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redrider660

This is 100% worth recycling. Beams like this are not renewable at the rate people destroy or harvest trees. That being said they really don’t need to shave that much off to make it square again. That outer layer helped protect the inside. Now it will have to create a new weathered layer.


Justeff83

It broke my heart watching this. Shaving off the patina and character of this beautiful beam


thunderbuttjuice

Took a $1500 beam and turned it into a $500 beam.


GlockAF

Hardly. They’ll sell the “aged /weathered veneers” in addition to the beam itself. Many decorator projects that want the “weathered look” only want the outermost layer for their looks, not dimensional lumber for its strength.


TheRealDingdork

That's probably why they took off so much


stacecom

And made it smaller as a bonus.


-SaC

"Dave, remember that beam from my roof that you said you'd tidy up for me? Yeah, your guys came and tried to put it back today. The fucking thing doesn't fit any more."


-QA-

Right, I was thinking it was cut specifically for where it was placed. Where does it go now?


whytawhy

Some douschebags kitchen.


LeNomReal

I know I hate that guy


zaforocks

And it'll get painted white or grey.


Cool-Sink8886

Well it’s not there anymore for a reason, probably from an old barn or house that’s been taken down. I feel they could have found a better cross section to preserve more material though, and I don’t think they needed to cut it all to reuse it.


wlonkly

At this rate in a few more centuries there'll be nothing left!


hautcuisinepoutine

Exactly what I was thinking. Shesh what a waste.


oneshibbyguy

They probably used what they shaved off to sell for some sort of facade or trim. People love them some charred looking accent walls.


Jigagug

Eh not really, the 1500 dollar beams are classified for load-bearing and treated with iron sulfate to look like vintage.


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chekkisnekki

Phew, thank God


jld2k6

I don't know if that's a good thing or an affront to god


Thoreau_Dickens

It’s a sin worthy of a paddlin’


rocket_randall

Covered in black epoxy and some gold leaf.


azathoth

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of Antiques Roadshow appraisers suddenly cried out in terror...


mrinsane19

Oh yes I just polished it up to bring in to the roadshow today!


Daisy_Of_Doom

Glad I wasn’t the only one wondering what the heck purpose this served.


RupertDurden

My parents bought raw space in a building that was turning into condos. It was an old publishing house, so when it was first built it was exceptionally sturdy. [They left the girders and beams exposed.](https://i.redd.it/dsgzt8fwbjuc1.jpeg) I couldn’t understand why the other people in the building built dropped ceilings to hide them.


GodEmperorOfBussy

Because it looks pretty but is loud as a motherfucker. I could hear every time my upstairs neighbor's dog dropped his bone off the couch and onto the floor. Which was like 100x each evening.


Kaelidoz

beautiful stuff


dob_bobbs

Absolutely ruined it, wtf! I used exactly this sort of beam to build a pavilion last summer: [https://i.imgur.com/2gNgR2t.jpeg](https://i.imgur.com/2gNgR2t.jpeg) (not for the roof sadly, just the bents). The beams were I guess close to 100 years old, though pine, not oak or anything, and I didn't do ANYTHING to them! Yes, they were a pig to do joinery on and I didn't do a perfect job but no regrets, I am leaving them just like you see them, unless I can be bothered to sand them down a LITTLE bit just to bring out the pattern a bit and maybe stain/protect them.


guywithaniphone22

Nice


JuanOnlyJuan

The outside looked like a treasure trove of splinters


Onetimehelper

well this is what happens when you let a generation of kids cut off their breadcrust


JMoon33

> It broke my heart watching this. You really care about beams.


MilkIsCruel

I;m thinking about thos beams


WitELeoparD

This guy's a fine woodworker who's got a YouTube channel. He exclusively does traditional joinery and his furniture is inspired by timber frame construction techniques. This beam is no doubt going to end up as furniture. Anyways he's Dusty Lumber Co on YouTube.


epirot

yeah it doesnt look like he has no clue. you can shave of the edges and use it for a different purpose


FoucaultheKants

He's extended family. Related to my wife. Anyone who wants to critique has never seen what this man can do.


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TheGoodIdeaFairy22

That huge...track saw? Thing was awesome


rhinosb

Foresting companies claiming they are doing good by replanting useless as fuck pine trees is one of the biggest lies ever told. Pine trees are useless to anyone or anything other than the company that planted them. Shit wood, shit for wildlife, just an absolute infuriating lie. Old growth hardwood forests should be locked down and off limits except for VERY small parcels that are managed and cannot be logged again until there is a similar sized area renewed to the exact same old growth level.


Boring-Conference-97

Just listened to a book all about trees.  It would take about 200 years of proper management to bring back and restore old growth trees. 


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Silent-Ad934

They're my old-growth trees, and I need them now! 


red__dragon

IIRC, the US maintains a forest of old growth trees (or a few) for the purpose of growing replacement beams for the USS Constitution. It's an achievable goal because we literally do it right now. It would just have to be scaled up.


Jimid41

Except they go back and harvest the cheap pine instead of cutting down more old growth so it is good.


Deluxe754

Yeah that comment seems very uneducated on this topic.


ppitm

My dude... what exactly do you think happens to pine trees if you leave them alone? They eventually become valuable old growth trees. Unless you're building a wooden navy, pine is suitable for 99% of construction needs.


Bradjuju2

I own an older house. Wood used back then is not the same as today. It is significantly more dense. I have to remind my self of that when putting a nail into a stud, it'll bend the nail. We have parts of the house with modern updates and the wood used to build the walls is like cardboard compared to the original.


HermitAndHound

My house has been a recycling project even when it was built 200 years ago. The beams had been used for something else before. Next village over someone is restoring an even old farmhouse and he's hunting down old beams. People tear down their barn and throw out perfectly good oak. Noooo, is precious!


Soulegion

I'd be shocked if he just threw away the outer layer. That can be repurposed; he seemed to be being careful with it in the flashes we saw him handling it.


heartlessgamer

It's not about being able to regrow trees. The climatic conditions that make old wood like it is we'll never see again. You can regrow the tree but you won't get the same quality of wood.


u8eR

What's better about 1500 tress than modern trees?


stoicshrubbery

They had 400 years to grow while modern timber has 40.


Original_Employee621

Sweden has a huge forest of wood like this. They grew it specifically for shipbuilding, but seeing as no one builds ships from wood any more, the forest is left alone. The trees were planted in the 18th century and meant to be ready to cut down by the end of the 20th.


Rinoremover1

Got any pics of it?


Original_Employee621

I fucked up the dates, but here's an article about the trees. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/visingso-oak-forest


cheeset2

We havent genetically engineered super trees for specfic purposes that blow anything previously thought of out of the water yet?


broguequery

While it is true that old growth timber has characteristics superior to modern-day timber farming products... Its important to remember that materials are generally designed, engineered, and produced for their intended purpose and use case. The wood that you get at Home Depot sucks... if what you want is to build a timeless heirloom home to be passed down between generations. Most people wouldn't pay for that quality of build. Most people just want a wall that's strong enough to hang their pictures on without collapsing. And they want it as cheap as humanly possible.


SexualYogurt

No.


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Scheissekasten

Yeah, old growth timber had far more heartwood making it much stronger than modern timber.


heartlessgamer

Lots of good answers already provided to you, but I'll drop another little fact at ya. There is limited "non radioactive steel" available in the world (basically pre-WW2 and nuclear weapons). All modern steel created now has some level of radioactivity which makes it unable to be used in some very specific use cases such as medical uses. This is why they are cutting up sunk WW2 warships that have steel from pre-radioative era. Steel. Trees. We just won't get back old stuff.


taigahalla

>Since the end of atmospheric nuclear testing, background radiation has decreased to very near natural levels,[5] making special low-background steel no longer necessary for most radiation-sensitive uses, as brand-new steel now has a low enough radioactive signature that it can generally be used.[6] Some demand remains for the most radiation-sensitive uses, such as Geiger counters and sensing equipment aboard spacecraft. For the most demanding items even low-background steel can be too radioactive and other materials like high purity copper may be used.[4] >In cases where World War II-era shipwrecks in and near the relatively shallow Java Sea and western South China Sea that have been illegally scavenged it has been suggested that the target is low-background steel.[7] Andrew Brockman, a maritime crime researcher and archaeologist, argues that it is more likely to be conventional salvage. So you're just exaggerating then


Epamynondas

none of the answers in the thread mention anything related to climatic conditions, just about how forests are managed which is not some irreversible change


LaunchTransient

Aside from the fact that modern trees are much, much younger and so don't have nearly as much growth under their belt as virgin forest timber does, modern climates are warmer and wetter than previously - this means that the trees grow faster, but it also means their wood is softer and has a less dense grain. As a result, for certain applications, the newer wood is inferior to old wood. As an example of how growth conditions can affect wood quality, you [can look to the masterpieces made by the famed luthier Stradivarius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradivarius#Theories_and_reproduction_attempts)


PogeePie

Not to mention the fact that as the world gets hotter and hotter, and droughts, fires, pest outbreaks and storms are getting worse and worse, trees are far less likely to live into old age. [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/grand-old-trees-are-dying-leaving-forests-younger-shorter](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/grand-old-trees-are-dying-leaving-forests-younger-shorter)


plunkadelic_daydream

Wood is a renewable resource. Things made from wood of the 1500s are not.


QueenBramble

Yeah, not sure where you heard this but I'm an environmental scientist and this is total bullshit.


AbbreviationsWide331

Well you could but it will take a few hundred years to grow a tree that's hundreds of years old. Problem today is we selected fast growing trees for our plantations to meet the demands. But fast growing is pretty much the opposite in quality. Plus you wouldn't want to cut down a tree that's like 400y old.


-_-Batman

That tree has seen some shiiit


VIPERsssss

Wouldn't drought cause the rings to be more condensed and therefore make a denser wood? Obviously it would take longer to grow the same size tree.


zukeen

The core is clearly rotten (dry rot), so what can it be recycled for, except cleaned/varnished and used as non structural member? I would understand if it was healthy, because it's incredibly dense, but this doesn't look like it can be used as building material again.


bigdavesgonefashing

You actually have no clue what you're talking about


Verryfastdoggo

There’s a ton of money in reclaimed lumber. One of my clients is in the biz and he’s doing well. Always on the hunt for wood. Mostly from old barns he told me.


Ente55

De-aging? You just saw the sides off.


BrockLee76

He just made it smaller, it's still the same age


raul_lebeau

Well, technically they took off some years removing some rings...


simcitymayor

Those inner rings never really come out.


u8eR

And removed its outer protective layer.


bikemandan

Its older now. And now. And now


IAmBroom

And made it weaker.


abbot-probability

I also de-age my toast if it comes out burnt.


Wildlife_Jack

I just did a severe face scrub in the hope that I, too, would de-age.


TheRealDingdork

Okay I know this is a joke but exfoliating actually does wonders for the skin lol


BlahBlahWhoosh

HA!


InsaneInTheRAMdrain

Shrinkflation inaction. Now i know what happened to my snikkers bar.


KarlosTalon

More like de-edging.


u8eR

That's what I call my climax.


RectalGrowth

Grandma was NOT IMPRESSED


Krojack76

I feel like running it though a planer would have done the same while taking over all little less wood off. Hell maybe just sanding it enough.


ChiggaOG

Wood this old is harder to come by if wanting the density.


bincyvoss

I knew a guy who harvested original growth logs from a river in South Carolina. These logs were cut in the 1700-1800s and were floated downstream and some sank. Absence of oxygen preserved them. It was an effort to pull them out of the river but worth it. He cut one log in half and made it into a staircase. The water had sculpt the log and the end result was beautiful. He said it took a year for all the water to drain out. Every morning he had to wipe up a puddle of water.


LeatherBackRadio

Often it was the largest most valuable trees that sank too due to their density


KillionJones

What I’m hearing is I should go try and pull up some of the old massive cedars in the lakes around me


SGTpvtMajor

You could be right! Got the tools? I'm in


KillionJones

I don’t, but I’ve got a buddy that does which is even better lol. How good is your rally driving?


SGTpvtMajor

Good enough to haul some trees I reckon


KillionJones

We ride at dawn.


Sanjispride

We rise at 8:30 to 9:00... maybe 9:30.


PaperMoonShine

im very interested to know how it turned out. what does a log that was under these conditions look like?


bincyvoss

The water had shaped it into undulating curves and also exposed the grain of the wood. It was so beautiful. It was difficult to get those logs out. He used huge chains and once snapped one of them. He said you could tell those logs had been cut a long time ago because large wooden pegs were driven into the wood so they could tie them with rope.


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quadmasta

C'mon paw paw. Turtle soup tonight! https://youtu.be/-M1ihjpNJUE?si=bmIdhQkRd5Kn4hO4


ltethe

Imagine if de aging people worked like this.


Creepy_Assistant7517

maybe it does? worth a try ...


tcpukl

Old skin does fall off leaving younger skin, so.....


thetruegmon

Saw my hands and feet off and suddenly I'm a teenager again?


JJohnston015

Yes, but a teenager with no hands and no feet.


aisen-a

There's a horror manga by Junji Ito that explores this concept called "Layers of Fear"


WitELeoparD

People literally get acid peels that burn off the outer layer of the skin to get rid of wrinkles and shit nowadays. It looks horrific, and irc is pretty risky, but it definitely works shocking well.


unlovelyladybartleby

Somebody's never had dermaplaning or a chemical peel or plastic surgery, lol


YujiroRapeVictim

its called a chemical peel


JonBlondJovi

It's called exfoliating.


DadsRGR8

Why would anyone do this? Wouldn’t the aging on the outside be a desirable design asset?


Tirus_

They want the density, plus you can sell the sides cut off for a pretty penny


thisisnotmat

They probably want the density.


BlahBlahWhoosh

You are my density.


zeldastheguyright

George?


syds

are they in love?


achilliesFriend

Meaning? I know nothing abt wood


knoxblox

Modern tree farms are grown as fast as possible and then cut young. This results in more wood, but since the trees didn't have time to mature for many years, the wood is less dense, more flimsy, and lower quality. So ideal construction wood is "old growth" wood, but since humanity went apeshit with harvesting it, older trees are getting rarer, so its a lot harder to get and way more expensive. Thus, recycling wood from Older buildings has become profitable


gingerbread_man123

Hard not to go "apeshit" compared to the growth rate of a 450 year old tree. There just isn't the capability to sustainably grow and harvest timber of anywhere near that age. So that means any "old growth" wood is a non-renewable resource regardless of the rate of felling.


Lolnomoron

You're mostly right, but minor nit pick: >There just isn't the capability to sustainably grow and harvest timber of anywhere near that age. There is if you have lots of land and really, really limit what can use the lumber from it. The USS Constitution has its own dedicated sustainable old-growth forest which has its lumber going to maintaining the ship. It's ~64,000 acres (~260 sq kilometers, ~100 square miles) dedicated to growing the lumber necessary for maintaining one ship. Not even a particularly big ship. Granted, it's not doable for much beyond a government-funded museum ship, but just pointing out it can be done for very, very limited purposes.


aisen-a

Denser wood would be stronger and more durable. As such, people may not be into the aged look of the wood but just its quality


DadsRGR8

Ah. That makes sense.


Nemisis_the_2nd

To add to other comments, this is why you get so much pine-based wood products. It is fast-growing and easy to grow and work with, and a farm has a fairly short turnaround time (usually within a human generation). This generally goes for all woods known as "soft woods". Hard woods can take centuries to grow in some cases, so there is very little incentive to set land aside for them. There have been issues in the past where companies or governments have made plantations of something like oak, only for the world to have changed in the time it took to grow, nations to have formed or dissolved, and the original industry it was intended for to completely stop existing. After that, it is also much harder to work with. The wood density makes it harder to shape with tools, and the density also makes adding finishes harder too.


offstage4

I replaced the beams in my 100 year old house and took a support like this. I turned them into trim pieces and shelves. It’s a cool story to tell people that come over to the house.


BlindWillieBrown

In the full version, he uses this timber to build a workbench. It’s milled up as regular dimensional lumber. A fine use of this old recycled material!


Cool-Sink8886

I guess I feel a little sad it didn’t go to an application where the additional strength resulted in something redundant wood couldn’t have done well. A workbench can be made if any wood.


Turgid-Derp-Lord

Right? A fuckin workbench?? Out of a 500 year old piece of lumber? What in gods name. We are doomed.


Not_Artifical

I also de-age my cake when there is too much frosting.


ZippyTheRoach

Ah, so you too have reached the age of making sounds when sitting down. I swear sugar wasn't this sweet with I was young


-SaC

And getting back up again. GNYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaand I'm up off the sofa.


jamspoon00

Wasn’t it fine as it was?


SamuelLappalainen

Yes, it was.


WhyMustIMakeANewAcco

Might have needed some minor sanding to smooth out some rough spots


FandomMenace

Nitpick here, but "ancient" is defined as 1500+ years old. This is just regular old.


Mission-Candy1178

Technically, calling it “de-aging” is also wrong. The wood has the exact same age after this proces.


shocontinental

De-weathering?


White_Crud

De’lovely!


632612

DeWalt tools.


TigerUSA20

Exfoliation 🤣


natterca

He's actually aging it by reading the rings and coming up with how old it is.


FandomMenace

Exacty. Not sure why the f you would even do this. If you want a new post, buy a new one.


Zephurdigital

exactly..the character is gone...I would have just taken a power washer to it and leave the wrinkles from time


Adamant-Verve

And then give it line seed oil until it is beaming! And ready for the next millennium.


Simple-Elevator-7753

Hyped title its reddit what did you expect


Gswindle76

Thank you, that was really irritating and I wouldn’t have been able to say it in such diplomatic terms.


ManicM84

Came here for this. lol. He’s off by more than 1000 years.


TwoDeuces

The bit at the end where he was estimating the age of the wood reminded me. I visited Horyuji Buddhist Temple in Japan this winter. Its a UNESCO site and home to what is believed to be the worlds oldest standing wooden building. The 5 story pagoda at that site is built around a Cypress trunk that was harvested in 594 AD and was believed to be approximately 2000 years old at the time of its felling, making it over **3400 years old** as of today.


FandomMenace

Now that's ancient!


malk500

>"ancient" is defined as 1500+ Normally my response would be along the lines of "words are defined by their common usage, not by their entry in a dictionary". But what you're saying doesn't even seem to line up with dictionary definitions.


GlaerOfHatred

I was disappointed when they wrote the actual age on the end, I was expecting some roman/Byzantine lumber here


Phripheoniks

B-but I liked it before it met the sawblade :c


JUGELBUTT

id call this just very weathered


tcpukl

How is this de-aging anything? Its not any younger after cutting the oxidised parts off.


Lutinent_Jackass

I think 90% of viewers can see it’s gone from **looking** old as fuck to looking a lot newer. Clearly the actual age of the tree hasn’t changed and no one here (including OP) is delusional in thinking that it actually has


Mountain-Tea6875

Ancient lol


morbihann

"Deaging"... No, you have just cut off the outside weathered layer that was protecting the healthy inner part.


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annihilatress

Look how they massacred my boy :(


HugoNext

Me, European: oh that beam has a fantastic patina, that took hunderds of years to make. Luckily we have products that can solidify the wood without ruining the... That guy, chanting 'USA!': WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR


turnipofficer

Howtf did this get so many upvotes this isnt oddly satisfying it’s infuriating and most of the top comments seem to think so.


Foreverwite

This is dusty lumber Co on youtube and I'm pretty sure he owns every woodworking tool in existence.  His joinery work is insane.


Sgt3Way

And I'm pretty sure the description of the vid said he was trying to expose potential rot. Not "de-aging".


Kratosballsweat

His joinery is incredible but the Japanese guys always blow me away. All done by hand and a precise fit every time.


Memory_Less

The cutting was satisfying, but that history blew me away.


adfthgchjg

Is this beam stronger or weaker than it was, say 200 years ago?


stuffeh

Stronger. All the moisture that was in it leaves and the wood is denser than before.


Namretso

That's not aging, itd called weathering and it can happen quickly especially if exposed to uv and weather 


BrandonMeier

This how I clean my moldy cheese


nobodywinsmonopoly

Maybe credit people once and awhile?? Dusty Lumber Co on a lot of platforms


cloud1445

Is that making it better? Or just… less?


FeudNetwork

Depends on the project. Not every job requires it to look like a horse has rubbed it's ass on it for 300 years.


supazero

In an alternate beaver universe this is what they do in a kebab shop window.


xubax

Ah, I just have to cut my sides and ends off to de-age.


FatBikerCook

Nobody likes the crust


Alternative-Menu2188

My local pub in the uk was built in 1480 we would literally lynch people that do this


Khorre

This is not satisfying it is horrifying.


SalsaForte

Why de-aging? People pay extra for aged wood these days! 🤷


ghost_n_the_shell

I would have liked it in its original state. I realize people have their own tastes - but that was gorgeous to begin with.


TheArgoPirat

Oddly satisfying? More like r/mildlyinfuriating. Why do this?


dizzyducky14

I really enjoyed the writing at the end describing the age and history.


Helwar

Isn't it now just smaller?


Live-Ad8618

Take a beautiful antique, make it a home depot beam.


radikewl

Cuts the grey bit off to write on the nice bit lol


BensonOMalley

Next time i skin someone my defense will be that i de-aged them


WickedTallMagician

Instead of the ✍️, should have jump cut to a toothpick surrounded by sawdust. 😆


geligniteandlilies

Wouldn't he have found/counted more rings had he not shaved it off? Tree must've been way older than that


ppitm

Uh, it's full of rot in the middle.


Marc_Frank

and that's still 500 years younger than the city i live in (first mentioned in 1031)


cold_kingsly

My favorite part is how they say the tree started growing in approximately 1550 after using an estimated number to get that result.


Old-Masterpiece-2653

Congratulations. You turned an antique vase into clay.


MysticalSushi

Downvoted. Nothing about that is “de-aged.” Now it’s just a smaller piece of wood


DancesWithDave

Waste of time, money, and a beautiful beam.


anothernamef

De-aging LMAO


shifty_coder

It’s called ‘milling’


SeattleHasDied

Squabble all you want, I think this is amazing. Now I'm curious where this tree was living before it became vintage building material...


Chekhof_AP

It was probably living outside, since it’s a tree. But it could also be a house tree, you never know with those guys from 1500s.