On Thursday, April 13, 2017 at 10:17:30 PM UTC-5, whit3rd wrote:
On Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 3:27:22 PM UTC-7, Spalted Walt wrote:
The Hobbs brothers have been picking their way across the American
South, deconstructing century old barns and farmhouses, looking for a
rare treasure - old-growth pine lumber. ..."As we reclaim this wood we're
reclaiming history,

It's sad, in a way. The original users of that wood, were finding treasure
growing in the ground, and harvesting it for their use. Now, to get
some of the same quality wood, it takes destruction of the old structures..

I saw a slightly-broken ugly old dining table the other day, with
a full 20" wide solid walnut board as one leaf. I've never seen that good
a board for sale.

Twenty inch wide walnut is readily available, either newly sawn or salvaged boards. True, there are fewer old trees available to be newly sawn. I'd think most old walnut wasn't sawn into thick boards, 2" and greater, so finding thick slabs, for reclaiming, is not as prevalent as thinner boards.

As to the Hobbs brothers, I've never heard of them, as to being renowned salvagers, as some of the videos seem to profess. I'm not so impressed with them, at least thus far, though recycling is a noble venture. Listening to their speaking, they seem to have just stumbled onto the idea that reclaiming old lumber is something they, only, have discovered and are, now, introducing their discovery to everyone else, as if other folks don't know about it. Maybe it's just the folks in the Athens area that's been out of touch, that way. Some of their comments, about reclaiming old lumber, seem to be said as if "prophetic". Folks who buy into that "prophecy" are out of touch, also. Many salvagers have this or similar ideas/reasons for their salvaging old lumber, as well as strictly business reasons.

I've viewed several videos, regarding them and their business, and they are boring as heck. There's some reference to their, maybe, having a TV show, showcasing their work.... *seems Ridgid may be behind this effort. If the (subsequent) show is as boring as they are, in the videos, folks will loose interest, fast, if interest is developed, at all. The videos don't inspire me to look forward to viewing a, likewise(?), TV show.

Also, I haven't seen any hint of details of the projects they make. I've seen the finished product, in the various videos, and I'm not too impressed with their construction, as for as I can surmise the construction. In one video, they state it takes a week to make a (simple, IMO) table. I think, each, the tables, I saw in the videos, should have taken 2 days (or less) to make. Sure, they're spending time collecting the lumber, but if they are in business, their work should be producing simple(?) projects faster, than what they state.

I'm just not that impressed with them, at least at this point.

Sonny