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Been on a mission this week when I was given a garden shed full of old (mostly) rimu boards. One of the loads  All sorts of stuff.  Maybe a bit of hardware included.  So I've set up a nice work spot in the shade with a variety of weapons of destruction in easy reach...  Got quite a nail collection now.   And a stack of boards.   This is a close up of what finished Rimu looks like one of the pieces. It's really nice wood, even though it's a softwood it's very hard, and a slow growing tree with interesting grain.  The tree is very slow growing, so although it was harvested heavily up until the 70s, the supply has pretty much dried up now with only a very small sustainable harvest of a few of the remaining trees happening. Maybe $8 a bd/ft to buy? So yeah, I'll pull nails for that price 
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One mans junk pile....
Another mans gold mine.
That's some pretty stuff.
My similar haul was 1200 bft of 25 yr old pallet wood.
Mahogany
Woodwork... It's what I do for a living.
(well, such as it may be, It's my job)
((cept my boss is a @#!*&))
I think I'm gonna fire myself for that
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25+ years ago, a dear family friend bought an old farmhouse. The upstairs had a closet that was lined with red cedar and southern yellow pine. I made a cedar chest for my ex-mother in law and she has since given it to my daughter . The SYP has made a few great projects over the years. So, I admire the fact that you can see beyond the paint and hardware and see the potential. That is some beautiful wood when it's got a finish on it.
I no longer build museums but don't want to change my name. My new job is a lot less stressful. Life is much better.
Garry
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Nice haul, Ian. Be sure to inspect it again before running it through your machines. It's amazing how many times I've found nails, etc. in lumber from which I thought I had pulled them all. And once I failed to see a nail - until it came out of the planer. Ouch.
John
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jteneyck said:
Nice haul, Ian. Be sure to inspect it again before running it through your machines. It's amazing how many times I've found nails, etc. in lumber from which I thought I had pulled them all. And once I failed to see a nail - until it came out of the planer. Ouch.
John
For sure. I've been using a big rare earth magnet to double check. It's pretty sensitive and will pick up even small bits of steel, like broken off gun staples, or "drag" on larger pieces under the surface. Time consuming, but those are the breaks.
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Very nice haul. Glad you were able to salvage it. 
Steve S.
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Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot
Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
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I love making projects out of salvaged wood! Nice haul!!! Congrats!
Formerly known as John's Woodshop
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I have visited NZ twice and enjoyed myself immensely. I was curious about the native woods, rimu, kauri, etc., and bought a few small bits made from salvaged woods. I don't recall seeing any rimu growing, but did visit Tane Mahuta in the Waipoua Forest. Hard to imagine what those native forests must have once looked like. I don't recall where I saw the display, somewhere in the North I suppose, but it showed people actually digging tree trunks out of the ground to salvage the wood. Certainly better than Radiata pine. Savor you new found treasure - I'm jealous.
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Kauri is only endemic to the warmer Northern parts of the Nth Island. Rimu is one of the dominant trees on the cooler and wetter West coasts of both Islands. It was felled extensively up until the 1970s, and most of the land cleared for farming. Then they realised there wasn't much left, and most of the remaining trees are locked up in National parks and reserves. The rimu isn't endangered or anything, just that there is only maybe 10% of them left. Same goes for the Kauri. Both are relatively slow growing, ~400+ years to mature, so a sustainable harvest is pretty small. Local guy has 1,000 acres, and harvests about 4 trees a year. And yes, it's a big step up from Radiata pine. which is 90% of the NZ forestry industry 
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Had a friend who lived in Wellington. He had a deck made of Radiata and the huhus got into it shortly after it was built - lasted only a couple of years. I looked at some Radiata lumber and it was only 3-4 rings to the inch - not much better than balsa. He said the native woods are about like concrete when they are seasoned and little troubled by wood borers. I camped a bit on the South Island around the Haast, Wilkin and Jackson Rivers in the beech forests. Is beech used for lumber at all? The sticks I picked up in the woods made a great campfire.
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