There’s no market for furniture-grade timber anywhere near when I live, so I struggle often to find what I want.
I do have a lot to do with a local demolition guy – specialises in buildings and other structures (houses, factories, bridges, rail lines … you name it) and he has a yard packed full of every sort of demo and recycled stuff … including a lot of timber.
So, looking for some 100 by 100mm (4 by 4 imperial) timber for a tool chest’s rolling stand, I visited Mr Symons.
Came home with 3m of clean and clear sawn 100 by 100 rimu (ex factory roof) for $NZ40. Rimu is a New Zealand native, nearest equivalent in the north is probably cherry.
And 6m of 100 by 100 macrocarpa (aka Monterray cyprus) for $NZ20.
That’s nearly 10m (~33 feet) of first grade 4 inch by 4 inch timber.
What’s the experience around knots – do many of you use recycled timber, and if so, where do you get it?
Malcolm
Replies
Had a friend in the Navy who was the cheapest, thriftiest woodworker I ever knew. He was a guy who would look for ways to sharpen sandpaper. No construction site was safe from his scavenging. I don't think he ever actually paid for anything. He got a bunch of free 12/4 purpleheart from a trucking company where it had been used for cargo skids on tractor trailer rigs.
Myself - I make small boxes from just about every hardwood native to North America from wooden pallets I get free from the local newspaper office. For some reason, the newspaper needs a bazillion pallets and they cycle through that place so there's a discard pile. So I pick through the pile outside their distribution site until I find the pecan, ash, cherry, locust, maple, etc., that I'm looking for.
Take care, Ed
North America from wooden palletsDon't you just love those HEAVY machine tools.. Half of the time I don't know what the wood is.. I just use it.. Big old rusty nails and holes you have to work around as well as ground in rocks, metal, glass, whatever that timber sat on or skidded across.Old skill saw with a old nail cutting construction blade take care of most of those problems. Metal detector would be nice....
Malcolm
In the city that I live in located in Illinois, they have a dump where any resident can drop off branches, brush, trees cut down, etc.... Well, many of the local landscapers and tree removal guys use it as a place to dump truckloads of logs. The city grinds them up into mulch for the residents. It's always loaded with cut up pieces, usually firewood size. But, on occasion, I've found some logs between 4 and 8 feet long that are useable. I have a woodshed full of timber from downed trees. I have maple, cherry, red and white oak, walnut, and a little ash. I'm also getting ready to mill an apple tree this weekend. It has unbelievable color in it!
Jeff
Salvaged the roof rafters and joists when we did a 2nd story addition to our house. The lumber was old growth douglas fir cut in the early 1930s. I used it to make a work bench, lots of fun, each of the 2x4s were at least as heavy as a new 2x6 if not heavier. The attached file is the work bench.
Nice job Troy!
Malcolmhttp://www.macpherson.co.nz
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