100 Year old Fiddle back grade Black Walnut wood slab Here is one beautiful piece of ancient, beautifully grained Black Walnut that can be shipped as it is, or cut to a shorter size if you so specify. This piece is over 3 inches thick and although there is a small area of slight separation, that only goes about half way deep into the heartwood, and still leaves more than enough high grade figural or claro hardwood for you to make anything from a hand carved fiddle or mandolin, to a natural edged coffee table. Whatever gorgeous piece you have ever dreamed of building with hardwood, will be better still if built using black walnut of this age and character.
To better show the grain, I did not take full size shots of the piece, but concentrated on the close ups and on the one end where the growth ring separation shows. The dimensions are written in chalk and are not to the edges, but to the edge of what is considered usable as high grade board. If you have any questions or are interested in other size pieces, we have a lot to choose from, so please feel free to contact me. I will be happy to try to find what you need.
Condition: antique - air dried Black Walnut
Color: black walnut
Manufacturer: Fiddle back grade 3 inch large slab  

Antique Chestnut Barn Beam - Lumber for mantles etc. Beams! Barn beams—antique chestnut, in many different widths and lengths, some as long as 12 feet and a few even longer. Many of the beams have actual hand carved mortise, scarf, and lap joints.

These are genuine antiques, squared by broad.axe and sporting many small wormholes. Some have remnants of bark, and/or hand-forged squared nails, now rust colored (nails can be removed, upon request). Imagine these beams used as mantle pieces, or as exposed ceiling beams, lending character to the room and generating a buzz of conversation.

In addition to our beams, we feature some unusual pieces, such as our 9X4X60 inch chestnut beam with diamond cuts (see photos). Wouldn’t a beam like that look fantastic used as header in a doorway, perhaps framed by two conventional beams––what an entrance!! Unfortunately, our current supply of the diamond cut beams is limited. If these appeal to you, order now—don’t be disappointed later.

Other items in stock include antique chestnut planks. These are substantial, the real thing; 2X10, 2X12, 2X13, 2X15 inches by 12, 14, and 15 feet long, easily long enough to span a ceiling or wall. This item is limited, only 15 remain

We also have just a few pieces of antique black walnut, the most prized North American hardwood. One look at our antique black walnut slabs, 4 inches thick, will make clear why they are so prized. The grain is tight, intricate, and beautifully variegated---deep brown streaks embedded in lighter brown grain, swirling around knots. Gorgeous!

Also in our inventory is a truly one-of-a-kind item, an 8X10 nine foot long piece of antique black walnut. Unique and beautiful, don’t let it slip by.

All our pieces will arrive with a "Certificate of Origin" included, at no additional cost.
Please Note - Shipping will be carefully calculated based on order size and destination. Please contact us for a quote.

Condition: as found - beautiful
Manufacturer: American Antique - Hand Hewn  

Rare Antique Chestnut Hardwood Beam - reclaimed lumber I have been struggling for days with how I can let everyone know about the amazing inventory we have right now of rare reclaimed chestnut and black walnut lumber. Beautiful hand hewn beams, planks and boards that are over 150 years old. This is by far the best-looking stock of hardwood I've ever seen. I'm not talking about a few pieces either. I'm talking about enough vintage hardwood to build almost anything you can dream. The best way I can think of to spread the word is to just start listing some of these wonderful antique pieces, and hope you find them. The first piece is an absolute treasure. This hand hewn beam was part of a property we call The Hoffman Farm. The farm was located in York County Pennsylvania and the barn this beam came from was built somewhere between 1839 and 1855. This beam was hand formed from a single piece of Chestnut, a light, strong, beautiful hardwood that is almost impossible to find in this day and age. The beam measures roughly 7 inches wide by 7 inches high by 96 inches long. There is a tongue lap joint at each end where the piece was joined to another like it by means of a wooden peg. I won't go into a lot of detail about the various types of notches and cuts you'll see in these old pieces, but along with every piece of antique barn wood we sell, we include a certificate of origin and authenticity which will give you as much history as we can gather about where your particular piece of history came from and what it was doing there. We have photos and quite a few details on the history of the Hoffman Farm, so I hope you'll be able to find a way to use a piece of this marvelous wood from our distant past. I will let the photos tell the rest of the story for now. If you have any questions or want to check for a particular size or quantity of till great antique hardwood, feel free to ask. Our own grading scale determines the price of each piece. This beam grades a total of 81 points, on our scale of 101. A very nice piece of rare chestnut. Use it for part of an archway, entrance, fireplace mantle, or almost anything you can imagine. Here is a list of our featured species.
If I were thinking about a project that included some vintage hardwood, large or small, I'd already be standing in line to order some of this stuff before its too late. Featured species Claro Black Walnut. - Available in two, three and four inch thick planks, as well as six by six or six by eight blocks. Wormy Chestnut 150-year-old, barn wood that has aged to perfection. Hand cut and fitted beams and extra wide, planks ready to become whatever you dream. ....sizes? ...Just tell us what you need! Our inventory includes beams in widths and thickness' from five by seven on up to nine by nine, and lengths from four to twelve feet; some even more. Note: ... And remember this, every piece of our aged, reclaimed hardwood comes with a letter of authenticity, which includes its history, and even photos; (if any can be found) so you'll be able to tell your admiring friends all about these amazing pieces reclaimed from the past.

Condition: antique - beautiful
Manufacturer: hand hewn  

Unique antique Chestnut architectural 4 x 10 mantel or? In our world, if a craftsman were to apply half as much effort, patience or pride to his work as was devoted to the job of making the one piece you see in this listing, we would shake our heads and say he is a master at his trade. Unfortunately for us, today's hectic schedules and the 'profit first' attitude of the business world in general, no one can afford to spend the time or even learn the skills that were required one hundred and fifty years ago to make this single piece of timber, but that does not mean we can not visualize the effort and be in awe of the work and the workers who once crafted pieces like the piece of hardwood our photos display.
Can you figure out what it was used for? Here's a hint. The ends are cut to form the first half of a joint that will lap against, or junction into another piece of timber, which has a similar shape at the ends. Once the pieces were set in place, they were fixed together by means of someone using a large wooden hammer and driving a hardwood pin through the hole in one piece, into the hole in the other. It worked sort of like a giant nail, only much cooler.
Here's another hint. This piece of wood is actually either the top or the bottom of a square framework and that framework sat inside a square opening in a stone wall that was part of a barn built sometime during the 1850's. Notice that the hand cut diamond shaped holes in the face of the wood only go half way through the piece. Well these same cutouts were duplicated on the opposing timber with the diamond holes in the top piece facing down at the ones in the bottom piece.
Figured it out yet? Well, it’s not an easy thing to guess, so I'll stop teasing.
After the framework was ready, squared off pieces of hardwood that had been hand shaped so the ends would fit down into these diamond holes and when all of them were in place, KAZAAM! They had made a screen or cage over the window opening that would keep their farm animals from entering or leaving that part of the barn.
Can you imagine doing all that work for just one barn window? Well there were eight of the same frames in the just main barn on this farm. Sure the builders could have just taken a handful of sticks and nailed them to the frame from the inside or out, but the craftsmen back then had too much pride in their work to even dream of taking such a shortcut.

Measuring 4 inches thick by 9 inches wide by 6 feet long, not counting the extra length for the tenon cut at each end. Chestnut. Wormy American Chestnut Hardwood. Imagine the possibilities???


Condition: 150 years old - fabulous
Manufacturer: hand hewn American chestnut  

Huge Slab Antique rough sawn Claro Black Walnut wood Here’s another wonderful item from our inventory of antique, reclaimed hardwoods. We have a large quantity of gorgeous, air-dried, Antique Black Walnut in slabs, beams and blocks. The pictures help, but remember, this wood is rough sawn and unfinished, so the incredible grain character you see in the photos will be magnified twenty times over when this wood is sanded, sealed and finished. The piece offered here is a huge slab of Claro Black Walnut that came from the Hoffman Farm and has been air-drying for at least 50 years, probably more. Though it does measure even wider in spots, the full square edge cut size of the wood is over 15 inches wide, by 4 inches thick, by 42 inches in length. This isn’t just any piece of black walnut either. This is center cut crotch wood, meaning it is the hardest part of the tree and has the most distinctive grain patterns that can be found anywhere. This beautiful piece of rough sawn black walnut has a grading number of 92 on our scale of 101. It is the cream of the crop and the perfect choice for anything from a custom gunstock, to artwork carving, to furniture, to plaques, the list goes on and on. Our prices vary by grade and size and we even have a piece of 150-year-old antique black walnut that measures 9 inches by 10 inches by 12 feet long. Imagine what you could have made with a piece like that? We also have smaller blocks and slabs, so there is sure to be something just right for whatever dream project you have in mind. Claro Black Walnut. Incredible!
Condition: antique - amazing
Manufacturer: rough sawn