What are the differences between reclaimed lumber and salvaged lumber? Reclaimed lumber is specifically from a building or other wooden object as where salvaged is typically from trees that have aged whole. Salvaged can also cover new woods that were left as waste. Both are considered renewable.

What kinds of wood can only be acquired from dismantling old buildings? There are 3 species in particular that have either been over harvested or killed by blight. 

• American chestnut- This is the most valuable wood in the domestic USA. It is from the white oak family and was the tallest tree in the forest. In 1904, a blight killed of most of the trees in the US and only a few protected trees remain. There are a few companies who have acquired logs that have been laying for 100+ years. But there is a very limited supply. 
• Longleaf Heart Pine- This is the doug fir of the east coast. It used to grow in a 70 million acre forest stretching from Virginia to Florida then west to Texas. The trees were 150-400 years old when they were cut down 100+ years ago. Due to over-harvesting, all the several-hundred-year-old trees have been cut down, and due to the slow growth time, it will take several lifetimes from now for a tree to reach the heights they once commanded.
• Dutch Elm- The dutch elm went through a blight similar to Chestnut, only much more recently.
  

When the early pioneers in America's history moved westward, the forests they encountered were untouched by man. This meant that the trees had been growing, unaffected by man, for hundreds of years. When a family settled down to homestead, they had the best selection of timber in history, allowing them to use the best wood. Because of the amount of work to build a barn, house, or other structure using hand tools, the pioneers mainly used the best of the trees available to ensure the buildings would outlive the builders. The fact that many of these barns are still standing tells the story of craftsmanship. It's not uncommon for the original 100+ year old slate roof to still not leak. How many new homes have to have their shingles replaced every 20, 30, or 50 years? Most.

Why does reclaimed lumber cost more than new lumber? There are a number of factors that affect the price of lumber. 

• Cost to remove all metal- Nails, bolts, screws from each board. Failing to do this will tear a planer blade apart costing more than $100 for each nail hit. 
• Lead based paint- It is fairly common in many of the old paints. Planing off paint takes extra precautions as well as wears blades down much faster than new lumber.
• Cost of touching lumber- This especially adds up when a business doesn't have the kiln, storage, and mill shop all on the same location. Even just moving lumber 10 miles to the kiln, then 10 miles back to the mill and storage can add a good chunk to the cost. Lumber is heavy, and moving by hand is time consuming and a good workout, running heavy equipment to move the lumber around on-site factors into the expense of getting the wood ready to sell.
• Variability of color, exposure- Exposure to the elements, such as, storms, rain, sunlight, moisture from trees as well as exposure to chemicals affect the appearance of the wood. Barns were the farmers place to store chemicals, leaky tractors, and even Dynamite! My first barn had the bomb squad remove a crate filled with dynamite. It also had a medicine cabinet full of DTT, Arsenic, and a number of unlabeled jars and containers. Since the color varies so much even within the same barn, lumber has to be hand selected to make sure colors match. This increases the cost of the lumber.
• Saw Orientation- The way the log was cut has an effect on the price. Quartersawn lumber has more waste from the log than plainsawing, is mechanically stronger, and brings out special traits in the wood. It is less common because of the labor involved to cut it. At the same time, since all the wood in a structure is usually from several trees from the same location, even plainsawn lumber will have some quartersawn boards from the center cuts of the tree.