Table top from old pine joists, advice please

[SteveLuck]

I am in the process of a large renovation project. I've lifted lots and lots of Victorian pine floor boards and spent many many hours removing all the tiny tacks and pieces of metal in order to run the all through my planer, don't worry I've used a metal detector to ensure I don't kill my blades. Hopefully I'll get a great finish but it has been painstaking work.

In the process of this I have been a little inspired about all the joists and wondered whether I can take some up to use for a project, probably 2 or 3.

I want to create a "reclaimed" type look for a table top and wondered if any had experience working with reclaimed timber joists?

As they have been in the house with central heating for about 100 years I am assuming the moisture content will be very low. I think once they are cleaned up and ripped should look quite nice.

Any advice and thoughts?

Oh and I do plan on replacing them with new joists!

 

[Jacob]

Best way to deal with old floor boards is to scrub them in-situ with a proper wet floor-scrubber and sugar soap. Then oil when it's dry. Looks very nice and natural, not excessively made-over. An ordinary domestic scrubber will do or you can hire professional ones. We used a Hoover f4002 which didn't look up to the job but in fact did it really well.
Planing them is serious over-kill. Also problematic as you may find that they don't fit back so well and you have to sand the whole floor - which means you might as well have left them down and sanded in the first place.
Are you seriously going to take up joists and replace with new just to make a table top? Surely it'd make more sense to use the new stuff for the table? The old joists will be cr|ap structural timber, full of nails, various holes and very likely woodworm. If they are in good nick they will plane up to look like new, so you might as well use new to save all the bother!

 

[SteveLuck]

There seems to be a huge difference from the quality of the pine used 100 years ago than the stuff today, plus after putting a few of the floor boards through the planner they have a matured aged look that I haven't seen with new pine. I need to fit sound proofing so they had to come up either way. In terms of the matured aged look I expect this to be the same with the joists however could be very wrong?

I am not looking for the table to look like new, I want the opposite and thought this could be a way to achieve it.

I can buy reclaimed joists from a reclamation yard, but after doing some sums it works out cheaper just to steal a couple from my house.

Maybe the question to ask is has anyone denailed and planed 100 year old joists and did they look like new / were usable?

 

[Dangermouse]

Excuse me but you are mad, " stealing joists from your house" !!!! Do you want you house to fall down, thats a good way to go about it and if your going to replace the old joists with new ones, then the work will be awesome and the cost will be more than getting some wood from a yard.

 

[JakeS]

Do you actually mean the joists (as in the topic) or are you just talking about the floorboards (as in the first few lines of the post)? Pulling out the joists seems - well, stupid... but pulling up the floorboards and replacing with new isn't so nuts. The joists are the support timbers that the floorboards are fixed down to!

 

[mickthetree]

Hi Steve

I made this from reclaimed joists I got from a reclaimation yard. Worked out well. All made with hand tools as I didnt have much gear then. Waxed finish. Planed the top bu in hindsight a good belt sanding would have given the desired finish. I saw it the other day (we gave it to some friends with a bigger house) and it still looks good. Very solid. Joints were a bit rough, but pinned tenons, they will last a good while.

 

[mack9110000]

Couldn't you try a wood reclamation yard for the joists.
What you're about to take on seems like a whole lot of work.


mack

 

[Eric The Viking]

Watch out for any possibility the timber has been woodworm/rot treated in the past. That stuff is poisonous, and any table used for food preparation would have to be well sealed for safety.

I know what you mean about timber quality though. 100+ year old softwood could well be old growth here in the UK, and will usually be a relatively slower-growing species (Scots pine?). The fast-growing stuff was planted mainly from WWI onwards, as the timber use during that war was immense and many plantations were used up.

I took some 2"x4" lengths from our attic recently - really dense and with very close growth rings, compared to anything you can buy easily today. The only problem (apart from cut nail holes!) was a lot of shakes, but you might work around those with care.

E.

 

[Jake]

There seems to be a huge difference from the quality of the pine used 100 years ago than the stuff today, plus after putting a few of the floor boards through the planner they have a matured aged look that I haven't seen with new pine. I need to fit sound proofing so they had to come up either way. In terms of the matured aged look I expect this to be the same with the joists however could be very wrong?

I am not looking for the table to look like new, I want the opposite and thought this could be a way to achieve it.

I can buy reclaimed joists from a reclamation yard, but after doing some sums it works out cheaper just to steal a couple from my house.

Maybe the question to ask is has anyone denailed and planed 100 year old joists and did they look like new / were usable?

Have a look on ebay for reclaimed joists, there's a bloke just off our corner of the M25 who sells them for pence per foot. I assume he does demolition, and it is the price that the reclaim yards buy at before adding 500% or whatever. He does nice wide ones like 12 x 2 which would be better than your average joist (unless you live on Wickham maybe, but probably even then).

 

[SteveLuck]

Thanks guys, I think I might go along the route of reclamation yard, not because I am scared my house might fall down :wink: but because after finally getting all the floor boards up it turns out there isn't enough usable length, too many notches and holes have been cut for plumbing and electrics.

I emailed orrey pine who only use reclaimed pine to build their furniture; they said I shouldn't have any problem working with reclaimed joists so this looks like I'm good to go. Just need to find some joists now.

Jake thanks for the advice, do you know the name / rough address of your reclamation yard, I've had a look on ebay and most seem to be selling for crazy prices.

Or if anyone else could recommend a good reclamation yard in the London area? I know there are loads out there but often hard to find the good ones.