# How Often Do You Use Reclaimed Materials For Projects?



## Cricket (Jan 15, 2014)

How often do you use reclaimed materials for your woodworking projects?

What special challenges do you have to overcome when working with reclaimed materials?

Please share pictures of some projects you have built using reclaimed wood.


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## diverlloyd (Apr 25, 2013)

99% of all my stuff is offcuts from a local woodworking shop. all of it would be thrown out so I happy to buy it from them. They charge me what it costs them to put it on a pallet and load it up for me. So not reclaimed unless you consider it reclaimed from the trash pile.


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## madts (Dec 30, 2011)

All the time. I even recycle my time.

-Madts.


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

I mostly use reclaimed stuff around my house and when people ask for it.


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

My chicken coop out of 95% pallet wood.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Have been known to recycle barn wood…









Resaw Oak rafters into something more usable…..once all (or almost all) the nails have been pulled…..

Or, find an old water bed frame at the curbside trash..









And make a small table. The rebate for the plywood base of the water bed was reused to make a decent glue joint. 









And had enough left over for a sofa table….


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

Most every piece used in my shop had another purpose at one time. Some provided shade and some, nuts or fruit. So I'm just the first time recycler.


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

I use reclaimed and cutoff wood for quite a few projects.

Travelling bench was all made from dunnage



Pine plane till from the cabinets demo'd out of the kitchen during it's remodel.



End table from old sewing machine drawers and more dunnage



A friend of mine tore down a barn on his farm and gave me some of the wood, so I've used it for several projects. I've also used quite a bit of apitong trailer decking cutoffs given to me by another member of my local woodworking guild and even browsed the firewood pile to get small pieces for projects.

Biggest challenges? In the case of the dunnage, it's not the best wood or it would be sold as lumber, so you have to really work to find the usable sections. It also takes quite a bit to square it up and you have to watch out for embedded materials (nails, staples, rocks, etc.) For the barnwood, it's that it is so old, weathered and dry, it can be difficult to work without falling apart.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Quite often as I have a local salvager who uses the wood for excellent tables and chairs.
I raid the off cut bin from time to time.
Bill


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## mudflap4869 (May 28, 2014)

The majority of my projects come out of the firewood pile, or from trees that friends and neighbors have cut down. The problem is that I am running out of space to store Candy's salvage wood.


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## DirtyMike (Dec 6, 2015)

Only when i can get old box car planks.


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## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

All the time. From simple projects










to the floor of my shop










to shop cabinets










to my workbench










and tool cabinet


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## Cricket (Jan 15, 2014)

I am absolutely LOVING all the pictures!


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## MT_Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

This started life as a pallet.


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## Gentile (Jun 3, 2013)

I've seen some great projects made from recycled wood. 
Me, I tend to be wary, I once recycled some wood from an old water bed ( remember those? ), I was ripping a piece from it, a 4×4, the saw bogged down as I ripped through a 3/8" lag bolt. The head had broken off and I didn't know the rest of the bolt was still in the wood, I had a piece of it hanging in my shop for a while as a reminder…
A buddy of mine, long ago, picked up some bowling alley pieces, great stuff, except for the millions of nails holding the wood together. It did make cool looking kitchen counter tops…


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## DirtyMike (Dec 6, 2015)

Yeah I have foud that bowling alley lanes are best cut with a demo blade.


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## WearyTraveler (Oct 31, 2015)

Almost all of the wood I use is reclaimed. Either pallets, barn wood, or such… I had a friend drop off oak flooring from a barns loft a while ago. 
My biggest concerns are hidden nails.
I'm trying to buy an el cheapo planer so that I can rough plane the wood before running it through my Dewalt.


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## boxcarmarty (Dec 9, 2011)

Most of mine is reclaimed from a tree, does that count???


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## firefighterontheside (Apr 26, 2013)

> Most of mine is reclaimed from a tree, does that count???
> 
> - boxcarmarty


If you asked the tree it would say it was using the wood first, so I guess.


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## tyvekboy (Feb 24, 2010)

Almost everything I build is from wood that was given to me or what I've found. I'm allergic to buying wood.

A cabinet shop close by throws out a lot of wood that they can't use or were left over from jobs. Right now I'm working on a potting bench from steps a neighbor was going to throw away cause he's building new stairs.

Here are some of the bigger projects that was completely from recycled wood.









Tool Cabinet. All the wood was headed for the landfill.









Workbench. Recycled hickory base and recycled hardwood pieces glued up for tops.









Liliuokalani rocker. 100 percent recycled hickory.









Except for the back and baseboard trim, the rest was from recycled wood.

All these have been posted here on LJ.

You just have to keep an eye open for free wood opportunities.


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## oldnovice (Mar 7, 2009)

Since my favorite lumber yard closed after 110 years I tend to go with reclaimed as I have a couple of hudred board feet of Iowa farm house native red oak. 
I very rarely buy anything from the big box store … maybe some plywood!


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## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

After a bad experience with pallet wood, I refuse to use it. I obviously got something that had been treated. Every time I did anything with it I got the smell of a septic tank. I ended up with a sinus infection. I've pretty much sworn off pallet wood. Well until my neighbor brought me a pallet that I used to build feeder troughs for the quail in our neighborhood. Thankfully it was nice clean untreated Doug fir. Barring that, pallet wood…never again.


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Had used some 4×4s( non treated ones) I bought from Menards. Made a frame for a Gazebo couple years back….well, Mother nature didn't like it too well….wind and a heavy rain fall one day broke it into pieces…
I resawed some into 2×2 posts, the rest into slats….and cobbled a chair out of the parts..









Just some old 4×4s…









Waste not…..


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## DocSavage45 (Aug 14, 2010)

Finishing up a lawn tractor/wood shed from "some day I'll use that materials" Overages that I saved and dimensional 2x's from my small animal barn rehab into my shop.

No pictures today but It's starting to get REALLY COLD HERE IN MN. Will eventually blog it or vlog it.

Nice upcycling here.


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## Desert_Woodworker (Jan 28, 2015)

> I ve seen some great projects made from recycled wood.
> Me, I tend to be wary, I once recycled some wood from an old water bed ( remember those? ), I was ripping a piece from it, a 4×4, the saw bogged down as I ripped through a 3/8" lag bolt. The head had broken off and I didn t know the rest of the bolt was still in the wood, I had a piece of it hanging in my shop for a while as a reminder…
> A buddy of mine, long ago, picked up some bowling alley pieces, great stuff, except for the millions of nails holding the wood together. It did make cool looking kitchen counter tops…
> 
> - Gentile


Yes it may look like "treasure" but "beware" of the hidden unknowns…..


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## DrTebi (Jun 16, 2009)

I would use reclaimed wood more often if there was more available close by… the one place closer to me, about 45 minutes from my house, has only a small selection of reclaimed redwood from old olive tanks. I used a bunch of that to make this double workbench for my shop:










Apart from a lot of clean-up work, it was quite nice to work with. Very dry however, and soft (well, it's redwood…). It was probably "old-growth" redwood though, the growth rings were very close together, much tighter than what you will find at your big box store.


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## Bittersweet (Apr 14, 2016)

WOW! First off, great question. Secondly, I'm very impressed with your resourcefulness guys. There are some killer projects here. 
I try and use recycled stuff wherever possible. The last projects I did using recycling pieces was putting in new windows. I didn't want to use brand new wood when I had suitable wood in the garage.

The biggest challenge is dealing with warped wood and squaring it up but it's all worth it if it means saving time and money.

My pictures are much less impressive cause they are just windows.




































The way I look at it is that this wood isn't even going to be seen so as long as it's good wood, I'm ok with it.


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## MrUnix (May 18, 2012)

Whenever I can get good stuff, I'll use it. Even the rough stuff is still good for shop jigs, fixtures and other similar projects. Most projects are a mix and match, but here is a gift I recently made for a neighbor completely out of reclaimed material… cedar for the frame, 1/4" plywood, window glass and wire all were scrounged out of construction site dumpsters over the years and would have otherwise gone to the landfill:










Cheers,
Brad

PS: I guess "reclaimed materials" also encompass stuff besides wood!


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## wacki (Jul 20, 2016)

Everything I build is at least 80 % reclaimed material. I love the challenge and it guarantees it is all one of a kind. Check out my page on lumberjocks to see what I have made.


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## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

Glad you asked !
I made major life changes on 2015.
Where I live now I am working tearing down old barns, graineries and salvaging any wood I can get for free.
I almost finished my workshop , I purchased NEW 2×6 framing, the REST is all salvaged materials. Metal was hail damaged, interior is reclaimed plywood , reclaimed barn wood.
I also build rustic furniture from any salvaged material.

















































































Just a few of the things I enjoy doing


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## splatman (Jul 27, 2014)

Almost all the time. Very seldom do I buy wood.


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## devann (Jan 11, 2011)

A good portion of the projects I post of this site are reclaimed material as are a lot of what I offer for sale. Commissioned projects on the other hand are mostly made from new materials, but not always.

I think the biggest problems I've faced using reclaimed wood is preparing it making sure that it doesn't damage my tools.

Here are some examples for you Cricket,

A bird feeder made from cedar, ipe, pine, & redwood,









A cedar table made from leftover sauna scrapes,










A porch swing made from reclaimed redwood. Notice some of the tiny dark spots. Screw holes from when it was a deck.


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## Cricket (Jan 15, 2014)

It's threads like this one that make me wish we had a "like" button. These projects are amazing.

devann, I love that bird feeder!


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## tyvekboy (Feb 24, 2010)

Cricket … we do have a LIKE button … it's just called the FAVORITE button instead … lol.


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## Acts65Woodworks (Nov 30, 2016)

I rescued some African Mahogany cutoffs from the scrap pile of a local furniture maker. They set them in a pile to use for firewood/kindling.


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## splatman (Jul 27, 2014)

Them furniture makers must be mad now; why else would they put up a gray Do Not Enter sign?


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## bandit571 (Jan 20, 2011)

Had enough of those 4×4s to resaw into a table for the bedroom….









This stuff USED to be the flooring from an old school house. Clean-up involved ripping the tongue and dirt filled grooves off. It also has a coopered top. (flat tops are soooo boring…)


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## fuigb (Apr 21, 2010)

I've not yet cracked the code on posting pics to this site so you'll have to take my word for it for the time being, but "free" is on my list of favorite words.

Dimensional construction lumber discarded from remodeling jobs in my area become the bones for many of my utilitarian projects. I love the smell of for that's air dried for fifty year's. The biggest challenges here are hidden nails but for this I have a hand-held metal detector. Also, often, compromises must be made with regard to aesthetics. Like I said pics are a challenge for me but i have teed up what could be a blog or extended project on the build of my knock-down kiln framed with this material.

Next up are hardwood pallets, both domestic and international, which cross my path. I haven't bought lumber to speak of in the past year and at the rate I acquire and refined this stuff I'm unlikely to ever buy lumber until the next downturn in the economy and auto sector. hard maple? I got it. Red oak? Tons of it. Bubinga? Yeah, I believe that's what it is. A bunch of this mess is becoming a proper workbench right now. Challenges: finding the right combination of mismatched boards to compose a nice story out of the grains can be tough. Another challenge is hiding or incorporating nail damage; "spin the bastard 180 degrees" could be my signature line…


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## PeteStaehling (May 3, 2015)

I use American chestnut from old buildings, wood scrounged here and there from old broken furniture, sinker cypress hauled up from river bottoms where it rested for the last 100+ years, and off cuts from various sources.

Not all of that was free though, the cypress and chestnut are purchased.


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

My best sources of old lumber are stuff I get off the curb on trash day, and from the Habitat For Humanity ReStore. I've gotten 1"X12" red oak planks at ridiculous prices, as well as maple and poplar, some of which was unused, just machined to shape. They tend to overprice some things, though. I've seen copper pipe at higher than retail. Nothing like making a rolling workbench out of a waterbed! Dr Tebi, that is really some nice tight grain! Reminds me of what we used to get in wood shop in the '60s. Mostly, though, for nice projects I just buy from the wood stores.


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## splatman (Jul 27, 2014)

> I've not yet cracked the code on posting pics to this site…
> 
> - fuigb


Till you do, Just post links.


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## Texcaster (Oct 26, 2013)

I've used a lot of second hand mixed hardwood (eucalypts) for carpentry around my place. Because of hidden metal, it is used as it comes, in all the common sizes.

I'm using Redwood, Oregon and now **************************************** for luthiery. Oregon and Redwood were brought into Australia from 1900. Some very nice old pieces can be found. The guitars are Redwood, the ukes are Oregon with **************************************** fingerboards, veneers and bindings.


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## devann (Jan 11, 2011)

Thank you Cricket. We love how you keep the site moving along. About that "like" button, would it be possible to add a way to better organize our favorites folder?

Some nice looking instruments Mr. Earl


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## ArtMann (Mar 1, 2016)

This heart pine was salvaged from a 19th century school house on our farm. I cut the letters out with a CNC router. I am not overly fond of this kind of thing but lots of people are crazy about it.


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## 000 (Dec 9, 2015)

*


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## JackDuren (Oct 10, 2015)

1950's Bowling alley for conference table…..


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## Bittersweet (Apr 14, 2016)

> A good portion of the projects I post of this site are reclaimed material as are a lot of what I offer for sale. Commissioned projects on the other hand are mostly made from new materials, but not always.
> 
> I think the biggest problems I ve faced using reclaimed wood is preparing it making sure that it doesn t damage my tools.
> 
> ...


There's so much great work shown here but this birdhouse is stellar


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## devann (Jan 11, 2011)

Thank you Nikki


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## htl (Mar 24, 2015)

Even the hose was found. lol


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## ADN (Sep 20, 2016)

Many things….we just redid a 1890-1900 German stone house in the TX hill country, and saved all old growth pine heartwood, old folks call it "pumpkin pine" because of its color.

6×6, 4×4 and 3×14 inch boards….

Made my workbench, 10 feet long 32" wide 36" tall and 5" thick, also made some windows for my shop, and my Moxon setup.

Cabinet maker had some plywood left over, so it became my new dedicated miter station….


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