Old Barn Woods, Reclaim History

Introduction video to Old Barn Woods.  We will be telling the history about each building we reclaim with profession videography and photo.  Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of our updated website.  

Reclaimed wood is not new, unstable, uniform, generic or cheap.  Its not the newest trend or quickest fix.  Reclaimed wood is unique and every piece is a slice of History.

This wood has been used previously.  Maybe it was an original floor from an 1800’s homestead or an old door from a 1906 horse barn.  There is a historic story behind each item and that story is just under the surface, waiting to be repurposed.

This wood is just waiting for someone to give it a new purpose weather you are a homeowner looking to ad some history to your home remodel or for the architect to repurpose and design a new piece of history. 

At Old Barn Woods, we take pride in repurposing this historic reclaimed material.  Behind each piece is a unique story.  Nothing compares to the rustic character of antique woods, so we provide reclaimed woods, flooring, siding, beams, paneling, furniture, antiques and many other items as well. 

Our goal at Old Barn Woods is to grow as a family business and continue to see these old historic buildings and materials utilized in a new way to bring the historic story to your home and keep it alive for another 100+ years. 

There is no substitute; recycled wood is original, one-of-a-kind material that is repurposed for something new and better than original.  Historic wood gives you a chance to be part of history and shape it into something that reflects your personal tastes.  Reclaimed wood will add class to an otherwise potential bland project. 

Reclaimed wood is rare to find but is still all over the country with specialty suppliers.  Here at Old Barn Woods we have a wide assortment of many reclaimed woods just waiting to be reused and redesigned.  This wood is tomorrow’s History and ready to take on a new purposeful life.

Old Barn Woods is based 10 miles north of Watford City, North Dakota.  All our buildings and materials come from within a 100-mile radius of the McKenzie County area.  We are a family run business and strive to preserve the history of each reclaimed building by giving it a new story in homes all across the world. 

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Coast to Coast Can

Vintage Chairs

Vintage Co-op Central Exchange Can

Old vintage CO-OP Farmers union Central Exchange 5 gallon can.  

Vintage Schafer Battery Charger

Vintage Fanning Mill

A fanning mill is a machine designed to separate week, such as regresses, knapweeds, wheat grasses, and wild oats, from seeds and to sort the seeds of grain, legume, and other vegetable crops by specific weight.  Fanning mills are also used in the processing of hybrid and varietal corn kernels to separate damaged kernels and stalk sections from the bulk harvested material.

In a fanning mill the seeds fall onto an inclined separating platform with a mesh bottom.  They are then subjected to longitudinal shaking and are blown with a stream of air form a fan to form layers.  The seeds with the highest specific weight descend through the layers to the bottom and form the first yield.  Seeds of low specific weight and weed seeds rise and mix together on the surface to form the second yield (weed seeds and contaminants with average specific weight) and third yield (the lightest seeds).  This fanning mill was operated by the crank below.  

Vintage Window Screens

We have over 40 screens similar to this one below all in excellent condition.  We also have all the original windows to go with them.  We have not taken the pictures of each yet but this shows  you some of what we have in stock.  We do have a wide selection of Windows and Doors to choose from. You can click HERE to see some of our selection.  

Rancher Brand

We also have came across many old cans still with liquids inside and not all rusted up.  This is an old Rancher Brand can,  We are not quite sure what is inside but it says it was manufactured in the U.S.A for Rancher Products in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

Vintage Tape Measure

We have came across many old vintage tools including this tape measure that is still in working order.   Living back in the day you had to be quite handy in multiple different areas to make a living and get by. 

Vintage film reel

Below are two empty film reels we found in one of the old buildings.  We also have found a can with some old reels with footage on them.  There was also the old camera that they were used with.  We plan to watch and upload some of the old video footage that was taken with this set up in the next few months.  

Vintage Chamber Pot

Do you know what a chamber pot is?  Well if not now you will after reading this.  

A chamber pot is a small pot, usually ceramic, designed to fit under a bed or in a discreet close stool.  Although these pots are not as widely used as they once were, having largely been replaced by indoor toilets.  However, in the ere when going to the bathroom involved a trek to the outdoors,  people who needed to go to the bathroom at night would use the chamber to to urinate and empty the pot in the morning.  In homes which had a household staff, a maid would empty the pots as part of her morning chores.  

The basic design of a chamber pot involves a pot deep enough to hold urine without splashing, and a secure lid.  Usually, it has handles so that it can be carried easily.  While more impoverished households probably had very plain chamber pots, extant examples of lavishly decorated ones can be found in some museums.  

A common place for a chamber pot is under the bed, as it is a convenient and ready location.  Some people had close stools, pieces of furniture designed to conceal them.  In many cases, the close stool had a bench with a lifting lid, allowing women to sit comfortably while using.

During the day, members of the household would be expected to use the privy or bathroom, unless they were ill.  The chamber pots from the night before would be emptied and scrubbed before being replaced in the bedrooms.  Commonly, they would have been emptied into the privy, but some household simply threw the contents out the window, to the peril of anyone below.  This practice came to be frowned upon, because it fouled the streets.

In most industrialized nations, the chamber pot has largely disappeared, except in the form of the bedpan used for invalids.  Some people in developing nations still make use of the chamber pots and privies.  The idea of the chamber pot lives on in the slang for a child's toilet or potty.  Some training toilets designed for children do resemble the close stools of days gone by, since they allow the user to sit and evacuate waste into a bowl below,  which must be emptied into a toilet connection to the plumbing. 

Source from: www.wisegeek.com 

Vintage Night Stand

Below is an old night stand or table that we found in one of the bedrooms on the old homestead we are working on fixing up. Right  now it is in its original state, but we are planning on refurbishing the entire piece to make it last another 100 years.

Vintage Horse Collar

This vintage horse collar is in great shape.  We are going to do some work on cleaning it up and also adding a mirror to the center as a nice decorative piece.  

A horse collar is a part of a horse harness device used to distribute a load around a horse's neck and shoulders when pulling a wagon or plough.  The collar often supports and pads a pair of curved metal or wood pieces, called hames, to which the traces of the harness are attached.  The collar allows a horse to use its full strength when pulling, essentially allowing the horse to push forward with its hindquarters into the collar rather than to pull with its shoulders as it would be required to do if wearing a yoke or a breast collar.  The collar also an improvement on the yoke, as it reduces pressure on the windpipe.  From the time of invention of the horse collar, horses became extremely valuable for agricultural success and for pulling heavy vehicles.  When the horse was harnessed with the horse collar, the horse could apply 50% more power to a task than an ox due to its greater speed.   Horses generally also have greater endurance and can work more hours in a day.  The horse collar was important in development of Europe, as the replacement of oxen with horses for ploughing boosted the economy, reduced reliance on subsistence farming and allowed the development of early industry and education in the rise of market-based towns.  

Impact of the Horse Collar: 

The creation of the horse collar removed the previous physical restrictions the old harness had on the animal, and allowed the horse to be able to exert its full strength in plowing.  Originally, the structure of the old harness forced the horse to literally pull its workload.  The horse collar's development instead allowed the horse to push its workload, increasing the efficiency of its labor output.  

Vintage 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne

We were working the other day and noticed something deep in the trees next to one of the buildings we are reclaiming.  We walked into the trees to discover this beauty.  Surprised to see that it is still in great shape, we talked with the owner of the property and he said that if we can get it out its ours.  So at some point come spring time we are going to get the baby out.

The Chevrolete Biscayne was a series of vehicles produced by the American manufacturer General Motors, under the Chevrolet brand between 1958 and 1972.  Named after a show car displayed at the 1955 General Motors Motorama, the biscayne was the least expensive model in the Chevrolet full-sized car range (except the 1958 Chevrolet Delray).  The absence of most exterior and fancy interior trimmings remained through the life of the series, as the slightly costlier Chevrolet Bel Air offered more interior and exterior trimmings at a price significantly lower then the mid-line Chevrolet Impala. 

At its introduction for the 1958 model year, the Biscayne was available as a 2 or 4-door pillared sedan.  A Biscayne station wagon was available from 1962 to 1972.  

Biscayne were produced primarily for the fleet market, though they were also available to the general public, particularly to those who wanted low-cost, no-frills transportation with the convenience, room and power of a full-sized automobile.  

In 1960, a lower-priced, sparsely trimmed version of the Biscayne called the fleet master was produced.  Aimed primarily at the fleet market, the fleet master included a lower grade of upholstery than the standard Biscayne and deleted routine convenience items such as a cigarette lighter, door armrests, and passenger-side sun visor.  In addition, many parts were painted rather than chrome plated.  Both two and four-door sedans were available.  

Production of the Biscayne for the United States market ended in 1972.  However, the Biscayne name survived in Canada through the 1975 model year.  

Vintage Tool Box

Here is a home made vintage tool box that was used in the early 1900's.  We are planning on restoring this old piece next month.  

Vintage Hammer

Below is one of the orignal vintage claw hammers that the old homesteader used.  

Vintage Bike Seat

This as we know is an old bike seat.  We were not able to find the original bike but this old seat is pretty awesome.  If anyone knows what kind of bike this seat is from please leave us a comment.  

Vintage Raccoon Clock

Everyone loves Raccoons, we found this clock hanging on the wall of the old house we are restoring.  

1906 End Table

So now that our shop is coming together a bit more we decided to take a little break from some other work and see what some of the woods we have been reclaiming look like finished.

This first piece measures 24” long X 20” wide X 24 tall, which is perfect for an end table.  This piece has many different varieties of wood.  The top has a 25 separate pieces that are glued, biscuit jointed and nailed in the center.  The 25 woods come from a different section of buildings from 7 separate reclaimed barns and buildings. Including siding, roofing, coral railing, door trim, floor and wallboards.  The legs are trim from an old garage door and the base shelf is from an old original homestead from the early 1900’s.

We have applied one coat of lacquer so far and plan to add a few more as this old reclaimed wood really soaks up the lacquer. 

This little piece we have named 1906 as most of the wood that was used from was around that era in time.  This is a one of a kind table that is the first of many more designs we will be creating in 2015. 

We are going to have this beauty for sale in the next couple weeks, so if this catches your eye and you would like it in your home send us an email and we will get you some more details.

There are thousands of linear feet of barn wood accumulating in our shop and needs a home to go to.  We do take custom orders for all types of furniture design or if wholesale is something you are interested in larger quantities let us know. 

Reclaimed Wood

We have been very busy working on our new shop and starting to clean up around all the old barns and buildings that we are reclaiming.



This is just a small video showing a few of the barns we are working on right now and should have finished by the end of Feb 2015. On top of reclaiming all these old woods we will be documenting on film the story of each building to tell the story about each.

If you see any wood that catches your eye contact us on our forum and we will get back with you ASAP.

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