Klaas Armster - Reclaimed Wood

Old-growth timber has tight growth rings. Longleaf pine sourced at 104 South Street, New York City (built c. 1823). The tree may live to five hundred years.

For the purposes of this book, reclaimed wood refers to timber predominantly cut from old-growth forests, originally used to build structures in the nineteenth and the early twentieth century and subsequently recovered as lumber to be reused.

For us, the term evokes both a sense of lossthe ancient forests are now largely goneand a sense of preservation and renewal. The forests reemerge through the demolition process, bearing the marks and color of age and wear, and with a story to tell.

To help guide us, we can distinguish reclaimed wood in several ways: by the age of the wood and its sylvan origins, by the species of tree it came from, and by the type of structure the wood was originally used for. These three elements not only help account for the specific visual qualities of each woodcolor, grain, texture, and markingsthey also provide meaning in the form of history and sustainability. Together, these elements constitute the allure of reclaimed woods.

First turning our attention to age, we use these broad categories:

Old growth or virgin refers to wood that was cut from a mature, naturally established forest, seemingly untouched by human intervention. The lumber from these forests has highly valued qualitiesit can be massive, incredibly dense, richly hued, and often all heartwood, free of the lighter outer sapwood that moves water and minerals. These forests, composed of trees that were often hundreds of years old, were plundered, from the late eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, to build much of the United States. As a great deal of these old-growth forests have been cut, and nearly all are, thankfully, now off-limits to logging, reclaiming these woods from buildings is the only way not only to access the timbers unique physical characteristics, but also to preserve an essential element of the American landscape. With so many older structures having incorporated what is also now termed antique wood, old-growth timber makes up a large volume of reclaimed lumber stock.

Second growth refers to the trees that grew after the old-growth forest had been heavily cut. These trees, too, were used throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, but tended to be younger at the time of logging than old-growth trees, often fifty to more than one hundred years old. Their different growing conditions and less mature ages are inscribed in the figures and grains of the woodsgrowth rings are broader and less numerous, colors are more muted. Distinguishing old growth from second growth is not always easy, and we sometimes turn from nature to human history for the answersthe nail type, surface patina, saw mark pattern, and age of the structure can help us date the original wood. Second-growth wood, also referred to as vintage, is a valuable source of reclaimed material. It tells a story of natural renewal after the intense logging of an earlier era.

Logging eastern white pine in northern Wisconsin. Detroit Photographic Company, c. 1890s.