Tearing up Used Furniture vs. Paying Lumber Yard Prices

[Steve H Graham]

Today I paid $20 for a crummy pine board at Home Depot. On the other hand, I checked Craigslist and found all sorts of solid wood furniture for under $50 per piece.

Am I the only one who draws the obvious conclusion about where to get seasoned hardwood? I have a sledge and a crowbar...

[Jeffrey Martel]

Your first mistake is buying wood from Home Depot. They charge 2-3x the cost of what you would pay at a hardwood lumber dealer, for lower quality wood.

[Jim Dwight]

I wouldn't look at old furniture as a good source of wood. The older of my two younger brothers used to refinish furniture and it was a reasonable way to get things at low cost. But for wood, the pieces would be short and thin by the time you got the old finish off. Value of short, thin, boards isn't great.

As has been stated, you need to find a better source. I've bought several times from a sawmill and been happy with the resulting material and price. It takes a bit more effort, however. There is a guy local that I've bought from too. He requires almost no additional effort and is cheaper than Home Depot. But for softwood, I also buy at Home Depot and Lowes (Lowes was cheaper last time I needed some wood). I haven't purchased that at a sawmill but I bet I could - and get better material at lower cost. I think I paid about $1.25/bd ft for the softwood 1x12s I last bought from Lowe's. I had to pick through the pile to get decent ones but I don't think that's a bad price. Clear would have been more and Home Depot was closer to $2/bd ft. $2 is pretty expensive for #2 common softwood.

[Steve H Graham]

There's another local place that has more variety and better service than Home Depot, but the prices on pine and poplar are only a little better. I tried the other place first. Their pine looked like a truck had been parked on it, and the other cheap alternative, poplar, all appeared to be cut from the outside of the log. I didn't want to buy something that looked like it had the potential to warp.

I have no idea where people in South Florida are supposed to get decent wood at reasonable prices. I doubt there is a sawmill within 200 miles.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

What are you building? IF you choose, you can recycle pallet wood. A surprising amount of wood (useable or not) is in a pallet. There is a whole new world of people that do that. Google pallet upcycling. Lots of info out there. Best of all, pallets can be found for free. There is a LOT of work involved in harvesting a few feet of "good" lumber, but it is there. If you can find the right market, people actually pay more for an upcycled item, like a end table or coffee table because it was made of pallet wood and it's the "green" thing to do.

BUT, recycling or upcycling used wood has problems, namely nails and other metals in the wood. A good metal detector is a necessity as well as a blade in your saw that is cheap or can cut metal. Pallet nails are SUPER hard, I don't think anyone makes a blade that can cut nails and wood... Other than a recip saw. That's how I take apart pallets.

Just a thought.....

[Greg Sznajdruk]

Pallet nails are SUPER hard, I don't think anyone makes a blade that can cut nails and wood... Other than a recip saw. That's how I take apart pallets.

Just a thought.....

Don't know how hard pallet nails are but have used this type of blade for demo work for years.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...+cutting+blade

Greg

[Victor Robinson]

In my experience tearing apart old furniture is only good for scrap wood. It comes in handy sometimes if I didn't have to expend a lot of energy or money in obtaining the wood. Recently a friend gave me an old solid hardwood desk he no longer wanted. Got quite a bit of small but excellent white oak out of it, which allowed me to make a lot of domino tenons, hardwood runners, and other jigs for the shop.

I wouldn't try to make it my primary means of wood acquisition. Even if the cost seems low, it is labor-intensive and difficult to get larger boards out of.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Don't know how hard pallet nails are but have used this type of blade for demo work for years.

Wow, thanks for the info! Didn't know they existed. Will have to get one. But I'll still use the recip saw to seperate the stringer from the slats.....
Pallet nails are way harder than "normal" nails. Plus, they are spiraled, making them real hard to pull out (on purpose). I've been making micro turning tools with them. They seem to work prety good for micro turning....

[Troy Turner]

Not sure how far south into FL you are, but check out woodfinder.com . Let's you put in your zip to get you started. Also, see if your guy has Alder down there. I switch from pine to that. Love the look and easy to work with. Smells better too I think

[Brian Henderson]

There's another local place that has more variety and better service than Home Depot, but the prices on pine and poplar are only a little better. I tried the other place first. Their pine looked like a truck had been parked on it, and the other cheap alternative, poplar, all appeared to be cut from the outside of the log. I didn't want to buy something that looked like it had the potential to warp.

I have no idea where people in South Florida are supposed to get decent wood at reasonable prices. I doubt there is a sawmill within 200 miles.

I don't know, Google found a bunch of them in seconds.

[Larry Edgerton]

Your first mistake is buying wood from Home Depot. They charge 2-3x the cost of what you would pay at a hardwood lumber dealer, for lower quality wood.

What he said.....

[dan petroski]

the only time I use recycled furniture wood is to repair other furniture. wife is an antique sewing machine restorer so we use some old wood there.
we burn 50,000 lbs of hard wood every year at $120.00 a cord or roughly 500 bd ft and save several logs to run through my sawmill. it is too bad shipping is so expensive we could redistribute some of our local wood.
you might look into joining a woodworking club in your area. they will know the sources for inexpensive wood . our woodturning club has a wood swap every year. see Northern Maine wood turners. com..... Dan

[Cody Colston]

I buy a lot of stuff at Home Depot, including some construction lumber, but I don't consider them a lumber yard even though they like to tout their "indoor lumber yard." All that means is that I have to pull my own lumber, load it on a cart, push it to the check-out and then load it into my truck/trailer...usually all by myself. I find their select Pine to be exceptional, both in quality and price. Their no. 2 stock is just that...no. 2 grade and no better or worse than any other no. 2 grade lumber.

I also second the suggestion to use woodfinder.com to locate lumber dealers in your area. Be aware, however, that quality hardwood lumber is not cheap. If you have the tools to joint and plane your lumber, then buying rough-sawn would be the best option...if you can find a source for rough-sawn. Good luck with your endeavors.

[Jason Mikits]

. Their pine looked like a truck had been parked on it, and the other cheap alternative, poplar, all appeared to be cut from the outside of the log. I didn't want to buy something that looked like it had the potential to warp.

The outside of the log or the jacket is typically the best part of the log. No juvenile wood, which shrinks more, and more clear. If it's dry it shouldn't warp anymore unless there is a drying defect. Just saying....

[Rod Sheridan]

There's another local place that has more variety and better service than Home Depot, but the prices on pine and poplar are only a little better. I tried the other place first. Their pine looked like a truck had been parked on it, and the other cheap alternative, poplar, all appeared to be cut from the outside of the log. I didn't want to buy something that looked like it had the potential to warp.

I have no idea where people in South Florida are supposed to get decent wood at reasonable prices. I doubt there is a sawmill within 200 miles.

Steve, most of us buy it rough and joint/plane it to dimension...........regards, Rod.