Pre-used wood

[jHop]

So I have visited the website for a company locally, A Piece of Cleveland, and found their story to be interesting. It has provoked some thought on my end, about locating alternative sources of wood.

Namely, wood that has been used in other constructions.

There is a video of their story, which I'm attempting to post here, but the short story is that they take apart various buildings, disassemble the pieces into individual sections of wood, and then repurpose those materials into other furniture. This goes beyond just going to your local Habitat For Humanity ReStore location and installing a door that was used in another building somewhere. They both create functional furniture and built-ins, and works of art.

So I was wondering, are there any sources of lumber you have considered, that have been pre-used? Such as old barns, doors, flooring, et cetera? And what do you look for in this instance?

And what have you considered making from some of these items?

Would you consider this repurposed lumber, recovered lumber, recycled lumber, or reclaimed lumber?

and do you have any other inspiring stories like this somewhere?

[jwatson]

i have made several things from pallet wood. some of the barn wood is spectacular, wonderful grain color and species selection.

[Vermont Carpentry]

jHop,

I've made several medicine cabinets out of reclaimed interior trim that I have removed in the course of a remodel. The CAUTION here is to make sure you have personally located and removed every nail, screw and fastener.

Mark

[duckkisser]

i took a old organ out of the garbage and completly redone it. striped it down to bare frame.and turned it into a writing desk....only bad thing is im afraid to move it so i dont scratch it or dent it since it is one of my first projects.

[dwacker]

We have a reclaimed lumber warehouse local. Oak beams are real common, Ive used a bunch of 8/4 maple gym flooring and mahogany beams. You gotta have a metal detector to use this sort of stuff.

Don

[duckkisser]

a reclaimed lumber place never crossed my mind. where do you live dwacker like to see if i can find a place like that around my home.

[dwacker]

a reclaimed lumber place never crossed my mind. where do you live dwacker like to see if i can find a place like that around my home.

The reclaimed place I use is in Olympia WA.

Don

[Mister Pants]

I've used palletwood in the past when I've gotten hardwood pallets. I've also taken some broken down chairs and used them for pen stock. I'd certainly work with larger pieces if the event arose. I love taking what could be construed as trash and finding new life for it. That said, a softwood pallet is probably gonna get re-used by me as kindling for the backyard fireplace .

[GNiessen]

We dismantle an old house where my father-in-law grew up. The old Tulip Poplar beams were resawn into 3/4" boards to use and window trim. They are very green in color. A few nail holes and worm tracks in the sap wood, but that just adds character. 100+ year old wood is still strong and sound. As long as it is not exposed to water it lasts a long time. And

The metal detector is a must. And double check everything. I had an old cut nail leave gouges in my planer bed. And I thought I was being careful.

[Bombarde16]

I dismantled an outbuilding and gained a pile of dry construction lumber filled with nails. I pulled and pulled and pulled...and still missed a nail which ended up destroying a set of planer knives.

(No worries, they were getting old and needed to be replaced anyway.)

Obviously, a metal detector is essential. That done, however, that old building has already given me a Roubo bench and is in the process of giving my daughter a play house. After that there's at least half a dozen other projects on the waiting list for secondary lumber. All for the cost of a few sweat-drenched afternoons in the sun.

It's not a time-efficient way of building things. There's a lot of picking through boards, flipping boards over, moving boards around, picking through some more boards, cutting off scrap, milling even more insurance stock than you'd usually prep. Then you end up gluing together what's left to make the parts you need for your project. And when it's all said and done, you have the added design feature of knots everywhere.

Would you consider this repurposed lumber, recovered lumber, recycled lumber, or reclaimed lumber?

Means mostly the same thing, particularly repurposing and recycling. (To recycle isn't just picking something from the trash, it must ultimately be given a new, useful purpose.) But I suppose you can recover lumber without claiming it for yourself. Claiming something without recovering it, OTOH, is just plain daft.

I'd skip all of the above and call it salvage.