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Prospecting for Wood

17K views 37 replies 18 participants last post by  Paul 
#1 ·
Sweating for Wood

I have access to a mountainous burn pile out behind the local John Deere implement dealer. Lots of pine and cedar, of course, but I've also found some hardwoods (oak, ash, poplar) mixed in among the dross before. Plan to gather up my safety glasses, cordless saw and extra battery, hammer and pry bars and go see what I can find tomorrow.

If successful, I'll post a picture of my haul.
 
#6 ·
I read in a book on using used lumber that you might find some exotic wood from Japanese motorcycle crates. H-D used to use some poplar, but I haven't checked lately. You might find some real finds behind Jap bike shops, though.
Good luck salvaging!
Hawg
 
#10 ·
A couple of ways I find wood. Old dressers and furniture I find for free or $5 can have some good stuff in the drawer fronts and depending how old the piece is may be all hardwood. I found a dresser recently that had 5/4 solid cherry top. It was almost all cherry and maple, amazing what a planer will reveal. Another way is old doors, not sure about in the US but in Canada there are alot of red cedar doors available for the taking from door and window companies, ask first, a coffee and donut donation goes along way. I am using some leftover hardwood flooring right now to build granite top coffee tables, the name I think is Supiciro, it's a Brazilian hardwood alot harder than our North American hardwood, very dark and very dense, best of all very cheap if you find a dealer that installs and brings back the bits and pieces. A little planing and glueing up and presto 3" square table legs and more. A litle imagination and being cheap in nature goes a long way
 
#11 ·
Needle in a Haystack

Click the thumbnails for larger pics .

Here's the pile I explore occasionally- it extends back at least 20 yards. Lots of protruding nails and shakey footing. I try to keep my feet on the ground though and pass on anything I don't believe I can get to, or uncover, safely. You can see how easy it would be to fall or have something fall on me. My tetnus shot is current!:



No great finds to report. Just some pallet oak, two 4×4 oak timbers and a pine board to use for a shelf sometime;



Had a little more time before having to get ready to go to a Noon meeting, so I decided to see what I could mill out of an oak 4x4.



Cut the beam in half to make it easier to joint one side and resawed into three pieces:



Jointed a flat side again and plane the boards to 3/4" - sawed and jointed to S4S:



Did it all again with the second half of the beam and came out with six sticks. Not No.1 select but some decent pieces - some with quartersawn rays.



I'll get to the rest some other time. About 2.5 hours from the time I started loading the van with my tools until I shut off the shop vac after cleaning up. When I posted the first section of the blog, I thought I was going to have all of today off.
 
#18 ·
Where have you discovered gold?

I've read of discoveries in the firewood stack in the backyard. I look among pallets and crates behind area businesses. ( I ask for permission before I take any closer look than a drive-by.)

If you're inclined in this direction, where have you discovered wood to reclaim?
 
#19 ·
I'm a scrounger of materials of all kinds….or should I say enlightened recycler. I'm always on the lookout. If I hear of or see something interesting I look into it. I'm stacking pallets to get enough wood to floor my bedroom right now. I'll probably use antique cut nails and just nail through the existing holes so the pallets are perfest for this. I look for companies that are importing items from asia, africa and south america and see if they have pallets to get rid of.

I just got my 1st bandsaw so I'll be expanding my horizons of recycling. I just added a question in the forums on the best way to resaw a burl that was just given to me. Let the folks you know that wood of almost anykind is interesting. I also check craigslist.org in the barter and free section for folks that are looking to have trees removed or old furniture to give away. Pine and oak I pass by but if someone said they had an old cherry tree or a mahogany table or something similar to remove I'd be there the next day.
 
#23 ·
Last Night's Dumpster Dive

Went for a walk with my wife last night. I have been eyeing this large dumpster behind an old house in our neighborhood for the last few days. I'm not sure whether they're preparing the house for demolition, remodeling or moving, but the dumpster was full.

I took a closer peek in the dumpster last night and went back with the van after we got home. Click the thumbnail pic for a larger view.



I guess they tore out a cedar lined closet in the house. I now have enough 3"-4" wide tongue and groove 3/8"(?) thick red cedar strips for the bottom of one or two blanket chests!
 
#24 ·
Great find. No shotguns appeared from the windows.

I used to dumster dive at a cabinet shop. The owner told me that they empty the dumpster every Wed and they clean out the shop on Tuesday. So the best time to dive was Tues night.

I'd stop in and chat every once and a while.
 
#30 ·
Latest Haul



Stopped by the burn pile a couple times this past week and cut away boards until my two batteries ran down (about an hour total). Spent a couple of hours this morning cleaning them up a bit. (Be careful that you get all the nails out & I did this time.)

Left to right: Poplar, White Oak and Red Oak . . . The Poplar was somewhat of a mystery in the rough form at the burn pile. But there were some large, fairly clear pieces to be had. So I cut three or four out of the pile. Cleaned up nice and I might go back for more.

Not primo, of course, but decent for small projects working around the nail holes, knots and defects. Also, with experience, you gain an eye for what will clean up and what to leave in the pile.
 
#33 ·
Something Useful from the latest Salvage





The results of my latest wood salvage. These are 3 sets of 12 drawers - Oak fronts with Poplar drawer sides. Each set is a different size - 24" 18" 12". Cases will be sized accordingly, of course. Yet I used most the wood from the salvage to build the drawer cases.



Here's a pine version of something similar that I use in my shop for small items - layout tools, etc. I use different knobs on the oak and I'm more particular about the fit. There may be a picture of what I'm heading towards in my projects pictures under fishing collectables.
 
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