Reusing old wood from a century home; need advice
I may be able to get lumber from an old house that is being torn down. The house is about 100 years old. There are several large beams that hold the floor joists, some are oak and some look like poplar. The floor joists are covered with 1″ + thick boards as a subfloor. The joists and subfloor appear to be poplar, but seem harder than any poplar I’ve ever seen. Someone suggested they might be willow. I can identify the oak, but I’m not sure about the other wood.
All the beams in the house had dadoes in them and every wall stud sat in a dado. I’ve never seen this extensive joinery in walls before. Given the age of the house any guess as to what was likely used for the framing?
I would like to try and salvage the lumber. I am considering usinng the poplar(if that’s what it is) to build a European style woodworking bench. Would old poplar be suitable for a bench? Or, is there a better use for this old lumber?
Replies
It could be a variety of
Folks tended to use whatever was available to them, so it could be almost any type of wood, depending on the geography. Your best bet is to plane some of it down and post some good pics. ...someone might be able to ID the wood then.
Definately give it a shot, I made my work bench out of recycled 2x4s from the roof joists when we ripped the roof of our 1930s house to ad a 2nd floor. Those old 2x4s weighed about as much as a new 2x6 or more. I think if you scrape any crude off and pull any nails then run it over a jointer and planer you will get some very nice stock.
Post pictures for sure.
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