Never An End To Projects

Never An End To Projects.

What does a man do in his retirement? 
Well, . . . have wood, . . . will build!

I have a treasure of 100 year old wood in an old house on our place in Floyd County. Plenty of American extinct chestnut, oak, pine, walnut and other woods that no one can identify.

To the project list below, you can add two vanities, an end table, and numerous other doodads like backscratchers, napkin holders, tissue boxes, cutting boards, serving trays, condiment holders, and stuff.

We used the wood to furnish and finish the new cabin.

After months and months of tearing out the wood, we spent months of pulling out old nails, and scraping crud from the joints. 

The old house, my quarry for wood.

Heart pine in bedroom

Random width chestnut on floor. Buffet same wood

Buffet top

Dining trestle table. 42"x92". Chestnut top, oak bottom

Night stands in the making. Chestnut wood

Kitchen cabinets. Chestnut wood

Kitchen cabinet detail wood. Wormy American chestnut, now extinct.

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Making Silk Purses Out Of Sow's Ears

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By now you know I've stumbled on a quarry of old wood, salvaged from a hundred year old house.

I have used the chestnut to lay a floor, build kitchen cabinets, two nightstands, a coffee table, a 4x8 foot dining room table, a vanity, many knick-knacks and trays, and the latest project is a shaker style serving table.

First you've got to remove the nails, then one hundred years worth of crud from the grooves.

Then choose the better sections of the wood that does not show termite damage, is badly twisted or bowed.

Very little wood is this bad.

After I designed and formulated a plan of attack (mostly in my head), I start building the sections. The tapered legs came first, the front next, followed by the rest of the box, (sides and back). Then the shelf ten inches off the floor, and finally the top. All is pocket-screwed and glued together.

The table top I created out of various woods that were originally in the wainscoting (walnut and some rose colored wood that no one recognizes), and chestnut flooring. Not all the wood used is the same thickness. The old wainscoting is just a bit thicker than a half inch, while the flooring is a heavy one inch thick. I glued the thinner woods to some old larch boards to get a more substantial thickness. After that, I cut the pattern boards into two inch strips, and their various lengths.

The entire top is biscuit-glued. Squeezing in four directions was a nightmare.

Lots of gluing, sanding, staining and varnishing later, I gave birth to what some folks call furniture.

Notice the random width flooring the piece is on. Tongue and groove chestnut, honey oak stained.

The top has four coats of 'Hard Rock Table Top Finish'. Super hard and super shiny.

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Log Cabin Love

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Our joy, a home away from home.

On seventy two acres in Floyd County, Virginia.

Elevation 2800 feet above sea level.

We fell in love with the land about three years ago. It has in the middle of it a 100 years old two story house. The windows are long gone, but the thick tin roof is in fair condition. That is a good thing, because it has preserved the random width American chestnut flooring downstairs, and the wide heart pine floors in the secondary bedrooms upstairs. The wall and ceiling paneling is also chestnut, although thinner than the flooring. The fireplace mantles and stair banisters are long gone, stolen perhaps.

Check out the old house.

Wall paneling removed, the floor was next

The paneling upstairs was papered with the local newspaper.  This shows the date of March 19, 1929.

We had the new cabin built as close to the one acre pond as possible, and stocked the pond with bluegills and crappies. The deck is close enough to fish from it.

Early morning, time to pray

The chestnut wood, salvaged from the old house, was used to benefit and also save a ton of money, with the new cabin. I reused the flooring and the wall paneling to make our kitchen cabinets. I also made nightstands, end tables and a four by eight foot dining table. (now famous because of a previous post "Termites in new furniture").

The large chestnut table that harbored a few termites, now gone. To where I do not know.

The above projects are more from the quarry of chestnut. 

Chestnut kitchen cabinets, worm holes and all. Pretty? you make the call.

Sample of random width chestnut (on top), and pine floor. both from the old house.

One hundred years ago, the worm holes in the wormy chestnut was not desirable. As I found out by dismantling the chestnut paneling, the wormy boards were used on the wall upstairs; the children's rooms, I suppose. The worm free boards proudly covered the walls in the parlor, dining room and main hallway.

This was the front parlor before I removed every board of it. The vertical design is alternating chestnut and walnut.
The walnut has evolved into napkin trays and tissue boxes. Much darker wood than one sees today.

The rock chimneys were stacked with lime and clay mud. Amazing they still are in tact. A root cellar, enclosed also with mud stacked flat rocks was on the lower corner of the house. The wide board shelves are still down there. I may use the nonsupporting flat rock to build a retaining wall one day, when I have nothing else to do and the Lord keeps me going.

Looking down into the root cellar, only accessible from the outside.

Much more paneling, some fluted, could be removed. One room with wide clear chestnut walls has been covered with sheetrock. The exterior poplar clapboard siding is in fair shape.

Termites in new furniture?

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I've been designing and building furniture out of reclaimed 100 year old wormy American Chestnut. The latest item I built is an eight foot long dining room pedestal table. The top, four by eight feet, is glued together with one inch thick window trim I took out of the old house. (see old post). 

Underside of table top

Floor joists I used.


The pedestal portion I built out of floor joists, a full two by ten inch rough cut oak timber, also out of the old house. I had removed the random width chestnut flooring, and used it to cover the floor in our new cabin. I noticed when I removed the six-teen foot long timbers that it had some termite infestation, but not enough to jeopardize the strength and looks for the job at hand. When I sawed the pedestals for the table, I placed the termite holes on the bottom so as not to be seen when the table was complete. The few holes, along with the normal defects of rough wood, I puttied to get the surface smooth.  I did little to cover the holes facing the floor. 


After taking the final product to the cabin, I left it alone for a week. When we returned, several nice little piles of very fine sawdust lay on the floor. Well, what do you think?


I had the timbers at my house for over two weeks before I started the job. I did not know anything would crawl out of it; or did it? I always thought termites need moisture. Dampness deep in the ground. I know they do not like light.


My question is: do these critters croak after a period of time? Or do they waltz around the house to check out more wood to chew on? 


  

JohnnySlide

Let me tell you about an invention that is so practical, so usable, and in most homes a necessity.

It is a toilet paper holder, mounted on the side of your vanity, that slides out for easy access, and slides back out of the way when done. No more twisting your back. No more reaching across the room. No more knocking over the freestanding holder.

You think sliced bread was a good invention, you need to check this out!

Click here:    johnnyslide.fxbiii.com
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Extinct American chestnut

I'm dismantling tongue and grove panelling and floors from a 100 year old house on our property.

The obviously wormy chestnut, to my surprise, was not the choice cut in those days. It had been relegated to cover the walls on the upstairs bedrooms.

The chestnut, clear of worm holes, was proudly displayed in the front foyer as well in the sitting room.

All the windows are gone in the house and the roof leaks. Deterioration of the old structure is rapidly increasing. I will reuse the random width white oak and the wide board pine flooring on another project.

Other than building kitchen cabinets for our new venture with the chestnut, I hardly have use for the hundreds of square-feet of the rest. My dilemma is whether to spend time on removing the chestnut or let it slowly decay.