# do you use recycled wood.



## bryano (Aug 19, 2007)

dose any body here use recycled wood. There are several places to find recyclable wood. I often find myself looking on street corners for discarded furnature, many of the items found are solid hardwood. discarded couches allways have recyclable lumber, more often than not mahogany or oak. Ive found solid tables made of cherry, cabinets made of alder, and dressers with oak drawer fronts. Another place to look is yard sales. usable wood can be acquired for a fraction of the price of new wood. I also check my local furnature factory for cutoffs and wood scrap, you would be suprized at how big and useable these scraps are.
Recycling wood may take a little more effort but I for one think its worth it. Not only will it save you money it also saves trees. So please recycle if you can.

Any feedback on other recycling resorces will be appreciated.


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## MsDebbieP (Jan 4, 2007)

those are some great ideas. 
skids from factories is another good source.


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

"Warm and Free, warm and free, that's what it take to get a hold on me!" I think that was Bobby Bare.


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## Dadoo (Jun 23, 2007)

Listen closely…I'm a nurse and have seen this many times before here…You have the Lumberjock fever. A new powertool might ease the symptoms, but there is no cure. Sorry. Keep wood-working.

As for using recycled wood…Lets call it "reclaimed" wood. Recycled sounds like Trex decking. Not really wood. I use a lot of reclaimed maple flooring in my projects. The imperfections only add to the character. I've also built my benchvise out of reclaimed cherry. I even have this POS chicken coop/ storage shed that I built 15 years ago out of reclaimed plywood from a concrete project! There is not a plumb wall in the whole thing and the posts are set only a foot in the dirt. All the NY storms so far have yet to crash this shed (go figure) and I want to build a new one closer to the shop…Guess maybe a "friendly" fire is needed to bring it down.

So keep "reclaiming" the wood you find. One mans trash is another mans treasure. An excuse that won't work long with the wife. So I'm banned from junk yards. Bummer.


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## Tikka (May 14, 2007)

Reclaimed, recycled, used wood, call it what you like - Weather its a an old chair or a telegraph pole - take it whenever you can.

There are some fantics woods out there, some of which you cannot get anymore. even the smallest pieces can come in useful (especially unusal woods) for making inlay and veneers. and what is left can go to heat the workshop or house.

As for Dadoo's comment about our illness - I can confirm that buying a new tool helps to reduce the symptoms, but it is only temporary - then you must but more to remove the symptoms again


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## cranbrook2 (May 28, 2006)

I use reclaimed wood for 95% of the projects that i build.
I tear down old fallen barns and i now have a 10 year supply of barn wood.
If you would like to see what i do with reclaimed wood go to http://community.webshots.com/user/cranbrook2


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## bryano (Aug 19, 2007)

Wow John! Thats alot of projects with reclaimed wood. Great bird houses.


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## Frank (Nov 19, 2006)

Hello bryano;
--and then also, anytime I cut a tree down and use that wood….I am starting to re-cycle the wood of that tree. This is just an-other way of saying…."all is yours, take what you will and use all that you take"!

And then I'm also banned from some of my friends workshops since whenever I come over, I want to go digging through their wood scraps box….oh well, another story. Every where I go, I'm on the lookout for 'leftover', 're-cycled' and 're-claimed' wood. I spent Saturday kayaking a lake up here and then on my way in, I paddled the shore looking for driftwood, branches and lumber. The bug has me so bad that come spring I go down to the rivers and collect whats coming down river after spring thaw….yes I have plenty of stories about where to get wood and maybe some day I'll write a blog story or a book on this….

Thank you.
GODSPEED,
Frank


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## Buckskin (Jun 26, 2007)

I use the heck out reclaimed wood. Everyone of my projects on here came from left overs from something else or pieces of scrap. My stock is getting low though. I am gonna have to get the ol' hawk eye out again.


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## SteveRussell (Jul 23, 2007)

Hello,

A significant amount of my production turning wood comes from recycled, reclaimed or repurposed timber. Quite a lot of it comes from trees blown over in storms, also from land clearing for new construction, highway expansion and trees that have become dangerous or diseased.

I've also gotten a few blanks (Walnut, Flame Redwood and Birdseye Maple) from old furniture… Coffee tables, headboards and couches. It's nice to be able to give it a second life and it makes you feel like you're being a better steward with our precious natural resources. Take care and all the best to you and yours!


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## lazyfiremaninTN (Jul 30, 2007)

HMMMMMM….......reclaimed/recycled/used wood…...MMMMMMMMM….....I LOVE IT ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I have a bad habit of when I drive around and I pass a new construction house (which are going up like mad around here) I will stop and ask if I can dig thru their burn/discard pile. I have never had a builder tell me no….less for them to have to get rid of. I use it for all my garage/shed projects and I had built one hell of a great work bench (which my ex-wife traded to a contractor to build out the garage before I could get it out). The uses for used/reclaimed wood are endless and if you look hard enough you can find almost anything….just be sure to ask permission or you can be busted for theft.


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## RobS (Aug 11, 2006)

Use it all the time, find it all the time. Drift wood, torn down fences, thrown out furniture, etc.

Frank would have a lot of scrap to dig thru in my shop. Of course I don't call it scrap, I call it future projects.

You should check out Ron 's site and his log salvage program.


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## mikeP (Sep 10, 2007)

I have access to more free wood than I can possibly store. A friend's farm has wood from 2 or 3 dismantled barns, all stacked and just sitting there in the elements. He has used a little, but I am free to take as much as I want. I have a job coming up tearing down a large redwood deck (in good shape) to make way for an addition. Don't know where I'm gonna put it all. Neighbor worked at a business that got loads on oak 2×6 skids, I've got a stack of those. Same farm as above has a 5-foot stack of 4×4 oak skids, free for the taking. I'm all about re-used wood. I do buy veneer plywood and some cedar.


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## bbrooks (Jan 3, 2007)

Wow, I would love to find a cache like that. I would be building things all the time. Of course, I would build a few things for my suppliers too! Well done on the recycle.


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## mikeP (Sep 10, 2007)

Yeah, I've been pretty lucky when it comes to wood. I'm not selfish though, if any of you find yourself driving through madison wi, look me up, there's always extra lying around.


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## TreeBones (May 21, 2007)

This is the best wood you can find. My favorite is old redwood water tanks, mmmmm…. All the wood I have is "Salvage" cut from logs that are wind fall, building site clearing, deadfall and left over's from large harvesting operations. I have a web page devoted to making the most of our resources.


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## TheJollyCarver (Jun 29, 2016)

I love using recycled wood. just built a little table out of a set of drawers ripped out off a counter unit that I saw at the dump and a birdhouse out of some other scrap that I can't quite remember where I found it, though likely it came from different placed.

I have also been finding and using a lot of driftwood lately. after a recent move, I now love close to a waterfront that is littered with the stuff. I often take my dog for walks down by the water and come back with an armload of driftwood each time. great for small projects and carving. Made a couple candleholders and kids toys and tobacco pipes, which I find really fun to make. Have about 20 pipe blanks in my workshop right now that just have the stem and bowl holes drilled and are waiting to be shaped and sanded.

I'm not afraid to think outside the box either. I made a tobacco pipe and a whistle out of a broken hatchet handle and had enough left over to re-handle an old knife I had laying around. I've made quite a few necklace pendants and earrings from broken wooden spoons, and I've carved Christmas ornaments for my family members out of the previous years' Christmas trees.

you can check out some of my other projects on here too. Most of them used recycled wook


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## JCamp (Nov 22, 2016)

I've used a lot of old barn lumber from sheds that I've torn down. U can get in my projects if u wanna see some of it. It was all less that exciting stuff tho. Best thing I came across was a big 4 inch thick by 12inch wide by about 4 ft long piece of pine.m but my father in law snagged it. Pretty sure it became firewood which is a shame cause it would have been a nice mantle or shelf. 
Over this past winter I tore down two decent sized decks that were all treated lumber. The last couple weeks I've been using it to build some garden type stuff. So far it's been perfect and I'm even reusing the screws so I haven't really spent any money on the building materials. 
I've love to find some fancy woods but pine and oak it pretty well good enough for me. 
I agree on saving trees. I live in the boom docks but there's been far to much clear cutting lately


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