What is sinker pine?
River recovered or “sinker pine” is milled from timber that was lost during log drives – submerged in rivers or lakes, often for over a century, where they were preserved without oxygen, slowly absorbing the minerals of the underwater environment.
What are sinker logs worth?
Commercial retail prices range from two to five dollars per board foot. By the time high-quality sinker cypress wood reaches a California show room, it can range from eight to fourteen dollars per board foot.
What is a sinker log?
River Recovered Sinker & Deadhead Logs “Sinker” is simply a term for a log that sank to the bottom of a waterway during transport, or the bottom of a holding pond while it was waiting for processing.
What is sinker cypress wood?
Sinker Cypress, an old growth Yellow Bald Cypress found on river beds and deltas in the southeastern United States is a fantastic wood for interior siding. The wide range of colors is a result of the log being buried in the mineral rich silt for decades or even centuries.
How hard is sinker cypress?
Sinker Cypress is a highly desired lumber product. Because it’s a reclaimed lumber, the supply is limited. As old-growth wood, this lumber is harder, denser, and more stable than newer-growth Cypress, and its 150-year underwater preservation process makes it one of the most rot- and insect-resistant woods in the world.
What are sinker cypress logs used for?
Sinker cypress is perfect for siding and paneling, while sinker pine can be milled into beautiful flooring and stairparts.
What are sinker slabs?
Sinker Cypress Wide Cut Slabs are just as the name suggests – wide, flat sections of Sinker Cypress lumber cut from these oversized Sinker Cypress logs. The fact that these Sinker Cypress Slabs must come from large Cypress logs makes them rare and highly sought-after.
Why are sunken cypress logs valuable?
How long does wood last underwater?
Wood can Start to Rot in 1-6 months If: Water and/or air space is hot & humid. The area is at or near the ground. Wood is exposed to dirt.
What happens to submerged wood?
When wood is submerged in water, air is driven out of all the cells, and decay fungi cannot grow. The wood remained intact because there wasn’t enough oxygen to permit wood-decay fungi growth (see below).
Does submerged wood rot?
It may come as a surprise then that wood can also be too wet to decay. Just like all living organisms, fungi require oxygen to live. When wood is submerged in water, air is driven out of all the cells, and decay fungi cannot grow.
What is curly sinker pine?
Curly Sinker Pine is a variety of Sinker Pine that happens to have a very distinctive “figure” in the grain pattern of the wood. Wood grain can be figured in many different ways, but as the name suggests, the grain of these particular logs looks very “curly.”
How big is a sinker log?
Most of the Sinker Cypress and Sinker Pine Logs we reclaim average 28 feet long and were ax-cut by hand. We estimate that each of these logs can contain 2500 to 2800 board feet of lumber.
What is the heartwood of a sinker log?
Underwater for up to a century, the bark and sapwood of the Sinker Log decomposes, but the inside is perfectly persevered. This interior wood is the “heartwood,” and is prized for its beauty and durability.
Why are sinker logs so colorful?
Because the mineral content will vary from one body of water to the next, the colors and shading of the logs become one-of-a-kind works of art. Sometimes the Sinker Logs can get completely buried in mud. When this happens it can have an even more profound effect on coloring of the heartwood.