and in most cases it is much more, unless you do not count your time in making the wood serviceable.  Good Luck.
"To posses an open mind, is to hold a key to many doors, and the ability to created doors where there were none before."

"When it is all said and done, they will have said they did it themselves."-teams response under a good leader.

Satamax

Hi guys!

Thanks a lot for your replies.

Thehardway, point taken, as well as yours Jay.

Well, I emailed the town council of the place. With no reply so far. Anyway, I wouldn't pay more than a twentieth to a tenth of fresh sawn wood. Only interest is that it's a hand hewn log home style. And to re-purpose it, it would have to be close to the original shape and size. That larch is soo tough to work with when dried, that it's defeats the usability when somehow, when you need to cut lots of joints in it.
French CD4 sawmill. Latil TL 73. Self moving hydraulic crane. Iveco daily 4x4 lwb dead as of 06/2020. Replaced by a Brimont TL80 CSA.

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