Dirty boards

[Steve_M]

I have about 150ft of oak and walnut I want to run through my Woodmaster planer.  It has set in a barn for 20 years and has accumulated a lot of dirt and other stuff.  Can I wash this off with a garden hose before planning without causing moisture damage?  Any other ideas to help clean this up.  I have installed a set of old blades for the first pass.

Steve 

[beenthere]

Seems that the dust and dirt (like soil?) would only be on the top layers exposed, so blowing off with an air hose should be adequate.
Washing won't hurt the wood, but seems it would only serve to embed the resulting mud into the pores of the wood.

I'd just dust them...no water.

[Radar67]

A stiff street broom will work too.

[ARKANSAWYER]

Just wear out the plainer blades.  I have found that washing and blowing just works it deeper into any checking.  I have found that if I put the side that was up in the stack down the first pass when I plain some of it seems to shake out.

[WDH]

I use a steel brush and vigorously brush both sides of each board.   That seems to really help the planer blades.

[Handy Andy]

  Sawdust sticks to my boards when sawing, and it doesn't fall off while handling, so when they are dry, seems like they have sawdust stuck to them.  I just sweep off with a broom before running through.  Doesn't seem to hurt anything, course I have the insert head in both the jointer and planer. Have found it helps to glue the knots to the board before sending them through, usually they have cracks or gaps between the knot and board, and I like to have them in place rather than have to fill knotholes.  Besides a knot flying around in the planer is what cracks my inserts.

[WDH]

Sawdust sticks to my boards as well.  I sweep the sawdust off before stickering because that coating of sawdust slows down drying.

[barbender]

Look at jim king's post on white mold, there is a picture of the solution on there. ;)

[Steve_M]

I ended up taking a wire brush to it then ran it through the planner with a set of old blades.  Found some nice lumber under all the mess.

Steve

[dail_h]

   Steve,
   If you have the sanding head for your Woodmaster,run through with that first. I run a lot of reclaimed barn wood with mine,and the sanding head works very wellto get surface dirt off

[James P.]

Steve , I think you did the right thing. going with old blades. Always hated to see that raised line of wood from a nick coming from the outfeed side on a newly sharpened set.You can  shift the blades but thats only temporary. Glad you got some nice lumber out of it.