Beach wood

[sapwood]

Ran across some nice "driftwood" on the Outbanks last week. Appears to be maple, 2 inches thick and up to 20 inches wide. All the pieces were same thickness and clearly were cut by bandsaw mill. Curiously I found one piece on beach near Corolla and next two pieces 60 miles south below Rodanthe. Upon returning to Corolla area a few days later I found more. It's drying now, but as it was covered with sand, I have trepidation about cutting and planing (lots of sand!). :-( Suggestions on "de-sanding" appreciated. Other than hosing off, I intend to use air compressor

Sapwood

 

[chris99z71]

Great find.

I'm thinking maybe a pressure washer?

 

[Big Mike]

Roger, after it dries I would suggest running it through a drum sander with coarse grits to do the initial thicknessing and surfacing. Far better than ruining planer knives and saw blades. The first rips I made I would do on the band saw if possible to preclude the possibility of scratching the tablesaw surface. I have had similar wood and it can be destructive if not handled carefully...

 

[sapwood]

Thanks folks,

Excellent idea about pressure washing. Ditto for sander, but I don't have a big one :-(. Also like the idea about ripping with BS since I might be able to use sled or something to protect table and the BS blades are cheaper 8-O

Sapwood

 

[chris99z71]

Obviously, pressure washing means that you're going to have to let it dry again, but I'd imagine that it would get a great deal of the sand off if it's not ground in too deeply.

 

[Big Mike]

Thanks folks,

Ditto for sander, but I don't have a big one :-(. Also like the idea about ripping with BS since I might be able to use sled or something to protect table and the BS blades are cheaper 8-O

Sapwood

Hey, Roger, you don't have a drum sander but I think Steve just got a new 16-32.8-O :lol: You could christen it for him and save the extra drying time. I do not have a drum sander either but I do have access to one at a price. It saves lots of time and damage to tools.

 

[sapwood]

Big Mike,

Why didn't I think of that? And he's gonna be outta town anyway

Oh well, I just power washed the boards and the drying process has begun again.

Addendum
If you need wood for a deck, just cruise the shoreline with a truck and trailer. There's tons of treated wood on the beach, much of it pretty new. I saw some 6x6 that had never been used. :eusa_shhh Regretfully, my truck was already full! And no! it ain't stealing, folks are glad to have beach cleaned up.

Sapwood

 

[DaveO]

I betcha that a lot of that drift wood is from the recent rounds of huricanes, it was somebody's deck. I 'm sure that there will be quite a bit to find for several more months. I look forward to seeing what you make out of that Maple. Dave8-O

 

[SteveColes]

Take a look at Erin's album. There is 16/32 perfromax there

 

[sapwood]

Take a look at Erin's album. There is 16/32 perfromax there

Thanks Steve :eusa_naug

Does it include a building to house it? Currently my tool purchases are constricted by shop size :BangHead:

I'm still pouting about the 6" Sunhill jointer I passed along to a friend because I had no room for it :roll:

Sapwood