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We have a barn at our farm that is in the neighborhood of 105-110 years old, it's come time that it has gotten dangerous and is about to fall down. We're are now in the process of taking it down before any of us or our animals get hurt.
My question to all the call guys here is, what are your thoughts on calls made from this 100 yr old heart pine? There's a lot of big solid beams in this barn, I know I'm gona save a few peices of it for mounts, but I was thinking duck calls too bc I have a buddy with a lathe that has turned out a few calls already.
What say you?

Duck calls get wet. Pine does not handle moisture well. Yellow pine will rot super quickly. Not sure pine calls are a good idea.
Cedar is the only wood like pine I've ever seen calls made from. Soft woods...not so good. Hard wood is great!
Look for hedge in that barn.

If it's a sentimental thing, you might want to look into getting some stabilized...

Rick wrote:If it's a sentimental thing, you might want to look into getting some stabilized...

What is stabilizing?

FlintRiverFowler wrote:

Rick wrote:If it's a sentimental thing, you might want to look into getting some stabilized...

What is stabilizing?

I think that they inject something into the wood (epoxy or acrylic) to full any voids. It will maker the wood harder, and stand up to the elements.

If it's sentimental, you can have someone stabilize it, turn a call then give it a CA finish to protect the wood.

The best stabilizers place woods into a tank of resin and then its placed under vaccuum pressure for a set time. The resin is forced into voids. Wood Dynamics and one other that I dont have the name handy right now are used by a lot of call makers.

FlintRiverFowler wrote:We have a barn at our farm that is in the neighborhood of 105-110 years old, it's come time that it has gotten dangerous and is about to fall down. We're are now in the process of taking it down before any of us or our animals get hurt.
My question to all the call guys here is, what are your thoughts on calls made from this 100 yr old heart pine? There's a lot of big solid beams in this barn, I know I'm gona save a few peices of it for mounts, but I was thinking duck calls too bc I have a buddy with a lathe that has turned out a few calls already.
What say you?

If it is not cracked or rotten, I don't see any reason why you couldn't have a call made.
I don't know what cadence you will get out of pine, though.

I may pursue this. I've got a lot of the wood, and a friend with a lathe who's trying to starting to build calls.
Also probably gona make some adirondack chairs or something like that with some of the wood for sentimental value.

Don't know what "Heart" pine is but I do know that clear Sugar Pine was used to make drain boards (kitchen counters) and also used to make patterns for sand molds for foundry's (still used today). Clear Sugar Pine was used because it didn't warp or grow or shrink when exposed to wet or dry conditions. It is however a soft wood, easily carved or machined.

Your idea of making bases for mounts seems a lot more sound than using the wood for calls.

Dude, that shit could be worth big bucks, if it's as old as you say it is most likely old growth wood, could be long leaf pine or eastern white pine, both very desirable. Do some googling, you may get paid to have someone come de-construct your barn

It'll have to be stabilized if you want to hunt with it. Aaron made a whistle out of some 100+ year old fir beams he had stabilized a while back. Don't know how comparable those two are but stabilization is probably the best bet.

What everyone said, stabilize it. Contact Mel Dunlap with wood dynamics. He is one of the best in the business.

Also even if stabilized, you'll want the toneboard of the call made from a different wood or material than the pine if you want to hunt it.

If it's as old as he says it's going to be a much denser wood than y'all are thinking

jehler wrote:If it's as old as he says it's going to be a much denser wood than y'all are thinking

Maybe but the grain and lack if oil content in the wood, would make it undesirable for a toneboard. Stabilizing the wood is strictly to help it last over time when introduced to moisture from calling.

Nope

Ok

jehler wrote:Nope

What do you know about wood?































Jk

He knows a ton about how waterproof pine is, just look at the roof repair

It's a really neat barn, I hate that it's having to come down.

Stabilize it, for a call you'll need a piece roughly 1.5"x1.5"x7-10".

Now that's old right there.

This is the old farm house that went with the place, built in 1903.

jehler wrote:Dude, that shit could be worth big bucks, if it's as old as you say it is most likely old growth wood, could be long leaf pine or eastern white pine, both very desirable. Do some googling, you may get paid to have someone come de-construct your barn

There's a dick head right down the street that does reclaimed wood and wants the barn... Free deconstruction if you let him keep the wood. Been after us for years about that barn.
I think we can handle it ourselves, prices per foot of board is crazy high on heart pine.

WTF is "Heart" pine?

RonE wrote:WTF is "Heart" pine?

Here ya go stupid dick:
Heartpine is generally considered to be recycled timber from first generation trees (trees that were standing when the first settlers landed in the 1600s). I believe most of the trees were long leaf pines, many as old as 300+ years. There were probably some other pine species mixed in, but the predominate tree was the long leaf. There were approximately 80,000,000 acres of these trees and almost all were gone by 1900. This wood was the primary building material for homes and factories. It is now being recycled as heart pine. Most structures built after 1900 were from second generation trees and do not exhibit the very tight rings associated with the first generation timber. So here in North Carolina heart pine being recycled is usually first generation timber with tight growth rings (I have seen as many as 30-35 per inch) and a large heartwood (usually red to yellow to orange).

It's generally been quarter-sawn, as well, but not always.

Thanks, if it is so valuable, why give it away or make duck calls out of it? Looks like you could sell it and buy all the duck calls you could over use.....Wingsetters are only about twenty bucks.

jehler wrote:Dude, that shit could be worth big bucks, if it's as old as you say it is most likely old growth wood, could be long leaf pine or eastern white pine, both very desirable. Do some googling, you may get paid to have someone come de-construct your barn

This.
Big money in aged barn wood. Picture frames, trendy signs, country type decorations, you'll clear enough to buy any call you want and then some.

We had an old decaying mill with several large beams inside the walls and roof here in town, the owner told me that a company came in and carefully tore it down and sold the lumber for him, for a percentage. They had estimated 3.2 m in gross sales.