"New" Wood for my eventual workbench build

[tshiker]

Saw an ad in the local Craigslist just about the end of this past winter for old beams. I spoke to a woman who informed me the the wood was still part of a building and that she would call me in a week or two when it had been removed from the building and I could then get a better look at it. Fast forward to two weeks ago when I get message on my phone reminding me of the conversation we had had way back then. The wood was finally removed and if I was still interested I could stop by and take a look at what she had left. She said her carpenter told her it's old douglas fir and that the building it was taken from was 100+ years old. I bought 2 boards, one 12/4 11" x 19', and one 10/4  9" x 15'. I cut the beams down to 8'. I want to build a 7' long workbench. It's going to take some work getting them cut and planed to the final dimensions for glue-up, besides the usual, grit, checks, and voids, they have more than their share of cut nails in them. Seeing as I still don't have full use of my left arm and another operation is imminent, this project might take awhile! 

A shot of the tight growth rings!



Some of the cut nails!



A pic of some edge grain!



The wood.



Thanks for looking!
Tom.

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Ps, I count 42 rings between the 3" and 4" mark!

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

That's gonna make a great benchtop. Good luck with the build.

[Skip J.]

Hey Tom;
Looks very much like the old 2 x 12's in Dad's garage that I used for my bench.  In 5 years there has been no movement of any kind, and it is all plain sawn.  Good score!