KBW offers a variety of products. While the main focus is on creating reclaimed wood flooring, they also offer other antique wood products. Furniture made from reclaimed wood is a growing side of the business.
FLOORING:
Oak:
The patina and character are unbeatable. Boards will contain a mixture of nail holes, insect scars and worm holes, and occasional stress cracks. Once installed, there is no prettier Oak floor.
Chestnut:
Chestnut floor comes from old barn beams, and barn siding. The worm holes create the classic wormy Chestnut. The rich color boards will have occasional nail holes and some original saw marks.
Hickory:
Reclaimed Hickory floor has a character that can not be matched by new wood. The nail holes, and grain patterns create an interesting floor. Hickory has amazing rich colors of reddish brown and brown, with fairly straight grain. Occasionally there is a swirl in the grain that makes really nice flooring or cabinetry. Hickory is one of the strongest woods coming from old barns, and makes a very durable surface.
Ash:
Reclaimed Ash floors have similar grain to new Ash, but the patina and stress marks of the old wood make it preferable for any project. The Ash has a uniform color and with a good finish is as pretty as any floor available.
In the process of collecting old wood from barns, the company inventories many different sized barn beams and weathered barn siding. Some sides of the beams are sawn, and will show faint saw marks. Some beams are hand hewn. Hand hewn beams and posts will show the axe marks from the broad axe used to make them.
HAND HEWN BEAMS
Hand hewing is a process of shaping a round log, into a square piece of lumber that can be used for building purposes. The art of hand hewing is long gone, and is an amazing craft. To hew a log by hand, a broad axe is used to make cuts along one side of a log. An adz is then used to remove the wood between the cuts, to create a flat face. This process is repeated on all four sides over and over until the desired dimension is made.
