Alder as firewood again !!

[Baldbloke]

Most timber will last well under water especially if submerged in mud.  I think I read that one of New York’s famous old bridges uses huge pine pilings as foundations, and that they are still in perfect condition.

Our Georgian house is supposedly the fourth on the site. Previous incarnations included wooden structures. Heavy clay soil up here. When I was doing some drainage I came across some enormous wooden footings with burn marks at the top. These lumps would have been a minimum of 200 years old and possibly a great deal older. Some sort of pine and in perfect order.

[Stere]

Burning/charring could be to prevents rot old traditional method.

 

May have  used pine tar also.

[openspaceman]

37 minutes ago, Stere said:

Burning/charring could be to prevents rot old traditional method.

 

May have  used pine tar also.

I leapt to the conclusion he thought a previous structure had burned down!

[little_p]

On 04/10/2019 at 11:18, Squaredy said:

And everyone seems oblivious to what a good timber it is.  I have an Alder kitchen, bathroom floor, clock, in fact any indoor furniture is great in Alder.

 

Frustrating thing though is I so rarely get offered Alder logs as everyone just thinks of it as firewood!

I have to say that I have never thought of alder as anything other than firewood ?

 

I would love to see pictures of your Alder kitchen and floors if you have them ?

[timbernut]

Most timber will last well under water especially if submerged in mud.  I think I read that one of New York’s famous old bridges uses huge pine pilings as foundations, and that they are still in perfect condition.

A mate of mine had about 3000 piling from Gorleston dock: mostly greenheart, oak, jarah, larch, Douglas and Scots pine, but some other timber we weren’t sure of, the hardwoods were all sound but the gribble did for a lot of the softwoods particularly near dock bottom (I think), but were otherwise sound.
My home is sitting on some Douglas ones: 30’ long and hand squares with adzes!

[timbernut]

Also meant to say for years I was lead to believe it was alder buckthorn that was used for charcoal, but wondered where it grew in abundance, then we visited the Royal Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey last year and it has its own (overstood) alder coppice that supplied the mill, I presume there was probably a lot more that has been developed on. It also has its own canal system!

[openspaceman]

3 minutes ago, timbernut said:

Also meant to say for years I was lead to believe it was alder buckthorn that was used for charcoal, but wondered where it grew in abundance, then we visited the Royal Gunpowder Mills at Waltham Abbey last year and it has its own (overstood) alder coppice that supplied the mill, I presume there was probably a lot more that has been developed on. It also has its own canal system!

I understood alder was used for the bulk of black powder but alder buckthorn for the fuses, it grows fairly commonly  near here (and I suspect Aldershot 15 miles away). My guess is got the name alder buckthorn because of its similar habitat and use.

[timbernut]

Lots of alder round here (nr the broads) but alder buckthorn only occasionally occurring, I didn’t know it was for the fuses

[Squaredy]

6 hours ago, little_p said:

I have to say that I have never thought of alder as anything other than firewood ?

 

I would love to see pictures of your Alder kitchen and floors if you have them ?

Here is a pic showing the Alder cupboard doors.  Worktop is Beech.

[Khriss]

@Squaredy    good choice of handles too.  K