Trash Wood

smokeatillyjoe · #1 07-31-2003, 02:04 AM

Dose anyone here use trash wood ( old dirty wood that contractors throw away) to build things with??Thanks.

DayDr · #2 07-31-2003, 09:41 AM

Any chance I get............wood is wood. Even if only for framing another project around the house........better than paying for it.

smokeatillyjoe · #3 07-31-2003, 11:52 PM

I like to take old dirty wood and build nice things with it and go back whrere I got it from and show them what I made.Most people don't belive that it is the same wood.I will post some pics of some stuff soon...smokeatillyjoe

Dachshund · #4 08-03-2003, 01:35 PM

I get a lot of my wood out of a dumpster at a local door manufacturer and dumpsters at contruction sites. Most of the time they are either going to burn it or bury it, so why not put it to good use and earn a little money while your at it?

Larry Wilson · #5 08-03-2003, 04:12 PM

I've used wood from skids we get at work, and also found some great walnut in a pile of camp firewood.
Got some redwood at a maple syrup distiller, they were getting ready to burn it. So there's wood out there if you look.
Larry

DayDr · #6 08-03-2003, 08:01 PM

never occurrred to be a dumpster diver.......will have to check it out.

smokeatillyjoe · #7 08-04-2003, 01:43 AM

Hey everybody,thanks for all the replys.So you have never been dumpster diving DayDr?? I 've been dumpster diving many times.I use to run a vending route for a man and one of my stops was a cabinet mfg..My boss said one day, that he didn't know if he had a vending srevice or a lumber transport srevice..Wood is wood and free wood is better...Smokeatillyjoe

StuW · #8 08-05-2003, 12:26 AM

As it happens, I have been building a home next to my woodshop and have been collecting all the scrap pieces. After some judicious planing and sawing, I have salvaged quite a bit of yellow pine that I used for making step stools, boxes, etc.. It sure beats taking all the scraps to the dump.

injury · #9 09-22-2003, 05:33 PM

have yet to do anything with what I recently acquired, but in my search for trashwood I came across a lodge resort someone is building in my neck of the woods.

It's all log cabin construction with wooden floors. So they let me grab all the scraps my truck can carry (they were just burning it before). Figure I'll just rip the tounge and groove off the floor pieces for regular projects, or leave it in place for the back of racks and such for a different look on other stuff.

Don't forget to check for nails in used wood. Some I grab out of interior remodeling (studs and such). I always go through it pulling nails (cutting off the parts and throwing away the nails I can't remove) before that stuff makes it to my normal woodpile.

Maybe someday I'll be able to afford a real nail detector, instead of the old magnetic stud finder I use now

Remember if nothing else the old 2X's make great shelves, and who can't use another shelf in their workshop.

Charlie · #10 09-23-2003, 01:11 PM

I can't emphasize enough what INJURY said about checking for nails in "Trash Wood". A piece of metal in wood can become a missle when it hits a saw blade. Only the Lord knows where it might strike, the head, the neck, arm, chest. The results could be disasterous and expensive (medical bills). Just do everything you can to assure there is no metal in that wood before sawing them and then....DON'T stand behind the saw blade. Stand off to one side. Safety Glasses are a must too. When an accident happens, it happens suddenly and so fast that it's over before you know it started.

By the way, I love to use wood others are throwing or plan to burn. It's fun and there is some beautiful grain and color in some of that wood.

scroll-1 · #11 09-25-2003, 05:51 PM

I am still trying to use some 3/4 edge glued oak i got last year, but still pick up scraps. wife calls me packrat . Instead of wearing the planer out I use the table saw to make thin lumber out planks. put the Dado blade on and adjust to cut no more than 1/4 inch then start in the center of the board and run it thru then turn in end or end and run it thru again, then adjust the fence and repeat. I leave about a 3/8 runner on each side and use a 6inch wide push stick. Cut the runners off and run the board thru the planer for a final thickness. Really saves time and planer knives. I Don't have very good luck resawing so came up with this. I work with Habitat for Humanity and always make the home owner something out of scrap from the house, usually a cross, or small clock, or any thing small and easy.

kkmbknap · #12 09-28-2003, 03:02 AM

i get parts in on pallets that every once in a while have spacers of black walnut or maple and i "high-grade" these pieces, i have gotten some of the finest and most highly figured black walnut burl and tiger maple that i have ever seen, if you are willing to dig a little you can find treasures that you would spend a fortune on from a specialty wood store for next to nothing.

grybeard22 · #13 09-29-2003, 12:35 AM

Hey trash wood is great!
I just gotta tell this one for all to read!

I rented a house a few years back that had a dirt floor garage and open frame attic with 5 ft peak ...now as u guys I have to have a "get away from the BS spot " and thats the garage/workshop....this doesnt work with dirt floor.
I walk every morning as I have diabetis and this helps control the bloodsugar level...on one of my many walks in this new area I discovered a building site where a contractor was remodeling a small office complex of 5 offices.....and low and behold out in front was a VERY LARGE scrape pile!!
So later on that day I went back there and talked with the site boss and asked him about the scrap pile as I was looking for wood to do my shop floor....told me that if I took it all I could have it as he would have to pull guys off the job to get it moved as they were getting ready to pour concrete there for a parking lot.
to make a long story short I called a buddy of mine and that day we hauled 3 pickup fulls out of there! now all this was half sheets of construction board 3/4 thick 4x4 sheets I counted 80 of these when I unloaded it all and close to 50 2x4 with maybe 6 inches gone off the end not to mention dozens of 2x6 and 4x4.
I not only was able to get the floor in but made a floor in the attic area for storage and built a nice storage shed for my buddy at his house and still have tons of it left ...sold some of it recently and bought a new toy for the shop....used wood lathe for $100.00

Well thats my story ...just thought you might like it ....I have a laugh everytime i think of it.....by the way I bought lunch for the crew at that site 3 days later!!! ,,,lol

Dave · #14 09-30-2003, 12:07 AM

I guess I am not really grasping the concept of trash wood. I've never seen any. It's all first class to me.
Seriously, I agree with all of you. When I was working in the construction field there was never a problem with what to do with the scrap wood. I already had it loaded up.
Went on a call one night, (I'm a retired Captain with the fire service) to a fire alarm that turned out to be a false call, but this was an apartment complex under construction.
So it's midnight and there is a dumpster full of plywood and 1 x boards. So I loaded it up on top of the hose bed of the fire truck. Fortunately we didn't have any calls before we got back to the station and I could get it all unloaded. That would have been a mess.
The guys on my crew thought I was nuts, but they sure liked the Christmas presents I made them that year, especially when I told them where the wood came from.
Scrap wood? There ain't no such thing folks!
Dave

Jr_Ranger · #15 10-07-2003, 11:22 PM

Hi,
I found a cabinet shop that tosses all their scraps in a dumpster! Asked if I could check it out, lady looked at me strange but said go ahead! I went diving and came out with so many pieces of of 1 in. Red Oak I thought I died and went to scroller heaven.
Dumpster Diving Proud
Sylvia