MRc3.x (& MRc5.x?)

Barn wood arrives at our yard in two forms; beams and other structural members, and barn siding. This shows a recently obtained shipment of beams.

Before the beams can be milled, metal  (mostly nails) must be found and removed. Metal is detected with - you guessed it - a metal detector.  That's the easy part. Removal can be very difficult as some nails are rusted and break off rather than come out. In that case hammers and chisels are employed.

This shows a beam with a mortise hole and a sawed off tenon. This "mortise and tenon" was the method of fastening beams together in the era before bolts.

After metal detection and removal, beams are sawn into approximately 1" thick pieces - the size needed to produce our 3/4" flooring.

The other form of barn wood, as mentioned above, is barn siding. This, too, needs to be checked for metal. And yes, the tool used is the same one that is used by treasure hunters on beaches.

This is a close-up of the removal process - a very time-consuming process.

After the metal is removed, the planks are stacked for storage in our warehouse where they will await kilning.

Kiln drying lowers the moisture content of the planks prior to milling assuring a stable finished product. Kilning also raises the temperature of the wood killing any resident insects. Not all of our competitors kiln dry their products. BEWARE!

These planks are stacked and ready for kilning. The uniform arrangement maximizes kiln space and allows a larger amount of wood to be dried.

After the wood is dried it is stacked on rolling carts that are moved from one machine to the other as each operation is performed. The "KD" sprayed on to the side of the stack denotes that the wood has been dried. Don't worry, the letters will be removed by the milling process.

The first operaton performed is rough planing. This reduces the thickness of the planks to a more or less common thickness and removes the rough weathered exterior from the side of the plank which we have selected to be the face or top.

Next is thickness planing. Since the face has been determined and planed, this operation is performed on the back of the plank. This step makes all of the planks the same thickness in preparation for final milling.

The final milling operation is the application of the tongue and groove as well as the grooves on the back of the planks, which are known as "back relief". There are several ideas about just what this does; it allows air to circulate to minimize cupping and it reduces shipping weight are the two most logical. Some builders also say it´s there so that the flooring guy knows which side is down.

The square "blank" goes in here . . .

. . . and the finished tongue & groove plank comes out here. A counter wheel totals the lineal footage which is easily converted to square footage based on width. Most of our flooring is manufactured and shipped immediately.  We rarely can get ahead and inventory any product: We are selling it as fast as we can make it. But who's complaining?

Another 12,000SF of Aged Woods® heading west, young man!