That Plank.
Most of the timber in my remodel comes from trees that fell during la grande tempête of the 26/27th of December 1999, so the timber is now well dried. They were big specimen trees in a park belonging to a friend, planted in about 1835. I got a Cedar of Lebanon, the scots pine [ american scotch pine] and a sequoia [California Redwood? ] amongst others, a total of well over 500 cubic feet of boards. By a pure fluke, the sawmill was just 200 metres up the road from the park, but the crafty old miller had already bought all the downed oak and beech trees. That scots-pine plank can actually be seen in pic 1 under a 2x6 Douglas fir board, both being used for bridging the landing during plastering and painting. It’s ‘quarter sawn’, virtually knot free and spanning 11 ft 6”. The presence of knots, particularly dead knots, can seriously weaken a beam. However, these boards have already supported both Denise and I at center-span, a combined load of some 300 pounds. BTW, the stairwell casings and the floorboards are in Cedar of Lebanon, a lovely scented wood, which can be also be seen in pic 1. Notice the oak floor-joist through-tenons piercing the casings: just because I could! I deliberately had the boards cut wide, as it gives a wonderful effect seeing wide stuff in a time when, [in France at least], anything over 10” is as rare as hens’ teeth [ or made of veneered MDF]. The finish is just beeswax and real turpentine, 20/80 cut.
Alan
Last edited by Alan Belson; 04/22/07 03:25 PM. Reason: GRAMMAR
