The first 12 reclaim timbers I have came from an old grainery in central indiana. I bought them from an Amish gentleman who took it down. He said they were beech. Here's a sample from that first batch after milling and beam planing with my Woodmizer mill beam planer. A knotty Beech? A surprise Black Walnut that has one long check and one section of wane, but other faces are clean. A straight grain clear Beech. These were cut at least 120 years ago and are dry. I got them dead square (8x10) with the planer head. It's like Christmas, opening the presents to see what I've got.