About Antique Beams & Boards
Your Trusted Reclaimed Wood Supplier
Preservation of craftsmanship, character, history, and beauty is the ideology at Antique Beams & Boards. We scour the countryside in search of antiquated and unwanted structures in an attempt to reclaim and reuse as much as possible. Many old warehouses, mills, factories, barns, houses, and outbuildings built in the 1800’s have either outlived their usefulness or become to costly to maintain. Instead of wrecking ball or excavator, or falling into a rotting heap, we take hammer and crowbar and carefully dismantle each building piece by piece to preserve all that went into its construction those years ago. ABB has a full time salvage crew as well as buys wood from demolition sites across the country.
ABB is considered a primary source for reclaimed wood and wood products in that 80% or more of the material we offer was salvaged by us. This is vital in maintaining consistant quality and inventory of a large variety of unique material. Our experience and reputation in the mid-west allows us the opportunity to tour and survey hundreds of potential salvage sites each year. We are in the heart of barn country, so most premium reclaimed lumber coming out of the area we have our eyes on first. Our forte is old growth timber cut from the Great Black Swamp, used to settle and farm the fertile lands of north west Ohio.
The Great Black Swamp covered an area of roughly 40 miles wide by 120 miles long. This area was nearly inhospitable until the mid to late 1800’s. The area was covered by a dense canapy of huge White Oak, Black Ash, and Elm trees. Countless lives were lost clearing this swamp. Cholera, typhoid and milk sickness to name a few hazards, but chief among them were malarial fevers carried by the swarms of mosquitoes that dominated the land. By the late 1800’s the swamp was largely drained and cleared to make way for the fertile farms that dot the landscape today. We at ABB are mindful of the acute hardships that went into the early production of the lumber we reclaim, and are proud that the wood will live on for several generations to come. If you would like to see a video and view additional information about the history of The Great Black Swamp please Click Here
We offer a wide range of products, all reclaimed. We carry large inventories of hand hewn and sawn beams, siding and rough sawn boards. From this inventory we can produce decorative accents, mantels, paneling, and flooring. Most often we can quote entire projects from our inventory, and provide higher quality reclaimed products at better prices and shorter lead times.