Wood prices, be on the lookout for...

[new2woodwrk]

So prices have stabilized in my area for hard/soft woods - ply continues to be wonky so I'm avoiding it for a bit.

Anyway, just wanted to mention to be on lookout for discarded furniture and pieces.

Yesterday while walking the dogs, I noticed a neighbor had thrown out a bunch of cabinet doors.

I grabbed them all and found out they are all solid wood - looks like poplar, about 1/2" thick. Neighbor came out and said he had a dresser he was throwing out as well.

SCORE! Solid oak! about 1/2" all around. A few drawer rungs were pine but most of it oak!

just a reminder to keep an eye out for discarded treasure!

[WayneMahler]

Great finds, happy for you. My wife is always looking out for such wood. 

[OCtoolguy]

My wife says I'm a dumpster diver and chastizes me when I drag sonethibg home. Anything I bring home had better be used or hidden in short order or I'm in trouble. Can you tell who is in charge?

[Roberta Moreton]

14 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

My wife says I'm a dumpster diver and chastizes me when I drag sonethibg home. Anything I bring home had better be used or hidden in short order or I'm in trouble. Can you tell who is in charge?

As is should be. I am speaking as a wife for 49 1/2 years. 

[lawson56]

I have done the same in the past. You made an Excellent find.

[Rockytime]

Salvage wood is the best wood. I found a chest of drawers that was all 1/2" Poplar. But it's been a while since I've found anything.

[OCtoolguy]

On 7/8/2021 at 10:29 AM, Roberta Moreton said:

As is should be. I am speaking as a wife for 49 1/2 years. 

51 1/2 here.

[Hawk]

Like you I'm always on the lookout for wood I can recycle.  One thing I noticed over the years, every time we replace a piece of furniture I take the old one apart to salvage the wood. But seems to be less hard wood and more chip board these days. Pallets are also a great source if you have the means to make it usable. 

Chris

[BadBob]

Unless you are getting it dropped on your front porch or picking it up around your neighborhood, reclaimed wood can get very expensive. Ruin an expensive saw blade by hitting some hidden metal, and the big box lumber starts to look a lot cheaper.

Been there, done that.

[new2woodwrk]

15 minutes ago, BadBob said:

Unless you are getting it dropped on your front porch or picking it up around your neighborhood, reclaimed wood can get very expensive. Ruin an expensive saw blade by hitting some hidden metal, and the big box lumber starts to look a lot cheaper.

Been there, done that.

That's what metal detectors are for

IMO reclaimed wood is by far and away the best deal available

16 hours ago, Hawk said:

Like you I'm always on the lookout for wood I can recycle.  One thing I noticed over the years, every time we replace a piece of furniture I take the old one apart to salvage the wood. But seems to be less hard wood and more chip board these days. Pallets are also a great source if you have the means to make it usable. 

Chris

Yes, I've done a lot of pallet work and always on the look out for them

One place I've found that is pallet rich is the local news paper office - they are constantly throwing them away and have told me anytime I want them come and get them

Problem is they want me to take all of them - that's over 30 at a time LOL

[kmmcrafts]

I have about 15 pallets if you all want them come get them, LOL.. I get them because I burn wood pellets to heat my house and shop and I buy the pellets by the skid / pallet.  The rough cut lumber that pallets are made from seem to hold a lot of dirt / grit.. I used to use them but the savings for me isn't worth it by having to replace planer knives a lot more often, Yes I can wash / sand with belt sander etc. to help get the dirt / grit off.. but also my time and effort is worth something too. Most of the pallet wood I find has only 4-5" wide boards on it.. not a lot of my stuff can be made from it unless I also take time to do glue ups. 

Now please don't take this as a waist if you're just a hobby working shop, you have all the time you want to clean up boards and make use of free lumber. For me spending 30 minutes labor just to "make" the board usable makes no sense unless you're getting some high dollar exotic wood or something.. 

How much you pay for a Poplar, Oak, Cherry, or other type of wood that is 4 - 5" wide x 3/4" thick x 4 foot long, Not really even 4ft because you have nail holes on each end of the pallet board and holes in the center of the board to work around. So maybe more like a 30" board, LOL 10 minutes to take the pallet apart, 10 minutes to hose off the loose dirt, 10 minutes of sanding some grit off on a belt / drum sander, 10 min. to run through the plainer .. many of the boards also split from the nails. OH forgot to mention better get out the metal detector to be sure no metal in it to ruin the planer knives. I personally don't see any savings there even as a hobby worker.. wear on the machines probably cost more than the savings of the so called free lumber. Now, furniture pieces that are smooth and easy to wipe the dirt / grit off and run through the planer is not a bad option.. pallet lumber though.. most of them are covered in dirt / grit and full of nails.. 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by kmmcrafts

[BadBob]

21 hours ago, new2woodwrk said:

That's what metal detectors are for

Yet another expense to add to the cost of reclaimed/free wood.

 

[new2woodwrk]

On 7/13/2021 at 7:47 AM, BadBob said:

Yet another expense to add to the cost of reclaimed/free wood.

 

Yeppers, all $10 of it! Spread that over the hundreds of feet of boards and it comes out to what, $0.0001 per brd ft?

Come on stop being so negative.

Just because you don't like something or want free wood, doesn't mean others should avoid it.

It's up to each of us to decide what is good for our shops based on accurate information provided, not opinions void of facts.

Btw, I've heard this story of blade breakage on many other forums and have yet to see a single example of a broken blade. Another old wives tale IMO.

Now, if you're talking strictly of pallet wood, then I would agree there are/can be hidden metal objects which is where the metal detector comes in very handy.

At the same time there are also hidden metal objects found in many trees that are cut and processed for sale.

In fact I found a hidden nail in a pine board I bought from Lowes! I don't blame them, but it did make me look for alternative sources and scan every piece of wood I bring into my shop

In fact there was a video posted here awhile ago of someone who broke several blades on a saw mill cutting a tree trunk. In the middle they found a fence post (or some type of metal post).

Now THAT'S expensive LOL

Edited July 14, 2021 by new2woodwrk

[kmmcrafts]

4 hours ago, new2woodwrk said:

In fact there was a video posted here awhile ago of someone who broke several blades on a saw mill cutting a tree trunk. In the middle they found a fence post (or some type of metal post).

Now THAT'S expensive LOL

My brother owns a sawmill business and he does use metal detectors on all the logs before they go into the mill. Back in the 70's he had a mill that used a big circle blade with changeable teeth.. When working for him as a teenager I used to look forward to those nails.. it gave me a chance to get caught up stacking the lumber and a chance to walk the 1/4 mile up to the house for a drink of water.  He now uses a big bandsaw style blade.. Boy when one of those things break.. sounds like a cannon went off. Thankful that don't happen often. 

[BadBob]

23 hours ago, new2woodwrk said:

Come on stop being so negative.

Facts are facts. They are neither negative nor positive.

Salvage wood is not free, and it takes time, effort, and money to salvage it. I know this from experience. I have salvaged wood in my shop now and make things with it.