Old growth hardwood species

I Make Wood Cubes

I Make Wood Cubes

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I am looking to add some more common hardwood species to my collection, but I would prefer if I could make samples out of old growth wood because they would look nicer. If anyone has anything that might be of interest to me, please let me know. I make samples into 1” cubes
 
You will want reclaimed to get the tightest growth rings. @Mr. Peet had some super dense american cherry if I remember correctly. @Eric Rorabaugh had a few reclaimed flavors but I am not sure how much he has cleaned out recently. @Mike Hayes tears down old barns and will have pallets of chestnut oak and possibly locust from the cleanup of his barn sites. I currently am out of anything over 3/4 inch in old growth stuff until I run my mill a bit more, but will check with a buddy who reclaims houses and barns in mostly log form. His scraps will be bigger.
 
Why do you limit yourself just to hardwoods? There are softwoods with finer and tighter growth rings.

There are a lot, I mean a lot of old growth trees in Hawaii whether it is stump, naturally fallen, from natural death, etc. that is being reclaimed and harvested. Way too long to list.

There is also a huge trend from reclaiming sinker material from South America as well as the US. Swietenia Macrophylla from Belize. Sinker Guanacaste, Santa Maria, Bullet tree, Sapodilla from Central and South America to name a few.

There are also a lot of reclaimed and salvaged woods project going on internationally and domestically- these are old growth timber’s that were once fence post, interior and exterior columns and beams. Brazil for instance has Brazilian rosewood, Pau Brazil (Pernambuco), Peroba Rosa, to name a few. Lots of US barn being reclaimed for the skeletal structure of old growth timber’s. Specifically New York- lots of reclaim projects going on from salvaging old pine from industrial lofts and factories in NYC. Not a lot of people know this but the salvaging and reclaim effort extends to public parks as well as bridges- decking, structural and support material. Lots of companies makes reclaiming & savaging a business from demolition work.

Lots of what I mentioned above are from sources coming from guitar building and architectural resources.
 
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The only thing I have right now is some hand hewn oak. I have 2 of these about 8" and one about 4' long. No idea what type of oak. Wetted to see the growth rings

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FranklinWorkshops said:
This is southern longleaf pine that came out of an old grist mill built in VA in the early 1800s. There were 400+ growth rings in the beams I bought from the mill. Want some?

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FranklinWorkshops said:
This is southern longleaf pine that came out of an old grist mill built in VA in the early 1800s. There were 400+ growth rings in the beams I bought from the mill. Want some?

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^Larry @FranklinWorkshops sold me 2 of these that was quartered- I usually will not use pine for set necks, but the stiffness, hardness and the medium density at 3 pounds per board foot for this particular pine made this a prime candidate for a guitar set neck. It is neck and neck in density with average Honduran mahogany. Pine is a soft wood and low density, that is about 2 pounds per board foot. This wood is also lively and very resonant! The only thing that close to rivals this is some reclaimed beams out of northern long leaf pine that my friend reclaimed in an industrial loft in TriBeca NYC (late 1880’s).
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^Larry @FranklinWorkshops sold me 2 of these that was quartered- I usually will not use pine for set necks, but the stiffness, hardness and the medium density at 3 pounds per board foot for this particular pine made this a prime candidate for a guitar set neck. It is neck and neck in density with average Honduran mahogany. Pine is a soft wood and low density, that is about 2 pounds per board foot. This wood is also lively and very resonant! The only thing that close to rivals this is some reclaimed beams out of the same species that my friend reclaimed in an industrial loft in TriBeca NYC (late 1880’s).
 
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2feathers Creative Making said:
You will want reclaimed to get the tightest growth rings. @Mr. Peet had some super dense american cherry if I remember correctly. @Eric Rorabaugh had a few reclaimed flavors but I am not sure how much he has cleaned out recently. @Mike Hayes tears down old barns and will have pallets of chestnut oak and possibly locust from the cleanup of his barn sites. I currently am out of anything over 3/4 inch in old growth stuff until I run my mill a bit more, but will check with a buddy who reclaims houses and barns in mostly log form. His scraps will be bigger.
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I meant to say american chestnut for mr peet. It was a piano frame as I recall
 
Why does it have to be old growth? In some tropical species the growth rings are indistinct so the only difference would be the density and in some particular cases the color
 
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Gonzalodqa said:
Why does it have to be old growth? In some tropical species the growth rings are indistinct so the only difference would be the density and in some particular cases the color
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I am mainly interested in hardwood species from to the northeastern United States, as I want to try to get all of the woods native to my area.
 
If Eric's Red Oak doesn't work for you I have a piece also. It's 1 1/2 x 5. I do not remember the exact details but went something like reclaimed from a tavern built in mid to late 1800"s.

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You could check w/ @Mr. Peet and see if he has any of this left: (from my web site)

both sides of a sample plank of old growth white oak / Quercus spp. --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. This piece has the highest ring count that I've ever seen in oak; something just over 40 rings/inch, and as you can see in the end grain update below, the entire growth consists almost entirely of just the rays and row after row of large earlywood pores, 1 row per year. Because of this somewhat hollow structure, the piece is also one of the lightest I've ever encountered for oak.

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I know I am late to the party here but I have a piece of old growth Redwood with super tight grain. I started to turn it and got it round but then couldn't figure out what I wanted to make with it. If you are interested let me know and I will get pictures tomorrow.
 
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