# Reclaiming Clear V.G. Redwood



## Sprung (Apr 29, 2019)

We're doing another big remodeling project at the church I'm pastor of. They've done a lot of work on the church in the past 10 years, we've been here for 5 of those years. The original structure dates back to 1885 (congregation was officially founded in 1870 - we'll be celebrating our 150th anniversary next year), but the entryway was an addition in the 1960's. The east wall of the entryway was filled with windows - plexiglass windows, which later had storm windows added over them. It leaked. Badly. We're doing one of those projects that should have been done 15 or 20 years ago. There was a lot of rot at the bottom of the wall.

But on the outside, to the sides of the windows, redwood was used. Almost all of it still in great shape, so while I was helping them tear stuff out and load it into the dumpster, I managed to save a good number of boards. Ooh, these will be nice! I hope to run them through the planer and get them cleaned up tonight.



 



 

Check out them nice tight growth rings!



 

And this was real neat to find on one of the boards. At first I was thinking the VG stood for virgin growth, but I'm thinking it's instead vertical grain - which would make sense, because all these boards appear to be quartersawn.

Reactions: Like 4 | Way Cool 5


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## Gdurfey (Apr 29, 2019)

what a blessing!!!!

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Nature Man (Apr 29, 2019)

Interesting! Redwood lumber in Minnesota? The reclaimed wood will make amazing projects! Congrats! Chuck

Reactions: Like 1


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## Sprung (Apr 29, 2019)

Nature Man said:


> Redwood lumber in Minnesota?



Well, it was obviously brought in - certainly doesn't grow here!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Nature Man (Apr 29, 2019)

Sprung said:


> Well, it was obviously brought in - certainly doesn't grow here!


Long trip 150 years ago, especially what with really good other lumber species close by. Chuck


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## Eric Rorabaugh (Apr 29, 2019)

Very nice score!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Apr 29, 2019)

Nature Man said:


> Long trip 150 years ago, especially what with really good other lumber species close by. Chuck



Well, not quite that long ago - these boards are from the 1960's entryway addition.


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## Arn213 (Apr 29, 2019)

That is a great score Matt! I love redwood for it’s earthy aroma. The first generation redwood has gained popularity for acoustic sound boards and solid body guitars. Wonder what the ring count is per inch? The 1st generation redwood tend to be denser and about 3 pounds per board foot and the 2nd gen. is one pound less which is about 2 pounds per board foot. Night and day difference with stiffness and rigidness. Tap one of the boards with your knuckle and you will hear why these are used for guitar building- has strong “overtones”.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## Sprung (Apr 29, 2019)

I'll see if I can get a clean cut on a couple ends tonight after I run them through the planer and check ring count. Am still hoping to run them through the planer - but I might just crash too. I don't normally do construction work and have been helping all day thus far, and am getting pretty beat!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Arn213 (Apr 29, 2019)

Sprung said:


> I'll see if I can get a clean cut on a couple ends tonight after I run them through the planer and check ring count. Am still hoping to run them through the planer - but I might just crash too. I don't normally do construction work and have been helping all day thus far, and am getting pretty beat!



Hey Matt, if you ever have the urge to try building some guitars, save a couple of boards for yourself (or for family) and book-match them. Just make sure that they have no “grain run out”, perfectly quarter sawn at 90 degrees, has consistent growth ring spacing about 1/16” minimum. You want each panel (22” long, 9” wide minimum for a dried; you can go smaller for a smaller guitar size/style about 21” x 8” for an orchestra model or you can go smaller if you want a parlour like an 00) to be about 3/16” thick each to start and whenever you build depending on the voicing you want, it will be in the neighborhood of 1/8” -.

*Typically soundboards are not sawn out from slabs or planks and preferably hand split by logs in quarter sections for tops to avoid splits and run outs.

The really cool part is that you can “date” the boards, how old they are and you know where they came out of.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Sprung (Apr 29, 2019)

And here's where we're headed on this wall project. A 10' wide, 12' tall window will fill in that opening.



 

And here's how it looked a few years ago, before new siding and a new steel shingle roof went on.

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Way Cool 3


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## Sprung (Apr 29, 2019)

Ran the boards I grabbed through the planer tonight. After planing down to good, clean wood I ended up with 9/16" thick boards - 13 of them, ranging from about 5' to about 10' in length, probably about an average of 7.5'.



 



 

Here's some end grain shots - cut off the end of a piece and gave it a quick sand with 120grit on the disc sander. @Arn213

Reactions: Like 4 | Way Cool 2


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## Nature Man (Apr 29, 2019)

Sprung said:


> Well, not quite that long ago - these boards are from the 1960's entryway addition.


Makes a little more sense. Still a HUGE snag for you! Chuck

Reactions: Agree 2


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## CWS (Apr 30, 2019)

Beautiful wood!

Reactions: Agree 1


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