Barn About To Be Dismantled
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This barn is very typical of the type of structure that was built in Mid-Western Ontario, Canada. It is approximately 40 X 60 feet and was built in the mid to late 1800's. Every barn was built using materials found locally, usually on the very farm where the barn was situated.
This stone foundation has been repaired on the barn hill side, but the south side shows the split granite. It was very labour intensive to split the stone and we salvage the exceptional pieces.
The weather board is either Hemlock or Pine. The many years exposed to the weather has given the barn board a silver-grey colour. The grey board on the south gable of this barn has been replaced with Pine. The grey board on the side wall is the original Hemlock board fastened on with square nails.
The upper structure is hand-hewn timber. It can be either hardwood or softwood and often times a combination of the two. The hand-hewn timbers range in size from 6 X 6 inch to 12 X 12 inch and sometimes larger. The hand-hewn timber length ranges from 8 to 40 feet and occasionally a timber will measure 50' or more.
The timber in the floor system is either hand-hewn on one side or on two sides but not all four. We saw these timbers into 1 inch blanks and ship the blanks to various flooring mills to be made into antique wide plank flooring.
The board in the floor system and the granary walls and ceiling are salvaged as well. This board is generally Hemlock or Pine. This board is also destined to make antique wide plank flooring. |
Crane Lowering Bents
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This crane is lowering the bents of this hand-hewn timber frame barn. The barns that are exceptionally well preserved are tagged and blue printed. These hand-hewn frames can be reassembled anywhere. There are basically two styles of timber frame barns in this area. This is a high post barn with posts reaching from the floor to the purelines. |
Crain Lowering Bents
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This barn is a tie beam style of hand-hewn timber frame. The tiebeams reach from one side to the other. The Queen posts support the purelines in this style of timber frame. |
34' X 56' Timber Frame
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This 34' X 56' hand-hewn timber frame barn is tied off waiting for the crane to arrive. It is tagged and blueprinted and will be converted into a hand-hewn timber frame cottage. |
30' X 50' Timber Frame With Straw Shed
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This 30' X 50' hand-hewn timber frame was disassembled and converted into a timber frame house. The straw shed was sold separately and is now a back yard storage shed. |
Hand Hewn Swing Beam
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This 30' hand-hewn swing beam measures 20 inches high in the centre and 14 inches high at the ends. It is defiantly the centre piece of this hand-hewn timber frame. This frame was converted into a home and the swing beam now runs through the kitchen. What a conversation piece! |
Crane Lowering Bent With Swing Beam
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The crane is lowering this 30' bent with a swing beam. Only a handful of barns have a swing beam. If the barn is well preserved and has a swing beam, it is a perfect hand-hewn frame to convert into a home or cottage. |
Hand Hewn Timber Frame Structure
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The grey barn board of this hand-hewn timber frame barn has been removed. The Hemlock granary board has also been reclaimed. |
Partially Dismantled Frame
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The grey weather board has been salvaged from this barn. The granary board has been carefully removed. The 1 inch floor board has been removed as well as the 2 inch thrash floor. At this point we are ready to start salvaging the hand-hewn timber to be sold individually, not as a frame. The last step is to remove the timber from the floor system to be resawn. Much of the reclaimed wood ends up as antique wide plank flooring. |
Hand Hewn Timber Shipment
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This truck load of hand-hewn timbers is ready to ship to the United States. This reclaimed wood is a random load, but we can fill orders for specific sized timber or for specific species of timber. |
Hand Hewn Timber Shipment
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This is a complete hand-hewn timber frame ready to ship out. Each piece is tagged and blueprints are supplied. Entire barns can very easily be shipped anywhere. |
Hand Hewn Timber In Yard
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We store our reclaimed wood in a gravel pit. This is where our hand-hewn timber is graded and sorted by size. |
Hand Hewn Timber In Yard
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This is an order of specific sized hand-hewn timber that we put together. This order is ready to ship out to the United States. |
Hand Hewn Timber In Yard
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This order of specific sized hand-hewn timbers is about to be loaded on a truck for the United States. |
Hand Hewn Timber In Yard
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These hand-hewn timbers are the tie beams. They measure up to 40' long. |
3 Inch Hand Hewn Faces
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These bundles of reclaimed wood are 3 inch hand-hewn veneers. Three sides are hewn and the back side is sawn. |
Grey Barn Board
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This is some of the grey barn board off of this barn. The Pine and Hemlock will be separated at the yard. The grey barn board will also be sorted by thickness. |
Original Hemlock Floorboard
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This is one inch original hemlock floorboard. It has been removed from the barn and brought to the shop. At the shop it is denailed, metal detected, brushed and straight lined. It is shipped out to the flooring mills destined to be original hemlock wide plank flooring. |
Raw Board Which Just Arrived At The Shop
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This is the way that the board comes into the shop from the barn site. It is mixed pine and hemlock as well as some less common species. There is grey board, floor board and granary board. |
Board Sorted By Species, Length,
Width and Colour
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This is how we ship the board out. It is denailed, metal detected, brushed and straight lined. It is sorted by species, length and width as well as colour. |
Resaw Timbers Destined To Sawmill
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This load of resaw timbers is leaving the barn site. Once the timber is at the sawmill, it is sorted by species. Before it can be sawn it must be denailed. This is a very labour intensive process and takes more time than the actual sawing of the reclaimed wood. |
Sawmill
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This is a Hardwood blank at the sawmill. This piece of reclaimed lumber originated in a barn floor timber. It is destined to become part of an antique wide plank floor. |
Reclaimed Lumber Blank
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This top piece of reclaimed lumber is Cherry and the bottom is reclaimed Elm. The other species of reclaimed lumber that we have are Ash, Beech, Maple, Pine, Hemlock and Tamarack. Any of these woods make beautiful reclaimed antique wide plank flooring. |
Blanks Ready To Be Shipped For Flooring
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This is reclaimed lumber out of the Queen Ann's Warf in Toronto, Canada. In the 1850's the Warf was at the water's edge. As the city pushed into the lake the Warf became buried. Now, more than a kilometer from the water, construction projects are uncovering this preserved timber. These timbers are sawn into 1 inch blanks suitable for reclaimed antique wide plank flooring. We have also supplied reclaimed Warf material for timber frame cottages. Imagine the history in those buildings! |
Relocated Hand Hewn Timber Frame
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We moved this hand-hewn timber frame to this location from a neighbouring farm. This building combines reclaimed wood and new wood to create a very rustic, country building. It fits this property perfectly. |
