Reclaimed Wood

[Tom Young]

After reading John Daugherty's post about his reclaimed barn wood table, I thought it might be interesting to see what other's have made from reclaimed wood.

I was fortunate enough to recover some heart pine from buildings destroyed during hurricane Ivan back in 2004. The buildings were constructed in Pensacola, FL between 1850 and 1900. I was able to salvage about 200 bdft of material (primarily roofing boards and rafters) from the buildings. Unfortunately, the rest went to the local land fills. The roofing boards were 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" thick, 10"-18" wide and 20' long. The rafters were 2"x6"x20'. They were very rough when I got them, having 100+ years of various types of shingles on them. They cleaned up very nicely. I ruined one set of planer knives in the process; if you don't find the nails, the planer will! The wide assortment of nails was interesting too: cut nails, copper and galvanized roofing nails, and galvanized common nails. I really showed the history of the roofing material used over the years. I built this chest of drawers from some of the material. Finish is orange shellac and wax.

Tom

[Roy Wall]

Beautiful Tom..........the chest looks great!!

Basically 2x16x20' used for roofing boards!!!!...........they don't build em like they used too!!:eek: :)

[John D Watson]

Although its not in the same catagory as yours it was still made of reclaimed white ceder 2x4. It turned out so well I'm building another for the other end of the deck. Oh and great job on the dresser.

[glenn bradley]

John, that is an amazingly cool looking door.

[glenn bradley]

Great find on the wood and wonderful use of it.

[Eugene A. Manzo III]

I was told planing reclaime wood (without nails) was hard on a lunchbox planer and i should avoid it. Is this true ? If the wood has been varnished or polyed ?

[Tom Young]

John,

Don't sell yourself short. That is beautiful door. I really like the rustic look of the door with the black iron hardware.

Tom

[Tom Young]

Beautiful Tom..........the chest looks great!!

Basically 2x16x20' used for roofing boards!!!!...........they don't build em like they used too!!:eek: :)

Thanks Roy. You should have seen me bouncing down the road with a load of 20 footers hanging out of the back of my pick up. :D

Tom

[Tom Young]

I was told planing reclaime wood (without nails) was hard on a lunchbox planer and i should avoid it. Is this true ? If the wood has been varnished or polyed ?

Eugene,
Planing reclaimed wood is hard on your planer knives. In addition to the metal that might be in the wood, finish will dull and nick your blades also. That said, your planer will remove old finish faster than any other method I’ve tried. So, it’s a trade off, time vs. money. It seems like it always comes down to that.

Tom

[Ralph Okonieski]

Very nice! Finish really gives it a nice depth!

[Dan Drager]

I made this table, a copy of one the LOML fell for in the Orvis Catalog, from wood reclaimed from a fallen barn. There is Oak, Pine and the grey weathered apron is Cedar.

I now have enough weathered cedar to last a lifetime.

[Joe Unni]

I sold this at a local art auction a couple of months ago. The theme for this auction is alway lanterns and recycling. The description below was copy/pasted from what was posted at the auction. Sorry, just being a bit lazy.

The lantern itself
61557
Side detail
61558
Top detail
61559
Warmly lit
61560

Description of Lantern: ____Shoji - the modern term for translucent paper doors or windows - was the inspiration behind this lantern upon finding a piece of corrugated plastic in a curbside throw away. The side cutouts originated with just two free-hand pencil lines that were then transcribed and cut allowing just a hint of light to sneak out of the sides. The slightly curved and beveled top help to frame the gentle glow of the Shoji.

A hand rubbed wax finish over oil and polyurethane was applied bringing out the beautiful grain contrasts of the red oak sides and Spanish cedar top and bottom.

Material sources:
Thrown away corrugated plastic
A pallet
An old bed rail
Scrap plastic laminate
Store bought lighting and cord

Thanks for looking,
-joe

[Dan Drager]

I almost fogot about these. I reclaimed this Mahogany from an old bartop that was going to be thrown out. It was covered with laminate decades ago. Once I got the laminate and glue off, I planed through the years for bar gunk and cigarette burns to get to the good stuff. I actually shimmers. The legs are milk painted poplar and the rest is 3 coats of varnish and 2 rubbings of Mylands clear.

Gotta love free wood!

[Jim Becker]

Wow...that heart pine really looks wonderful! Bravo to you for putting it to good use in it's third life!

[Tom Young]

Dan, those tables are gorgeous (all three). It's hard to believe someone would cover a mahogany bar with laminate. The the old saying "you can't judge a book by its cover" really was true in this case. Well, done.

Tom

[John Daugherty]

Here is a picture of a shaker clock ala Norm. It was made from mahogany that was taken from a broken dresser. I was told it was cherry. It was stained really dark and when I planed it I realized that it wasn't. I do think that the panel in the door is cherry. I didn't do a very good job with the panel glue up as far as grain and color match. This was my first "real" woodworking project. I still need to make the knobs. I've had blanks glued up for about 2 years now.

[Rick Williams]

Eugene,
Planing reclaimed wood is hard on your planer knives. In addition to the metal that might be in the wood, finish will dull and nick your blades also. That said, your planer will remove old finish faster than any other method I’ve tried. So, it’s a trade off, time vs. money. It seems like it always comes down to that.

Tom

I've got a Delta 580 that I use for my "clean" stuff and an older Ryobi AP-12 that I kept specifically for reclaiming old lumber. Lumber wizzard and the Ryobi planer have saved me a ton of money and allowed me to reclaim many board feet of heart pine and oak. While the blades for the Ryobi aren't cheap I once got over 400 bdft of heart pine from an Insurance agency that replaced a room full of file shelving for nothing. Boards had been painted and didn't realize what I had till I planed em down.They just wanted it hauled off. In addition, I have a friend who works for HoneyWell and sometimes gets some real nice skids made from exotics shipped in from over seas.

[Jamie Shrope]

I just love the Shoji lantern. Great job!

[Jim Becker]

John, the clock looks great in that reclaimed wood! It's a nice design, too. I have one from the same plan in the kitchen made with walnut off the property, but have been thinking about making another one for in the addition...if I don't do some form of tall clock.

[Michael Faurot]

I've picked up the habit of constantly scanning the sides of the road when I'm driving, just to see if there's anything interesting worth picking up and dragging home. Most of the time I don't find anything as I have discriminating taste when it comes to choosing my trash. :) But every now and then I find something intriguing.

Below is a small box made from some reclaimed Beech. The Beech came from one such scavenging episode when I found a beat-up chair laying in several pieces. The inlays are Purpleheart and Bloodwood, but are not from reclaimed wood.