Salvaged Old-Growth Redwood
We are constantly on the look out for salvaged & reclaimed old-growth redwood sawlogs. Just last year we purchased approximately 30,000 board feet of salvaged old growth redwood logs from some of our local contacts. Some of these logs were "buckskins." Buckskin logs are old growth redwood logs that have typically been lying down on the forest floor for a hundred years or more. When the bark and sapwood (white wood just below the bark) have rotted off, the remnants of the sapwood on the log look blond or tan, similar in color to the hide of a deer or buck. Thus the term buckskin.
Other old-growth redwood logs were used to make rudimentery creek crossings. In the old days, loggers used to push big solid logs across a stream or ravine and then lash them together with heavy cable and rail road spikes. Then they would push dirt over the top of the logs and there you have it... instant bridge! These crude bridges are systematically being replaced with stronger steel bridges. When the old log bridges are removed, they are sometimes hauled away and sold at a sealed bid auction. I was able to buy all of the logs from a years worth of replaced log bridges. I had all of the logs shipped to my mill yard where they are awaiting custom cutting orders.