Anyone ever use submerged wood?

[Jacob Reverb]

Just saw this story about a lumber mill selling wood from the reclaimed pilings from the old Tappan-Zee Bridge.

https://www.timesunion.com/business/...s-14887932.php

Has anyone used wood that was submerged for years? I guess you just dry it like normal wood? I've always used air-dried wood but never messed with anything like this. Any special considerations for drying such material? I wonder whether being submerged for so long might have released any stresses in it over the years. (Or maybe the stress from the load put stress/strain into it?)

TIA,

J

[Jim Colombo]

I was given some redwood that was submerged for a long time. Most of it ended up being useless.

Jim

[Richard Coers]

I build a conference table from sinker birch taken from the bottom of Lake Superior. Probably did that 25 years ago now. It had been on the bottom for 100 years, they could still read the lumberjacks stamp and verify through the Wisconsin State archive when he worked. It was figured birch and worked about like mellow walnut. No chipping at all. Since it had not seen the air for 100 years, it takes an extremely slow kiln schedule. That's what they told me, I did not dry it myself. Since nothing ever dies on the internet, a story about the company I bought the lumber from. https://www.motherearthnews.com/natu...g-zmaz98onzraw

[Larry Edgerton]

I have used some from the Great Lakes as well. But submerged wood in the Great Lakes is usually in better shape than most because it is in such cold water at great depths. Have tried stuff drug out of lesser waters and was not impressed. Other than the cool factor I don't see it worth the extra expense unless it is something rare.

[Greg Parrish]

Built our farmhouse table top with pecky cypress that was reclaimed from a river bottom. Bought from local person with a mill. It was stickered and air dried. I let it dry for almost another year before use. Worked out great.

[Bradley Gray]

A local gravel pit brought up some oak that was 10's of thousands of years old. I saw a knife handle made from it. The maker said it was like working stone, but it polished up nicely.

[Rod Sheridan]

I purchased some pine that had been submerged in the Ottawa river from the time J.R. Booth logged Algonquin park.

The wood was beautiful (and I detest pine).

It had very tight growth rings and was much harder than modern pine and didn't have any pitch in it...........Rod.

[Michael A. Tyree]

Here's ya story: Short answer is Yes, I've used it...
In 1976, I traveled with my wife and one year old baby son (he's an ex-Marine now test pilot today ) in our 1962 Apache10 Chevrolet PU truck from KY to Hickory, NC to Limbos Hardwoods, a large lumber concentration yard there fed via many sawmills. They had ~ 10,000 BF of wormy chestnut lumber on stacks, much of it was dredged from the Tennessee River system using hooks such as a to search for a drowned person. I bought as much as I could get in the truck and still carry our Baby highchair home.
I have a serious satsh of reclaimed wormy chestnut(some pre-blight, no worms too) and can still run onto a piece of the submerged chestnut now and then. It's easy to tell as the end grain has mica sparkling in that grain, otherwise it's same to work as reclaimed or sawed from old logs.
There are actually two types of "submerged" logs, the other type being those logs that have been dug out of the soil deep in appalachian hollers, now forbidden by the guvmnt! Once upon a time places like Smith Lumber Co, Spruce Pine, NC had some dandy wood from those spots deep in the forest and dug out with backhoes. Effect is the same if little oxygen reaches the log.

[Jacob Reverb]

Thank you for the replies, fellas. I appreciate your insights. After reading the article again, I see it's all just hemlock, spruce and larch. Never messed with any of them much (except hemlock as construction grade lumber back in the '70s)...

[John K Jordan]

Just saw this story about a lumber mill selling wood from the reclaimed pilings from the old Tappan-Zee Bridge.

https://www.timesunion.com/business/...s-14887932.php

Has anyone used wood that was submerged for years? I guess you just dry it like normal wood? I've always used air-dried wood but never messed with anything like this. Any special considerations for drying such material? I wonder whether being submerged for so long might have released any stresses in it over the years. (Or maybe the stress from the load put stress/strain into it?)

TIA,

J

A good friend used large timbers dredged up from the bottom of one of the great lakes. He used them for major structural members to buile a fantastic timber frame house. Seems like the large posts are 10x10 or 12x12. I see no sign of any warping.

I believe they were dried like any wet wood but I don't remember. If you want I can ask him for the details, just send me a PM or email since my time to read the forums is limited right now.

JKJ

[Pete Staehling]

Salvaging old growth bald cypress logs that sunk on the way to the mill 100+ years ago is a business for some small to medium mill operators here in the Florida panhandle. They tend to seek out the pecky cypress which is in high demand. The trees were reportedly already ancient when they were logged, perhaps thousands of years old. It is a limited resource and when it is gone it is gone.

I have worked with the clear portion rather then the pecky stuff. It is a joy to work with and tends to have varying color depending on the water/mud that it sat in, but otherwise seems to be surprisingly unchanged by it's long rest under the water. As old growth lumber it does have incredibly tight growth rings.

[Stan Calow]

I have bought and used a lot of river salvaged Honduran mahogany from a dealer that specializes in it. They kiln dry the wood. It is as stable as any other wood I've used. I understand tropical sinker woods are prized for musical instrument material (guitars primarily) so it must be pretty stable. Maybe saltwater would have a different impact.

[Jacob Reverb]

A good friend used large timbers dredged up from the bottom of one of the great lakes. He used them for major structural members to buile a fantastic timber frame house. Seems like the large posts are 10x10 or 12x12. I see no sign of any warping.

I believe they were dried like any wet wood but I don't remember. If you want I can ask him for the details, just send me a PM or email since my time to read the forums is limited right now.

Thank you for the offer, John, but no need to contact him. I guess I really just wanted to know more about people's experiences with submerged wood.

Pete, that old growth bald cypress sounds really nice, and Stan – I'm green with envy on that Honduran mahogany. It's one of my favorite woods to work. Have you found that being submerged affects its chatoyance? Michael's comment about the mica intrigues me, particularly with respect to the mahogany. Sparkles!

[Bill Jobe]

I once came across an article about specific woods brought up from the bottom of the Great Lakes. It was kiln dried in a locked building. It is highly prized for making violins and it said the sound was comparable to violins made hundreds of years ago. Newer stands of the same wood have been greatly affected by air and soil pollution from the past couple of hundred years.

[Stan Calow]

@jacob Greener Lumber (greenerlumber.com) in Macon, Missouri sells the river salvaged mahogany and other tropical hardwoods. Check them out. They often have long and wide pieces. I have found the old stuff to smell a bit musty, but it comes with some interesting colors and figure - not as plain as most of the mahogany available. Haven't found significant chatoyance, but I don't normally finish it to emphasize that.