Setting here feeling like crap this morning (Flu) reading some of the recent posts.
It occurred to me that maybe we could build a generic list of places where new woodworkers could possibly find free wood for their projects. Without naming specific places; just general areas to look. I HATE to see useable lumber going into a landfill!
1) large cabinet shops. They generally have a dumpster loaded with all kind of goodies. In my younger days I could leap over the side of a dumpster in a single bound. (wasn’t to prideful then to do such things) Obtain permission of course.
2) entrance door companies. Lots of these type places have prime hardwood scraps. I have a place that I go that fills up a large dumpster each week. Since I bought a high dollar door from them they will hold back scraps for me if I call beforehand. I’m speaking of 12/4 honduras mahogany up to 3′ long and 20″ wide. Walnut, Cherry, and other good stuff creeps in occasionally. I generally fill up the back of my pickup each trip.
3) small country saw mills. They generally will have a slag pile of less than prime stuff that can be used for some projects.
4) home construction sites. Great place to look for small pieces of dimensioned lumber (generally softwoods). They generally will pile scraps out front a few days in advance of the clean up guy coming around.
5) timber clearing sites (highway construction, Lakes, etc). Take your chain saw and a spare blade, tire chains, and a big trailer. Find out where the Corp of Engineers has a site in progress. I once got 1000+ bf of walnut from a C of E site. I was there the first day they opened it to public cutting. Took 7 large walnut logs to the saw mill.
any other ideas?
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
PlaneWood
Replies
In my younger days (it's been a while), I used to go to motorcycle dealers and relieve them of packing crates. Permission was gladly given! Don't know if they're still made of wood but I used to get lots of small pieces of all sorts of wood. I would pull all the nails, then cross-cut the nail holes out. I ran all the pieces through my planer and came out with three different widths (3/8", 1/2" and 1 1/8"). Most shorts (under 3'), unknown varieties varying from red to brown to yellow in color. Some types very dense and almost all had a distinct "jungle" smell when cut into. Have two pieces about 3" X 3" X 6' that feel like cast iron! Came from Honda Goldwing boxes. Use them for pry bars when moving very heavy objects.
The rest have made small pieces like magazine racks, display boxes etc.. Well worth a look.
Regards,
Mack
I've recycled several pallets. The wood is short, filthy, and full of nail holes, but I've found some remarkably figured pieces. I got a 2x3 chunk of some flavor of white oak that had 60 annual rings from corner to corner. Some oak with a burl edge on it. Some nice maple.
My current work bench is made of White Oak timbers I found in the bayou behind the house. After washing all the mud off, resawing, and planing off the surface, it looked like new wood. Found six 6"x6" timbers 8' long. Don't know how long it had been there but it was hard as nails!
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)PlaneWood
I can't remember how it goes, but I think it is pallets that are used for fruit or other types of foods can only be put on hardwood pallets. I think because of the possibility of insects, they can't use the softwood pallets. Then everything else gets put on softwood pallets. I have built a couple of projects out of Oak pallets I have found.
Dark Magneto
I am a newbie(and still in my younger days!) and I go dumpster diving at my local hardwood supplier and millworking shop. I can get most of the wood I need for my projects this way and only have to actually buy wood if I am after something special. Of couse this means sometimes I have to plan my projects around the pieces of wood I can find.
Here in this rural neck of the woods, there are more barns and sheds then people. Always one in some state of collapse. Most owners are thrilled to see some of the wood reused. Mostly softwood, but, I got 112, 1x12x16ft, nice old pine boards for next to nothing last spring. I figured it out, its enough to build cabinets for my shop about 20 times over.
Planewood hates to see good wood go to a landfill, so do I, but to the local landfill I go about 2 times per month. There's a big pile of wood people drop off there. I search for the pieces with spalting on the ends and resaw it, sticker it etc. I've learned a lot doing that - what spalted wood was too soft and far gone and what wasn't, and I learned on short pieces that cost nothing. I find spalted oak and birch there too and occasionally apple wood. For the later, go also to the nearest orchard. I've found they periodically take down trees and replant and usually like to give the wood to someone who buys their apples and will put their trees to good use. In New England the electric co occasionally takes down 200 yr old maple trees located along the old country road, that pose a hazard to power lines. I recently got for free 50 bd ft of beautifully spalted sugar maple by keeping my eyes open and being the first there. Good luck!
I was a taking some college coures at night and a bud of mine started raiding the dumpster behind the college woodshop. The last day of class he showed me some beautiful intarsia that he made from the scaps. It had walnut/ maple and rosewood ect real nice and for free.
Darkworksite4:
Estamos ganando detrás el estado de Calif. Derrotando a un #### a la vez. DESEA VIVO LA REVOLUCIÓN
As my brother-in-law ownes his own hardwood floor company he saves all his scrap and leftovers for me of course sometimes he needs to use some of my tools for custom jobs. So it works great for both of us. Contact area hardwood floor companies...
John
In the area I live, the timber industry is #1. There is no shortage of mills with stacks of culls that can be had for near nothing. Just plane them and cut out the unsuitable sections. There is also a mill where I can get kiln dried 3 common hardwoods(oak, cherry, ash, maple) prior to planing for $150/1000bf. Run it through the planer, trim it up and its just as good as anything. Ask around, it never hurts to ask.
You may also want to check with the local arborists, and line clearance tree companies. When I was in the tree business we were always glad to have someone come around and take some of the wood off of our hands. Less cleanup for us.
Also, on complete tree removals for power companies, we were not required to cleanup anything that would not go through the chipper. Homeowners usually love to have someone get the logs out of their yard. The only cost to you would be a courtesy cleanup of the sawdust and remaining small twigs etc.
Stone slab distributers get large crates (6'x10') of mable and granite slabs. I don't know what the wood is but it is extremely dense and typically imported. Sizes range from 1"x10"x10' to 4"x6"x10". They're usually happy to get rid of it.
I think that I got this tip from somebody else within Knots.
Compressed board or peb board comes on pallets, well sometimes, made of what it looks like Mahogany from Brazil. These pallets are 4 x 8 ft and the long boards (approx 1 x 6) are 8 ft. The wood is dense, heavy and really beautiful and it is free.
I took apart two of these crates in my local HD parking lot, ran it to the planer and ended up with beautiful redish boards about 1/2" to 3/8" thick. Of course there are those ubiquitous nail holes every now and then.
Next time that you are at Homer's pad, checkout the pallets for the plywoods, compressed board, peg board, etc and see if it's worth it to do some parking lot demolition.
I must confess that after I planed two pieces, I stacked all of the lumber in one spot in the garage and it became another 'pile' for future use. My garage has many piles. Sometimes or according to my wife, out of control. Maybe I will get to the boards before Y3K
For full disclosure purposes I must confess that I love dumpsters and I practice the pack rat principles very efficiently...
If you have a military post near you, they sometimes tear down old barracks buildings and such. Lots of old (pre WWII) pieces of pine and oak flooring posts etc. Around here they knock down the old buildings then burn all the wood or sometimes send it to the dump.
Try checking out business that use large amounts of steel as a raw material. I know of a manufacturer of steel containers/silos that gets a lot of the steel from Asia. There is always pallets for the taking outside of the building. I have a number of 4x4x8 pieces pf philippine mahagony that I got there as well as some beautiful pieces of curly maple from another pallet. There are often pallets 12' long with the 4x4 mahagony as well.
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