Shopsmith Forums

My mom is having her deck rebuilt and they plan on tossing all the old lumber. I've heard of people saving old deck wood because sometimes it's made out of redwood. I think this is pine but I'm not sure.

Do You know what type of wood this is? Is it worth saving? Also, I don't have a planer or a jointer, would I be able to do anything with this without those machines?

I don't have a specific project in mind but I imagine I would need to cut the boards down to good wood before building anything.

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Redwood and pine each have distinctive smells. Red wood is red in color and pine is white or yellow in color.

Unless the color is off in your picture, it appears to be Redwood.
Slicing off a bit of the edge corner will reveal more. As stephen said, if it's reddish, it's probably Redwood.
Because of the embedded grit, I wouldn't think anyone with a planer (or jointer) would risk planing it for you, regardless of the species.
You could band saw thin slices off the faces first. Then, someone might true it up for you.

Regardless of what type wood it is, that particular piece may only be good for general construction purposes. If constructing something of good quality to maintain straightness, it should be quarter sawn.

pieceseeker wrote:Regardless of what type wood it is, that particular piece may only be good for general construction purposes. If constructing something of good quality to maintain straightness, it should be quarter sawn.

Ahh but it is quarter sawn the short dimension.

Yo would likely want to saw off the checked faces anyway.

Are there larger pieces?

Douglas fir is also reddish and also has a unique odor. From he curvature of the rings, it looks like it was harvested from a rather smallish tree. Also from the spacing of the rings, it is 'new' growth.

So my guess is fir!

I believe this is red in color, but isn't cedar red in color as well? It does not look like it's yellow. As soon as I cut it, I smelled it but there was no smell. The deck was built in 1982 so the wood has been on there for a long time.

Here is another picture:
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It is really hard to tell from the pictures but I'm going with either fir or pine because of the ring growth I've seen before with that sort of construction 2 x 4 's.

My brother collects that sort of wood to make birdhouse, feeders, trellises and the like. He cuts them in to strips and puts them to use that way. Stay rustic and you can't go wrong.

Here is what the birdhouses look like:

https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=5604

Ed

I'm still going with redwood.......or cedar:D

My vote goes for a "pressure treated" pine.