Dirty wood

[capehorn3]

I have some old wood I found in a river near an old saw mill, looks and smells like juniper? It's very weathered, I made one cut on the table saw after it dried out to see if the inside was OK, looks nice, tight grain. Problem it its full of silt and sand on outside, plank is about 3x10x120". I want to remove old outside wood to get at inside without ruining my band saw blade. Any ideas?

[cpw]

Belt sander?

[Tom W]

Belt sander is a good idea. My first thought was pressure washer.

[BadgerDave]

If you have access to a pressure washer with a detergent nozzle I think I'd try that first. The belt sander would also do the job but, depending on much buildup is on the outside of the plank, the paper may load up rather quickly on you.

[JimDon]

Depending upon how big and how much wood, Draw Knife?
Cheers,
Jim Don

[capehorn3]

Good ideas, I may go out on river in boat this weekend to get another plank and will pressure wash it before it drys out. I'm guessing this wood is over 100 years old, and wet it weights @100 lbs.!

[Nature_Photog]

I've had good luck cleaning sand/silt from 100+ yr/old Red Oak using a wire brush....hand operated. -G-

Amazing how much sand comes out of one board.

---Mike

[garager]

Old blade. Why waste precious time, but wear a face shield while doing that...

Check for metal w/a metal detector before running any blades threw the lumber....

[blind bill]

I'd try drying it out, then get what you can with compressed air, then pressure wash. When you see what you've got you may want to save the raised grain but if not finish it off with a belt sander.

Good luck!
Blind Bill

[Faboo]

1 or 2 pcs do it by hand if you have a bunch, pressure wash dry it put some old blades in the thickness planer (that you kept for just this purpose) after you check it for metal and Bob's your uncle. I'm with Garager time is to precious.

[Gofor]

Either after pressure washing or after the first milling, you may want to sticker it and strap it until you can get the moisture content down (in the shade). Also might want to coat the ends with end grain sealer (like anchorseal, etc) to prevent splitting. Both will help you end up with a lot more usable wood.

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