What type of wood are the old house windows made out of? I am removing the old strips that hold the double hung windows in and I was wondering what they are made of? It seems so much harder than I expect pine to be and not hard enought for oak.
Just in case I need to replace one I would like to know what wood to use.
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Replies
In my area (Mid-Atlantic down to GA), old windows are ALWAYS longleaf yellow pine - not really available anymore, except from reclaim lumber places. I sometimes squirrel away old studs to cut millwork replacements from.
Forrest
If I can't find any in Chicago as reclaimed is not really anywhere to be found here what type of wood do you recommend I try when having to remake the window strips?
Are they to be stained, or painted? If they're going to be white, I've used Azek (white PVC) because it's slippery and the sashes won't wear through the paint, since it's left raw. Oak would probably be the easiest stain-grade choice, but the grain would likely clash. If it's just small pieces you need, places like Mountain Lumber might sell you a few sticks of re-sawn antique flooring you could cut strips out of. Aren't they like 3/8" X 3/4"?
Forrest
Bossman
I've seen a lot of windows in this area that are made with pine but the pine of today isnt your grandfathers pine!
I've made widow stops out of sugar pine that I had laying around. If your painting you could use white oak, very durable wood. If this is the parting strip that's usually 1/2 wide I think you can still buy that stuff from some milwork places. I think I've seen it but dont recall right off hand which ones.
Doug
<<It seems so much harder than I expect pine to be and not hard enought for oak. >>
Yellow pine or douglas fir. A lot of windows were made of seasoned doug fir because of it's availability and durability. The sash, in particular, was made of doug fir, so that it would endure a lot of opening and closing against the wooden stops, also fir.
Out west most old windows are tight grained doug fir. That's always a good bet for building new windows or rebuilding old one's.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Clear longleaf pine heartwood
How much do you need and what sizes?
I have to replace at times so whenever I have flooring being demoed I re-rip and make it into parting beads so I might have what you need.
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You are referring to the 'parting beads' or 'parting strips' usually fir and often not the same dimensions as the parting beads available today. Making your own out of close-grained pine or fir makes sense. They should fit tightly enough to hold themselves in place, with only one nail, usually at midpoint.
Jeff
Properly fitted, no nails are ever needed. I have never seen a nail in one.
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Not even Piffin nails?
Jeff
Snork
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If in fact you are refering to the parting strip (the pc that seperates the upper and lower sash) I have about 2 dozen heart pine 66" pcs. If you are talking about the inside trim pc that hold the inside sash in I only have a couple.