saw a 12x14

[Michael Press]

Thought this might interest the group...

I was at a furniture store in downtown Richmond, VA this weekend. The store was in what was originally a warehouse or factory, built at least 100 years ago I'd guess, based on the 20' ceilings built entirely from rough 2x12 joists and diagonally-laid solid-wood subfloor.

In a back room I saw a 12' high post that was the single most massive piece of wood I have ever seen, by far. I didn't have a tape measure with me, but it was at least 12x14 inches, possibly 14x16. I have no idea what species it was, it was just a weathered grey color from all those years in an unheated space.

What do you think such a piece of wood would cost nowadays, if it is available at all?

Michael

[My Old Tools]

You can get wood like that most anywhere. In the south, it's oak or SYP. In the northeast, we used white pine 10x12x30' for timber frames. Some of those timbers didn't have more than a knot or two over the whole 30'. Out west, it's douglas fir or port orford cedar.

[Wayne Brissette]

On Sun, 18 Jan 2004 20:15:54 -0600, Michael Press wrote (in message ):

I won't guess on price, but stuff like that is still available. Look at some of the church structures in your area. Chances are you'll find some nice beams like this. Recently I was reading Norm Abram's book Norm's New House. He talks about a place in VT?? that specializes in making beams and while price isn't mentioned, other than certain varieties were a lot more expensive than he was willing to pay, I would gather all are out of my price range. ;-)

Wayne

[Juergen Hannappel]

[...]

Maybe a hundred dollars or euros, provided you buy a complete tree from the forrest owner. Shaping it into the post is of cource another issue....

[j.b. miller]

gee...I've got an 8 by 12 , 32 feet long sitting here waiting for a good home. Eastern White Pine, cut last February, milled in April. open to decent offer... located near Hamilton,Ontario can help load

Jay

[Jon Endres, PE]

I'd venture to say anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred, depending on species. I have a few pine logs sitting on my property right now that are 34" dia by 22 feet long. According to my calculations, and assuming the log is straight, I can get a single boxed-heart timber 24 x 24 out of each log. I'm cutting for a timber-frame home, and most of what I'm cutting are

8x12 and 8x8, but all my logs are capable of producing a 14 x 16 beam.

Jon E

[Preston Andreas]

Many of these beams or columns are old-growth longleaf yellow pine. It is considered a prime piece of wood to resaw into flooring, wood for doors, etc. The coloration and tight grain cannot be found in newer, similar woods. In my case, I built a kitchen island with a 4' x 9' top of resawn old growth longleaf pine. My price for the unfinished top was over $3,000.

Preston

[Joe Willmann]

Michael Press wrote in news: [e-mail]:

You need to get out more. Timberline Lodge near the top of Mt Hood Oregon has some timbers that are 36"x36"x20' - clear cedar! Impressive!

[Kevin Craig]

There are some very nice apartments in Shreveport, LA, in a renovated

19th century building. Part of the lease agreement is that you will not, under penalty of having your toenails yanked out, put nails in or otherwise harm the posts. Said posts are 14x14, and support 12x14 joists. The ground floor has 12' ceilings; I'm sure upper floors have a bit less headroom, but they still have the posts.

Appropriately, it's the former Lee Hardware building. No relation to Robin, et al, I'm sure. :-)

Kevin

[Tim Carver]

You're not drinking enough beer, Michael :-) If you hang out in brew pubs in the Paciific Northwest (these are often converted warehouses, built 70-80 years or so ago), you'll see lots of wood this size. - it was in common use for all sorts of industrial buildings. As another poster mentioned, if you really want to see massive posts, check out Timberline lodge (a WPA project, I think) on Mt Hood near Portland, OR.

Tim Carver [e-mail]