10-18-2016, 02:28 PM (This post was last modified: 10-18-2016, 02:34 PM by Adnick.)
My recycling project is from our late 19th century stone house. We took out several walls and removed sold old additions, which rendered a huge amount of old growth longleaf pine, some of the old timers call it "pumpkin pine" because of it's color...
Used it to build my current work bench, split top Roubo style, and also to build the Moxon vise. There are some newer cuts of lumber but it's more than 80% recycled from the homestead. Just shy of 10' long, 31" wide and 5" thick....
Thanks much, almost did not build it...was wounded in Iraq and my last workbench disappeared during a few years of recovery. Was not sure I could accomplish the tasks with my disabilities, but it only took me about 6 months to build:-).
In reality the 6 months did not include reclaiming the wood, however I'm retired so it's more time than most would have put into it.....
Very glad I did not listen to suggestions from the guys at FWW, they advised leaving off the tail vise, only using a twin screw (no leg vise) and foregoing bench dogs....Would have been a much simpler build, but I really love the Lie-Nielsen tail vise, rectangle bench dogs are great and the leg vise is wonderful. Also built it higher and wider than C.S. says to in his famous workbench books and he's against spit top designs, which I also like a lot.
Did not mean to high jack the discussion, the bench is recycled material.....
If your the one reclaiming, make sure you think about how your cutting the nails that can't be pulled, it will save time when trying to remove them later if they are not cut flush.....old nails can be as brittle as old wood.
Old growth long leaf pine is not at all like any of the various woods we call long leaf pine available these days.
All of the wood I reclaimed was at a minimum 125 years old, milled to old standards, a 6x6 is really a 6x6 or even a little more.
It can be as hard as a rock, dulling planes and chisels almost instantly and the resins will build up to such a degree that it will stop a hand plane from functioning.
Can also be very brittle, not easy to use a chisel on and spelch is always an issue. Not an easy wood to cut dovetails into.
It can weigh a "ton" assuming it has something to do with the % of resin content.
Make sure there is enough of the type/color required for the project. What others call old growth long leaf pine, may not look or feel anything like the wood you have....
Sometimes there is no grain direction that can be detected when using a hand plane, it's just as hard in one direction as the other ;-)
I weighed each section during the build and withe the vise hardware my bench is a little under 700 lbs...
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