One Persons Trash, Is Another Persons Treasure!

Reclaiming Barn Wood

There's little I enjoy more, than being given the opportunity to salvage an old barn. With more than a century of mother nature, carving in her signature thumbprint and the wear and tear of generations of hard labour of farmers, there's nothing quite like the treasures you can find in an old barn. 

Before I start to dismantle a 100 plus year old structure, the first and most important step I take is..... Exploration! 

From navigating the dark, musty basements to climbing old ladders to the highest peaks and walking on giant hand-hewn beams. The sheer excitement always awakens my inner, adventurous child and I begin my treasure hunt!

 You never know what you will find in an old barn. Sometimes you might get lucky and find some long forgotten antique farm equipment, little antique trinkets and sometimes, you may even find old cars, tractors or other valuable gems. Typically, most barns have been long cleared out and it's what the previous owners didn't take that's the most precious.. the structure itself. 

The character of reclaimed barn wood, is a beauty that just can not be reproduced without the wear of time. The heavily grooved, weathered grey barn boards that have been protecting the inside from countless storms and winters past, the ruff cut grainary boards tied to the interior walls by rusty square nails, the thick and wide, pitted floor boards with so much wear that it has deep groves, pits and cracks and the intricate mortise and tenon beams with the trademark, hand hewn chop marks. Every piece of the barn from the foundation to the rusty aluminum roof, is salvaged and reused.

At the end of the day, you became part of the history of that old barn and what is the reward for all the back breaking labour, painful blisters and massave splinters? A HUGE supply of priceless reclaimed wood. When you have a passion for building reclaimed wood furniture, the journey and story of that lumber is just beginning. 

Keep following Grain and Burl, Urban Design to see the beautiful creations that have been waiting over a hundred years to end up a treasured piece of your family heritage.