Apparently, one of my hobbies is “buying things on Kijiji”, and sometimes some pretty strange things. Here’s my latest purchase: A truckload of old Fir timbers.
March 17, 2012 update. Work on assembly of some of these timbers, is begun. The pictures will be posted on this page.
October 6, 2011 update: About 20% of the timbers have been cleaned-up so far, using handheld power-planar and handheld belt-sander. (I hired a guy, and luckily so far, he is enjoying the work.)
Sept 16: The original Kijiji ad had these pictures:
They came from an old grain elevator in Edmonton, that was near Rexall Place, but demolished in approx 2010.
It’s mostly Fir, ( Douglas Fir?) and some Spruce. 47 pieces were offered, and I think I got more than that delivered (bonus)!
Once the aged-surface is cut, it reveals the inside is excellent quality wood. I’m told this is 200 year old wood, and its only spent a few days outdoors (without rain), a few years ago, and the rest of the time, indoors. It seems nicely dry and in great condition.
And here they are after delivery into my hangar:
I got a mix of 10x10inch, and 12×12 inch pieces, most are around 10 feet long, and two are 18 feet long.
35– 10ft x 10x10in, 10x12in, 12x12in
2– 18ft x 10x10in
10 –spruce 10ft x10x10in)
What are these for?
All of them will be “cleaned-up” first, by passing them through my Planer (which luckily, is big enough), and that will cut away the weathered surfaces and leave a near perfect flat smooth surface. A little sanding with a power sander, and they’ll be stained, or more likely, Watco Danish Oil applied ( or something similar).
Some will become 9 foot tall vertical posts, in the hangar, to provide supports for a 2nd floor walkway that I’m planning to build along the sides of my hangar. ( I need more workspace and storage space)
Some will be passed through my bandsaw, to create smaller horizontal beams, to support the walkway workspace floor.
Some will be further re-sawn in the bandsaw to create hardwood floor material, then in the router to create the typical hardwood flooring “Grooves” that allow hardwood to fit together into a beautiful floor. So these will be further sanded and finished to flooring quality.
The longest 2 pieces are 18 feet long, and they’ll provide the horizontal support for the edges of the walkway that are not attached to the hangar wall.
Leftover pieces will become stock, for wood turning projects on my wood lathe, for bowls and vases, and so forth. Other leftover pieces will become furniture, like coffee-table tabletops, which are apparently quite beautiful when made of very old timbers.
So I’m going to move my planar and bandsaw down to the main level of my hangar, and start building all the hoists and supports to allow all this sawing to take place. And I’m hoping I can hire some local laborers to do this work. ( While I keep earning, doing radiology.)
There’ll be a LOT of sawdust, so creating some partitions to control it, and dust-collection vacumming it, might mean I need to buy another dust-collection system for this main level.
Sept 18 update: There are some wonderful colors, just below the surface.
