Whatcha Sawin' 2025 ??

[chep]

Pics

[Magicman]

Hackberry is in the Elm family which as spiral grain.  It can present a challenge drying flat but it is very purdy stuff:




I have no idea what the customer did with this nor how it turned out.

[beenthere]

Hackberry grain is usually straight, but can have interlocked grain (like elm) which makes it harder to split. Spiral grain is a bit different in characteristics than interlocked grain. But may cause drying frustration.

hackberry grain

American elm grain

[Magicman]

Thanks for the grain correction beenthere.    Hackberry is not a species that I often saw.

My phone is still occasionally ringing (one today) but there are no customers ready.  There are 9 on the schedule.

[Resonator]

"If money grew on Hackberry trees, if time wasn't such a luxury, if love was lovesick over me...
 that'd be alright."  (Old Alan Jackson song).

[TimW]

I didn't saw these, but a friend from Church found them in a barn he is tearing down.  To me, they look like wood to go around steel posts.  It is some holes are about 2.5" and some are oval at 3x2.5".  Do you think they are worth anything?  He would love to sell them as he is between jobs.  The posts are super lite.  Guess I need to cut an end off a little to see it the wood will tell what it is.

[Resonator]

My guess would be wooden water pipes, commonly used in the 1800's in cities for buried water lines. Sections are still occasionally found in the dirt when streets are dug up to put in new utilities.

[Magicman]

Wooden water pipes?



Here are pictures of a section of wooden water pipe that is on display.  Looks like it had some sort of bands holding it together.

[TimW]

That makes sense.  Especially some of the ends are concave/convex to fit together and kinda lock better.

[doc henderson]

someone had posted a historic site where they showed a video of a young guy in period dress drilling out wooden pipes...  It was not boring at all!  

[jb616]

A friend of mine is a landscaper / excavator and he says he digs them up all the time. He had a few at his shop when I was there last time. They look like mini oak barrels. 

[TimW]

someone had posted a historic site where they showed a video of a young guy in period dress drilling out wooden pipes...  It was not boring at all! 

Doc, you're not boring either. I'd like to see that video.

[doc henderson]

OK!

Boring Wooden Pipes and Hand Pumps

[Resonator]

I've seen pictures of both, the kind made from a log with a hole bored through the center, and the banded staves type. The bigger mains tended to be built with the staves and bands.
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When I was a young kid we took a tour of hydro-electric plant near me on the Wisconsin river. When they had constructed it in 1938, it was built in location separate from main river channel. They piped in river water through 2 huge diameter, 1325' long wooden pipes called "penstocks", built like a barrel with staves and bands. They leaked so much in the later years, they were replaced with steel pipes in 2018.

[TimW]

Thanks Doc!  I'll share it with my friend.