Replies

1. 
   [email protected] | Feb 20, 2021 07:55pm | #1

   Chemically strip, scrape, clean, sand.

2. 
   _mj_ | Feb 20, 2021 08:55pm | #2

   Quickest way is mechanical... buy the cheapest planer you can find with a helical cutter and carbide inserts. You'll be in for about $400 or so. I think Wen has one in that range. Sanding would be misery on a grand scale.

   You could also resaw off the finished surfaces, but a good bandsaw will be far more expensive. Since you plan to make furniture you'll be ripping the tables down anyway.

3. 
   john_c2 | Feb 21, 2021 01:57am | #3

   Thickness planer. You'll spend less on a planer than you would on sandpaper, and save a kajillion hours too.

4. 
   esch5995 | Feb 21, 2021 02:25am | #4

   All I can say is you better be getting them free to go to all that trouble. On one hand I commend you for repurposing the wood, but it will probably be more headache than it's worth and if you invest in a planer to strip them mechanically you could buy rough wood and plane it yourself and not deal with the aggravation and limitations that reusing the wood from the tables will bring you. A 36" x 60" oak table would yield at most 15 bf. of lumber probably less truly usable and it would all be undersized after planing the finish off. Locally I can purchase 4/4 red oak for $3.45 bf. That translates to $51.75 for 15bf. you couldn't give me a table to make me go through all that work and expense of picking it up and tearing it down to end up with a substandard product. Just my opinion, if it works for you don't let me stop you. Just don't think the only place you can buy wood is the big box stores at their highly inflated prices, local hardwood dealers exist almost everywhere within an hours drive and can be a tremendous cost saver.

5. 
   lat_axe | Feb 21, 2021 04:45am | #5

   Nearly every piece of wood I've used to make nearly 400 items, over many years WW, came free - or was swapped for a proportion of it made into a piece of furniture for the giver. A lot was rough planks but around 25 - 30% was old furniture or furnishings torn out of refurbished buildings.

   An example of the latter was the old chemistry lab bench tops from a local university, some of which were afromosia and some teak, mostly 35mm or 40mm thick.

   I mention the chemistry bench tops as they looked the worst of the old furnishings from which I've reclaimed timber in terms of their surface: chemical and flame burns; stains and clags of every colour; and various through holes for taps, sinks, gas pipes and the like.

   However, an electric hand plane with carbide knives set to take just 0.5mm or a bit less will take everything off the surface of such items to reveal often pristine and high quality timber underneath - timber that's also very well "seasoned" and perhaps ready for immediate use in something else, if it's been take from the sort of room environment in which your new piece will live.

   An electric hand plane is very quick at removing the "skin" of finishes, water damage or any other unwanted thin surface layer on furniture parts. You can buy a very inexpensive electric hand plane; and the knives are inexpensive too, so it doesn't matter than much if you chip them. They still work for a good while when chipped anyway.

   Once the murk is removed, it's a quick process to finish the wood revealed with a hand plane, sander or machine planer and a saw to cut out the parts that are too damaged or infested with a cluster of nails, rusted screws and the like. It really doesn't take very long at all to end up with some often very high quality stuff.

   There will be an accountant's reckoning if such stuff is bought and used for commercial purposes. I often feel pity for them woodworkers who lack the freedoms of we hobbyists to do what seems right (reclamation instead of stuffing it in a landfill then chopping down more of The Amazon Forest) rather than merely making monetary profit (or loss). :-)

   Lataxe

6. 
   user-6480500 | Feb 21, 2021 10:29am | #6

   Around 1978 lead was removed form most all finishing products. Boat finishes still had lead in it for a few more years. If you want to risk your health that's your own business. I suspect some third world countries still maybe doing this.

7. 
   lat_axe | Feb 21, 2021 02:55pm | #7

   Connect dust extractor to chip and sawdust port of planer.

   Plane off the murk and grot outdoors.

   Wear a face mask an' all.

   Lataxe

8. 
   GalaxyGlue | Feb 23, 2021 01:11pm | #8

   Thank you all for the information. Great point user-6480500, I hadn't thought of that. Think I'll take Lat_axe's solution and plane them outside with a mask.

   Thanks again all.