Reclaimed wood score or am i a sucker?

[Scott Cenicola]

267167267168Hi all, first time posting. I have been reading the forums for a few months, and have learned a ton!

I made what I hope is a nice cl purchase today. 20 - 1 x 4 x 12' and 6 - 2 x 6 x 8' reclaimed pine boards for $1 each. I've never worked with reclaimed wood before but always wanted to. I plan on making some end tables, coffee table, shelves etc. I currently use pine a lot due to cost and that I don't get to upset if i make a cutting error.

So here are my questions:

Good score, right? I would have paid almost 200 for whitewood at hd. Definitely a value, if i can make it good usable wood.

How do i dry it? I just got done cutting 1" strips of plywood. I hosed off all the bugs and mud. I plan to stack it in the garage to dry out. I am concerned with humidity because i live in Tampa, but normally the garage isn't too bad. I keep fans running all the time.

I didn't mention that the 1 x 4 is rough cut. I will need to rent a planer to remove the top layers and size it all. I will joint them on my router table. I'm also trying to rationalize that the money I saved and the cost of rental may justify a planer purchase. If this project works out , I would like to look for more reclaimed deals. Any recommendation on a low end planer would be appreciated.

I assume i should purchase a moisture meter and possibly a metal detector?

Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[George Bokros]

Metal detector is a must. I use one with all my rough lumber and with reclaimed it would be mandatory for me.

George

[Roy Harding]

Metal detector is a must. I use one with all my rough lumber and with reclaimed it would be mandatory for me.

George

Abso-freakin'-lutely.

Other than that - make sure you clean it up well before jointing/planing - dirt and grit will chew up your jointer/planer knives quicker than you would believe.

[ken masoumi]

I'd say you scored big time,specially if you are into building rustic furniture.as George mentioned,a metal detector would be a good investment.

[Charles Lent]

You should also carefully inspect this wood for any evidence of insect infestations. Powder post beetles and termites can infest your garage and other wood if you put infested wood near them. Kiln drying kills these insects while it removes excess moisture from the wood. If this wood has not been kiln dried or otherwise treated to kill insects you could be in for trouble.

Charley

[Scott T Smith]

Seems like a good score from a price perspective! Charley is correct about the kiln drying and the others are correct about the importance of a metal detector. You can possibly avoid taking the lumber to a kiln though and sterilize / set the pitch yourself at home.

In addition to the dirt dulling your planer knives, if the pitch has not been set in the pine you will gum up your equipment. Case in point; last Saturday I did a quick project for my wife's horse trailer (she was leaving town with it the next morning), and in order to match up to her trailer interior I grabbed a piece of air dried SYP that I had laying around and joint/planed and sanded it. Afterward it took me 20 minutes to clean the pitch build up off of the jointer/planer, and that was from working with a single 8" x 20" board!

A couple of years ago FWW magazine had an article about a home-built sterilization chamber. You can sterilize lumber in your shop with some foam board and a space heater, and you can probably get it hot enough to set the pitch as well (I set the pitch on pine at 160F in my kiln). I have a copy of it that I can e-mail you if you'd like.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I'm also trying to rationalize that the money I saved and the cost of rental may justify a planer purchaseYes - 100% yes.
Check Amazon frequently for deals on DeWalt and Makita lunch box planers.
Right at this moment, Amazon has a brand new DeWalt 734 for $329.00. A reconditioned DeWalt 734 is actually more expensive ($336.00)

[Howard Acheson]

What was the lumber salvaged from? How dry is it now? Yes, buy a moisture meter.

You mention "bugs". That's not a good thing. Bugs not only will damage the wood but will also migrate to other wood stored in the area. The most effective way to deal with bugs is to have the wood kiln dried to 130 degrees.

[Aleks Hunter]

You done good.
Halfway through the second paragraph My thought was two words: Metal detector.

[Mel Fulks]

From the dark color it looks like that might be old long leaf pine. Never heard of anyone getting that kiln dried,if you don't see bugs in the wood, I'd just use cut of any sap wood .If that is long leaf you did very well.

[Chris Hachet]

Seems like a good score from a price perspective! Charley is correct about the kiln drying and the others are correct about the importance of a metal detector. You can possibly avoid taking the lumber to a kiln though and sterilize / set the pitch yourself at home.

In addition to the dirt dulling your planer knives, if the pitch has not been set in the pine you will gum up your equipment. Case in point; last Saturday I did a quick project for my wife's horse trailer (she was leaving town with it the next morning), and in order to match up to her trailer interior I grabbed a piece of air dried SYP that I had laying around and joint/planed and sanded it. Afterward it took me 20 minutes to clean the pitch build up off of the jointer/planer, and that was from working with a single 8" x 20" board!

A couple of years ago FWW magazine had an article about a home-built sterilization chamber. You can sterilize lumber in your shop with some foam board and a space heater, and you can probably get it hot enough to set the pitch as well (I set the pitch on pine at 160F in my kiln). I have a copy of it that I can e-mail you if you'd like.

I never thought about the use of a space heater, but it makes sense. most bugs die at about 130 or 140 degres, right? it doesn't need to get super hot from what I understand....

[Charles Lent]

I was looking for this recent thread to supply a link to it when I responded earlier.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?205577-Help-with-wood-shop-floor-and-bugs!

This guy has some real problems now because he wasn't careful enough.

Charley

[Chris Hachet]

You done good.
Halfway through the second paragraph My thought was two words: Metal detector.

I have an old Stanley #4 just for rought work, and I often make a pass or two on rough reclaimed wood to clean sand, grit, and debris from wood before it goes through a planer. A whole lot easier to re-sharpen a #4 than it is to re-sharpen planer blades....just sayin...

[Scott Cenicola]

Thanks for all the info, it is much appreciated. OK, I get it lol, I'm gonna get a metal detector. Great info on the bugs too. Definitely got me concerned and i am going to look into drying out asap

Thanks again

[Larry Fox]

Not my intention to take a negative stance and spoil the party and FULLY appreciate that $$ doesn't grow on trees but is $26 really worth the risk? To be sure you have a pile of usable lumber there but maybe not for the purpose you describe. I would look to use it for decking or similar rough purpose as opposed to something that will find a home in my house. I am all for using reclaimed wood if that is your bag but in looking at the pictures I don't see wood that is especially remarkable which would cause me to think it is worth jumping through all the hoops you will need to here. You need to worry about metal, rocks / sand and other stuff being in there that could damage your tools, bugs that could present themselves -- all this for a $26 pile of regular pine.

[eugene thomas]

I was thinking same as larry, usable but not as house hold stuff.

[johnny means]

Honestly, if you had not bought that, they would have probably had to pay to have it removed. The price was right. But, like others have said, material with that much obvious exposure can be problematic. I once had to travel from Delaware to Florida to deal with a beetle problem in a piece I had built 5 years prior. Of course, it was "discounted" material. I have a big stack of "discount" beech in my shop right now that became holy while it seasoned in my shop. Suffice to say I no longer trust just any supplier or source.

[Danny Hamsley]

The good thing is that the lyctid powderpost beetle that got into that guy's hickory floor does not infest pine, just hardwood. Heating it up is still a good idea. The bugs that get into pine are not as nasty. If there is no sign of insect activity after all these years, I believe that it will not be a serious problem.

[Steve Keathley]

$26 for that much usable wood? That's a pretty good deal even if it was bought last year at Home Depot and left outside to weather.

nice job.

[Roger Feeley]

As others have posted, make sure to sand or hand plane your surfaces before you use a surfacer. The rule of thumb is to always start with the tool that's easiest to sharpen and finish with the tool that's hardest to sharpen. A sanding belt would be at the very bottom of that food chain.

The problem is that that old wood will likely have embedded grit that will play havoc with your nice jointer and surfacer blades. Hopefull, your 1x4s are over-sized and you have some room to reduce them.

On the scale of sucker to score I'm going with score but if you you blow out too many blades, you won't be as happy.

[David Helm]

The good thing is that the lyctid powderpost beetle that got into that guy's hickory floor does not infest pine, just hardwood. Heating it up is still a good idea. The bugs that get into pine are not as nasty. If there is no sign of insect activity after all these years, I believe that it will not be a serious problem.

I agree completely with Danny. Very little to worry about. Lyctids
only infest hardwoods. If you we're in the Northwest you could be concerned about Anobiids because they infest softwoods. The good news is they don't exist outside the Maritime Northwest.

[steven taggart]

I bought a cheap store brand planer and lots of the disposable $20 blades to run all my material through first. I don't use a metal detector, just a careful eye. I also throw a cheap blade in the table saw and if the piece is straight enough to cut safely i rip about a 1/4" off one side before I go through the joiner with it. Sometimes the hassle is worth the story. I only use reclaimed wood.