Gaperville

Deconstruct old furniture. Not nice old furniture, but the kind people set out for the trash when it doesn't sell in the garage sale. And Craigslist. Quick search of Denver finds walnut, cherry, mahogany, beech, maple, oak, teak, hickory, chestnut, etc... Some cheap. Example a couple of solid hickory cabinets $35.

Also, I recently installed birds eye maple floors, 3 1/2" X 3/4". I got it for about $2 a foot at lumber liquidators. They have deals where you have to buy all of what they have left of smaller sized odd lots. In my case it was 480sft. But they had lots as low under 100sft of various exotic and American hardwoods. I have a fair amount of birds eye left over that I will use for projects in some cases ripping off the tongue and grooves and planing off the corrugated back side. I'll have 3" x 2 3/4" up to 6'.

For exotic and the rarer American hardwoods overstock and odd lot flooring can be found a lot lot cheaper than s4s off the shelf. Also, peoples hardwood floor leftovers can be found dirt cheap on Craigslist, if not free.

Here's a current ad:

We have torn out about 150 square feet of hard wood floor. The wood is newer, and was in good condition (about 3 years old). It could not be re used as flooring as much of it came up broken or splintered. However it is quality wood, and could be used for something else if you are creative.

Its yours if you can pick it up!