93 Year Old Seasoned Oak Beams

[kendalphil]

Hi All,

Working on a construction site in the Lake District have required 3 number 8" x 8" x 48" Oak beams.
I would like some ideas as to what these could be used for i.e knife handles, bushcraft chairs, stools etc.
Your ideas please.
Kendalphil

 

[lannyman8]

use it for knife handles and if you want it to look realy aged (black) put it in a bag with some amonia for a while...

jobs a fish...

you can use it on the blade you make at brockers.....

 

[Paul_B]

All I know about truly aged oak from buildings is it's bloody hard. Parents have an exposed oak beam in their house. It is something like 400 year old house and I'm guessing this beam is original as it is all twisted and has hand tooling marks on it. Basically it's got the natural twist of the wood as it grew with the beam shaped in line with the growth of the wood hence the bend. It also has a great big crack up the middle running a good chunk of its length. Yet it is all structural still and you can't hammer a nail in or anything. It is harder than the stone of the building. Even a power drill used to get a screw into it barely scratches the surface.

If this oak is aged like that one then I'd expect it to be fairly dark in colour even black like my parent's beam. Also it is likely to be hard too. If it is then perhaps something to take advantage of the hardness. Personally a good, aged oak beam cries out to be re-used in another building. That's just my opinion. There are many people doing re-furbs of old buildings or listed old buildings who are crying out for replacement beams. If those oak beams are good then putting them back into another suitable house is kind of putting it where it should be. Other than that I guess knife handles and the like is good. Make it a good knife, heirloom knife. The oak is certainly tough enough to last a long time.

 

[WoodMan]

I used some oak from the middle of a very old deer fence post from the park to make a handle for a knife for my girlfriend. I also used a piece of the same post, with some barasigha antler, to make a stand for it. I darkened the handle pieces with potassium permangenate and sealed it with linseed oil but then decided to rub it down a little more, this gave it a mottled finish; I tried to stain it again but the linseed oil prevented the stain from taking, it still looks ok. Glyn.