Wood Preservation

[Valley Ranger]

Need some suggestion on how best to preserve an old piece of wood from a truss bridge here in VA. The wood dates to the early 20th century and has been in freshwater for about 20-25 years. It's roughly 4" x 6" and about 12 feet long. Beyond professional grade preservation, I've read that preserving this is iffy. One suggestion is to simply let it air dry and, if it doesn't crumble, bathe it in linseed oil.

What do y'all think?

 

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[hvacker]

Most of the old ways of preservation chemicals are no longer available. Creosote oil, penta preservative to name a couple. For linseed oil there are two types, raw and boiled. Raw takes a coons age to dry but boiled drys fairly fast. I use the boiled on my wooden garden tool handles and it lasts until the next year. I have known of using linseed on gun stocks for the way it feels. After 20 year bath it might be water logged and need to dry some. If you have access to a moisture meter used for wood it might be helpful.

Do you know what type wood it might be? A lot of woods survive water submersion. My family once had a long oak table made from the bottom of a ship. Cypress trees that were harvested early in the 1800's and shipped by barges North sometimes would loose their load and sink. Those sunken trees are being found today and are very valuable.

 

[Valley Ranger]

Most of the old ways of preservation chemicals are no longer available. Creosote oil, penta preservative to name a couple. For linseed oil there are two types, raw and boiled. Raw takes a coons age to dry but boiled drys fairly fast. I use the boiled on my wooden garden tool handles and it lasts until the next year. I have known of using linseed on gun stocks for the way it feels. After 20 year bath it might be water logged and need to dry some. If you have access to a moisture meter used for wood it might be helpful.

Do you know what type wood it might be? A lot of woods survive water submersion. My family once had a long oak table made from the bottom of a ship. Cypress trees that were harvested early in the 1800's and shipped by barges North sometimes would loose their load and sink. Those sunken trees are being found today and are very valuable.

Thanks! "A lot of woods survive water submersion." True. If it were smaller, I'd have more options. My guess is that it's either yellow pine or oak, most likely oak. Its still in the river. I hope to get it out this weekend. I think I'm just going to take my chances, let it air dry and use the linseed oil on it.

 

[hvacker]

I knew a Montana logger that was visiting a friend in Illinois. He spied a large oak log of a 3 1/2 foot diameter and about 8 feet long. He was so impressed he rented a trailer and took it home. Said oak was rare where he lived. Not sure what he did with it.