Ocean Wood?

[greatdane2]

Does anyone have any thoughts about beach wood. There is a ton of (thousands of) logs on the beach around here. The question is will the salt on the wood create problems with finishing the end result?
I am not worried about salt on my tools. I am thinking that as long as I stay away from the outer few inches I should be ok, and the wood should be ok.

[JohnB]

G'day Alan,
I've never used dift wood, but I bet you could cut some nice pieces

Time = 11.27am

[greatdane2]

Morning John.
It just seems a waste, all that wood just laying there.

[Rev. Redmond Farrier]

I have seen some beautiful stuff made from driftwood, though I have never done anything with it myself. I have just picked some up and whittled on it with my pocket knife before. The outer surface was very soft, but the heart of the wood was incredably hard and had a beautiful colour to it. I am sure that different types of wood react differently to becoming driftwood. It would probably be difficult to identify what kind of tree it was before you actually start cutting it up.

[greatdane2]

Do not really care what the species is, just colour.

[Rolf]

I used a piece of driftwood for the base of my Heron. I picked it up last year with the intent of turning it on my lathe. It ends up the salt and sun made it rather pulpy. So I sliced it and the innards were quite nice.

I guess it depends on how long it has been on the beach. I certainly used my find for something other than what I picked it up for.

[Ramjet]

Part of the problem I've been told is the cutting . Sand dulls blades pretty quick. Sounds interestig all the same .
Roger

[Neal Moore]

Don't really know what long term effect salt water has on wood. I have a custom billiard cue with the upper shaft made from virgin Maple recovered from the floor of Lake Superior. The wood is said to have been there for 100 years before it was recovered. The man who made the cue told me that a 2" x 2" x 30" long piece of the Maple cost $150.00. He cuts it into thin strips and makes 12 laminations to be turned on the lathe for the shaft. The lower part of the shaft is made from exotic hardwood laminations. Based on that, I would think that a good sized driftwood log would prove worthwhile to dry and resaw into project lumber.

[Jediscroller]

There's an entire industry built around reclaimed lumber. I know there's at least one company who specializes in lumber brought up from the Mississippi river though there's no salt it's some gorgeous wood.

[greatdane2]

Back when I was younger,stronger and dumb I spent a couple of years cutting shake blocks that went to a mill to make roof shakes. A lot of the trees we went after were old growth cedar that were blown down 600 years ago. There was a huge storm that hit the top end of Vancouver Island 600 years ago.
Anyway a lot of these trees would be mostly buried. we would have to take the outer few inches off and the rest was pure gold. I found a tunnel up near Cape Scott Park. It was at the bottom of a slope, and went back about 50', it was an old cedar that was hollow. the butt end was 6' across the inside and the other end was still around 4' across.
It was burried too deep to get at much of it but we sure tried.
Alan.

.