Project with Reclaimed Pine Barn Lumber

These are pics from our finished basement. We used reclaimed lumber from an old barn my father took down before the barn was destroyed.

Reclaimed lumber is wood that has been taken from long-standing idle buildings and refinished for new purposes. Most reclaimed lumber comes from timbers and decking rescued from old barns, factories and warehouses and some companies have been known to source wood from less traditional structures such as boxcars, coal mines, and wine barrels. Reclaimed or antique lumber is used primarily for decoration and home building and is often used for siding, architectural details, cabinetry, furniture and flooring.

The finish on this project was a combination of alcohol, shellac, and various dyes. Shellac is a brittle or flaky secretion of the lac insect Kerria lacca, found in the forests of Assam and Thailand. Freed from wood it is called "seedlac". Shellac is a natural polymer and is chemically similar to synthetic polymers, thus it is considered a natural plastic. When dissolved in alcohol, typically blends containing ethanol and methanol, shellac yields a coating of superior durability and hardness and is available in numerous grades. Shellac is edible and it is also used as a glazing agent on pills and candies. Because of its alkaline properties, shellac-coated pills may be used for a timed enteric or colonic release. It is also used to replace the natural wax of the apple, which is removed during the cleaning process. When used for this purpose, it has the food additive E number E904. In the tablet manufacture trade, it is sometimes referred to as "beetlejuice" for this reason.

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