Ok, the recap.

I let a craigslist ad linger unanswered for several weeks, and watched  
as the description went from FULL barn, to Half, to Quarter. Mostly  
Pine. They wanted $100 for the remaining lumber. I needed some pine.  
Who doesn't need rough pine?

So, again, there I was in the barn itself.

The lady had changed the description, but to my glee and amazement she  
hadn't sold ANY of the lumber yet. People that came and visited were  
overwhelmed with the quantity, and didn't want to have to take it all.  
As the lady was able to clear more and more "stuff" out of the barn,  
she revised her listing, but hadn't made a sale. When I asked her on  
the phone how much was there, she estimate 10 loads of a pickup and  
trailer (if it had sides on it). That's a lot of wood, folks.

I couldn't see the lumber clearly, as piles of stuff obscured most of  
it. Two bins clearly contained oak, and they were off limits to me.  
Yet, there was enough peeking out that I couldn't resist the lure of  
it all.

Like I said, I'm no Todd Hughes when it comes to negotiating. I wish I  
were. After all, I was going to pay this lady for me to clean out her  
barn? I'm sure other suitors thought similarly, but I was game for an  
adventure, and an adventure we did have.

Out came 5 20s and we had to go home. We'd make some more trips in the  
coming days.

All the while, my poor negotiating was hounding me. Didn't she say  
$100 OBO!? Why didn't I offer less? What if the bins that were off  
limits really contained the lions share of the good wood? did I really  
want to spend my time loading truck after truck of old doug fir trim  
peices?

We borrowed a 9ft trailer and used my full size, yet short bed pickup.  
We started to load the wood. I was faithful in taking "all" of it, but  
I had no problems leaving items that were indeed made of wood, yet  
were bed sideboards or cabinet doors and such.

My eyes widened as we began loading the piles.

Piles and piles of cedar. ok. Wow, I didn't know cedar came in widths  
over 15inches. ok.

Here comes the walnut. I could maneuver a few boards at a time when  
they were only 10in wide and 1in thick, but when I hit the 8/4 planks,  
I had to move one at a time. 10ft lengths of wood were too long to fit  
in the rails, so we just saved the long stuff till the pile was at  
least a foot high in the trailer bed.

More cedar. This is some nice stuff. Oh, wait, it's not cedar, it's  
cherry. wide boards, heavy planks, thick beams. Load em up.

My fortuitous haul last year was full of exotics, but this barn  
yielded very meat and potatoes loads. Walnut, Cedar, Cherry. Oak.  
Rinse. Repeat. I developed epileptic-type responses as my every glance  
landed on yet another pile of good, wide, dry lumber. The removal of  
each pile revealing another stack behind it. Yes, except for one other  
time, this never happens to me either.

Everything short enough to fit in the pickup went there, and the rest  
went on the trailer.

We loaded to capacity, headed home, unloaded in small bits as life  
allowed.

After rejecting the piles of non-lumber items, we took a total of 3  
trips, loaded to the brim. Variety is the spice of life, so it was  
nice to load up some maple and white oak along with the other stuff.  
Standing sticks on end, I packed out my pickup with an insane amount  
of wood. Bundles of dowels. Bunches of trim stock. Over and over til  
the load looked like overgrown wooden hair, overloaded like something  
you'd see in a third world country.

I went ahead and sold the 4 tattered boxes of bruce flooring that came  
with the load, and recouped my $100 quickly. I'll be selling the boxes  
of cedar closet lining next. I did have to buy some more tarps to  
protect the 3 huge piles of lumber off the ground, but un-roofed in my  
yard. That's the price I pay for a deal that I don't deserve.

The son in law of the deceased met me on one of our last trips and  
talked about the barn owner. He apparently ran a sawmill for a portion  
of his life. I guess I'm buying his stock. This lumber hasn't seen  
light in a few decades, judging by the dreck in the barn. The son in  
law said he had a bandsaw mill, but all of the lumber has clearly been  
cut with a circular blade. This was no time to argue.

My only regret...the lady wasn't telling the truth. There wasn't  
hardly any pine. I really do need some pine. Is that so wrong?

I'll keep looking.

Keep your eyes open, and don't assume.

Matthew Groves
Springfield, MO
www.matthewgroves.com/Hobbies

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