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Murray Pine floorboards
Hi all, my inlaws recently bought some more farmland, which has an old and falling down house on it. I was talking to my father in law yesterday and he told me if the floor boards, and any other timber, in the house are useable, I'm welcome to take them. The only condition is I leave the house there as it'll make it easier to get permits in the future if they decide to build there.
I'm just wondering if the murray pine is worth getting? Is it worth my time pulling them out and de-nailing?
I do a lot of box making projects and such and most of the floor boards look and feel solid, not so much the joists.
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In my experience Murray Pine floorboards are very difficult to pull up without totally destroying them. Like all Cypress, once it's dry, Murray Pine is very prone to splitting and cracking. The only success I've had was achieved by using a saddle setup on a car jack to gradually lever big sections of boards from the joists by working from one joist to the next. IMO Cypress of any type holds no particular attraction as box making material.
The joists and bearers could be worth a good look though, might be some redgum amongst it.
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Yeah Cypress is a bugger for that (DAMHIKT). For pieces suitable for box making, there may be another way: run a circular saw 10-20mm outside the nail line, and just lift the pieces out. I dare say it'll be a helluva lot quicker too.
Then you can pull out the joists and jimmy-bar off the remaining pine pieces, remove the nails etc etc.
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Some time ago I bought a quantity of reclaimed Murray Pine floorboards to make a big bible box. Of the boards bought I found I had a wastage rate of about 75% due to the nail holes and split boards. Having said that the box turned out beautifully.
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Thanks all for the advice. I'm just trying to organise a weekend where I'm able to get onto it and I'll let you know how I go.