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Bookcase from trash

Project by Hibernicvs posted 207 days ago 248 views 0 times favorited 6 comments Add to Favorites
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Hibernicvs

63 posts in 353 days


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bookcase recycling trash salvage

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Bookcase from trash No-picture-s No-picture-s Click the pictures to enlarge them

And a beautiful shot of a lamp base, too. This started life as an obviously much-rebuilt plant stand I found in the dumpster behind the building where I live. The design was okay, but the execution was very poor—nails and screws (all of different sizes), the shelves mis-fit into dadoes, etc. I turned it upside down, planed down the warping and cupping, sanded it smooth, added “trim” made out of old sign posts I found (almost 1×2, but we’re talking cheap wood here; measurements were not an important factor in their manufacture, which gave me room to plane them down and shape them and have good wood left over to router), then screwed on a piece of scrap plywood I found for a top (where the bottom used to be). The back is hardboard from a changing table I found in the trash and dismantled for wood. The only things I bought, aside from the supplies like new screws and stain, were a sheet of 1/4 lauan plywood and the edge beading, and those were scrap from another project. I stained the whole thing ebony to hide the discolored wood, and it worked well. Three coats of polyurethane and it was ready to go … except that I discovered that the shelves were too close together to hold “normal” sized hardbound books. It’s a paperback haven now.

-- Hibernicvs


6 comments so far

View cajunpen's profile

cajunpen

5348 posts in 552 days


posted 207 days ago

Nice piece – just goes to confirm that “dumpster diving” does pay off sometimes.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

View FlWoodRat's profile

FlWoodRat

286 posts in 395 days


posted 207 days ago

One Man’s Trash is another Man’s Treasure. Nice Job.

-- Smile. Life can be FUN!

View Dominic Vanacora's profile

Dominic Vanacora

401 posts in 355 days


posted 207 days ago

Hard work always pays off.

-- Dominic, Trinity, Florida...Lets be safe out there.

View clieb91's profile

clieb91

350 posts in 421 days


posted 207 days ago

Great Save, I had to haul some stuff to the landfill today. Such a waste of wood going on there.

CtL

-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."

View Hibernicvs's profile

Hibernicvs

63 posts in 353 days


posted 206 days ago

What really pains me is driving down the street and seeing all the perfectly good items, or needing only a small repair to make them useful, being thrown out. I suppose it’s a good thing I have only a one bedroom apartment, or it would be overflowing with all the furniture and semi-raw materials I see being discarded. I helped one guy in our church choir, a recent immigrant, to furnish most of his apartment with stuff I “rescued,” some of it needing no repair at all. Now he says he should have taken everything I offered, because the items he bought new are falling apart already, after less than a year. In that sense, I guess I’m a follower of R. Buckminster Fuller, do more with less, only I modify that slightly by adding, “only make sure that it’s better than what the others are doing when they use more to get less, or less to get less.” Inexpensive furniture that falls apart after a few years is no bargain. Just be sure to choose the right good thing first, so you won’t be tempted to “change decor” every couple of years.

-- Hibernicvs

View Dusty56's profile

Dusty56

1171 posts in 174 days


posted 59 days ago

looks just dandy ! way to recycle : )

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

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