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opinions on beams - pics

Started by two saw, November 08, 2006, 02:49:41 PM

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two saw

I would appreciate it if some of you seasoned mill vets would look at these pics and tell me weather or not these old barn beams are worth anything. Fellow wants me to saw them up for him and he is only paying $3.00 apiece for them. Most are 10" X 10" and either pine or hemlock. Some look to have been broken in half. I would think if a 10" X 10" beam breaks it would be worthless. Do you all agree. Beams are 4hrs. away and we would have to go get them. I know the pics are not  great but it was all I was sent.
Thanks again,
     Dan.



D&L TS 36 DTH twin saw

logwalker

Pay the man $3 and start cutting one from both ends and see what you get. You can't expect someone to make a determination from a low res picture. LW
Let's all be careful out there tomorrow. Lt40hd, 22' Kenworth Flatbed rollback dump, MM45B Mitsubishi trackhoe, Clark5000lb Forklift, Kubota L2850 tractor

mike_van

4 hours away + possible rot + lots of nails = loosing proposition in my book -  Unless they are chestnut and guarnteed sound, i'd pass.
I was the smartest 16 year old I ever knew.

Don P

There's an outfit in Lewisburg that buys and sells antique cabins and barns. I wonder if they might be interested. Resawing old beams into boards is usually a losing proposition because of the checking. I've had some remilled into smaller beams and have used some as is. Alot of times they are used more as trim and don't need to be structural.

arj

I cut some chestnut beams that looked like that , filled with nails,
I made the guy I cut them come back after he delivered them, spend
a saturday pull nails. I went over them with the metal detector and
pulled a bunch more. Cut 15 beams and about 30 or 40 nails with
one blade,  200 year old hand made nails must be much softer than
modern nails, the blade cut just as good at the end as at the start.
The boards where beautiful no pics my camera was broken at the
time.
                            arj

Ron Wenrich

Are you sawing for him or are you buying them?  If you're buying, it would be nice to have a market.  Wide flooring is a good market.  If you're sawing for him, charge by the hour and for damages.  Get a deposit  upfront.

The broken part may come from how the barn was torn down.
Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

arj

Found lost pics, must have down loaded before the camera broke
                arj




Tom

Sawing beams like that, of SYP, is big business down here.  There is lots of money in it if  handled properly.  It takes a crew with a metal detector to clean beams and you must  make up your mind that it might get expensive in blades. 

What I cut had to have 1/8 cut from each side to get rid of the dirt or the Mill works wouldn't plane them.

If you have the right type of wood and build a "High End" market in antique flooring, etc. it might be a windfall.  It is hard work and requires a lot of marketing.

rewimmer

I cut old materials like the ones in your pic's. We use bimetal blades and they do well. We do a light cut on all four sides to see what is inside the beam. The old square nails are not much of a problem but because of the modern nails we use a very light feed rate on the first outside cuts and plenty of lub. We also charge for the resharpening and for a replacement if the blade is trashied. I would love to have these beams. $$$$$

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