You may want to consider spraying all your reclaimed stock w/ boracare or a bix of boric acid and antifreeze. Alot of reclaimed material has powder post bettles, termites, and oher boring insects.
Its personal preference however depending on where/how the beams were stored would indicate if it would make sense to treat the wood for bugs. Side note - some species are more susceptible to bugs than others.
Hi! I’ve been watching your videos - thank you! I am wondering if you have ever used (1) boracare - I don’t have a dry kiln option to kill bugs and (2) wood hardner to deal with soft wood areas? If so…. How long to I need to let each product dry between use of each and how long before sealing? Thanks!
Hey! Welcome to The Den. We are not familiar with the product named Boracare but it is a good practise to go the extra mile ensuring pest free wood. The chances of the wood being infested is rare but not impossible. Soft spots in wood should either be ground down to sold wood with use of a wire wheel or cut out of the project completely. The extra cost of product such as wood hardner can be reduced greatly by careful project wood selection. If you do use a hardner then refer to the instructions as your starting point. Maybe even try a test piece for real time results.
Thanks for all the useful info! In the 80's my dad tore down a barn from the 1880's and used them in our home remodel. They were exposed in the home they lived in for 45 years and raised all 4 of us kids. Dad's gone, mom's in an old folkshome. But i just used his stihl 031av to get 6 8-10' sections out of the rubble. I'll definitely be referring back to this vid
I’m doing some of beam for my fireplace back here in the UK great video! But what tools could I use without spending too much money! Are you able to recommend anything stains etc back here in uk? Thanks so much Lisa
I own a restorer and totally agree about the finish.. I've done this several times and the results were stunning..I also tore down 4 complete barns for the wood and plan to use the beams for a cordwood home..I read about another tip using borax which I believe is a good idea.i've seen that frickin powder them bugs left behind..
I'm working with 8x8 rough cut wood, I need to square and size it. These pieces are 6 to 8 feet long. Obviously I don't have a jointer or plainer big enough. Any suggestions? Or video recommendations?
Sir we take down old barns we have like it’s an 1837 barn the roof held up so nothings route it we got beautiful hand hewn beams I was wondering if you know of anybody who would be interested in it we sell son here near the carpenters that make mantels and things like that but I’m kind of looking for a wholesale
Welcome to The Den. Great to hear from another barnboarder. We recommend starting your buyer search locally for best results and to save $$$ in shipping. Good luck on your project.
Natural colour for us is to only use clear coat such as Varathane. Depending on the wood we sometimes use Minwax Stain that is labeled Natural (colour). This will help highlight the irregularities in the barnwood beams.
Minwax- Natural The beam is White Cedar Definitely worthwhile testing a few stain colours on scrap wood (same wood as the project wood). With reclaimed wood it should be sanded before applying stain. If not then it tends to go very very dark, like near black. Good luck!
