A few weeks back I slapped a small workbench together from leftover wood. I used 4×4’s for legs. As I was cutting and assembling, the end grain on them caught my eye.
I think I purchased both from Lowes.. The one on the left a few months ago. The right one about a year before that. What a difference a year makes. Not surprising the righthand one was heavier.
jt8
Replies
Yikes. Why did you buy that one on the left? Was their entire inventory like that?
Actually, I'm often amazed at the HIGH QUALITY of lumber I can find amongst the "2-by" stock ... IF I take the time to pick through it. Some awesome tight-grained quarter-sawn stuff mixed in with the crap ... even amongst the treated southern yellow pine lumber.
I found a few 2 x 4 studs at Home Depot that were 90 percent heartwood ... and I counted SEVENTY annual rings in one of them!
But, alas, that was a couple years ago ... I haven't found anything quite that good recently, but still some decent stuff.
Happy hunting!
Allen
That was one of the 'good' ones. I had dug through half a palette of 4x4's to come up with 4 12footers that were halfway decent. Although the left-hand one WAS the least good of the 4 (which is why it was in the leftover pile).
For small projects I've been known to shift a whole palette of wood trying to find a couple decent pieces. Some times it takes a whole palette to find a couple good ones. For larger projects you're really just screwed. If you have to order by the palette, you're gonna get garbage and better order extra. If I get enough garbage I will haul it back for a credit or exchange.
Although one thing I like about Lowes is that you pick out your wood before you pay for it. I don't care for lumberyards where you buy it and then go to the yard to pick it up... only to find out that their selection is crap and you have to go back and get a refund (or get stuck using the crap). Even worse when the big load of crap is delivered.
Which leads to my near fascination with wood from old houses/barns. Some of that old growth stuff is fantastic and in some cases is worth the labor of salvaging it.
We had a salvage job last summer that we got all the woodwork (baseboard, chair rails, plate rails, window/door trim and the like), in a 1200 sq ft house for $30 (plus the labor involved with yanking it out). We didn't win the bid on the 'bones' on that house. At another demolition auction (just a couple weeks ago), the oak trim in ONE room brought something like $575 (plus labor). Wheeew! I wouldn't pay that much for a whole house of trim (especially not considering all the labor to get it out).
The real bargain is finding the houses that are about to get knocked down. Some of those the crew will let you go in and strip what you want for free (or for a case of beer/donuts). Problem is, by the time you see the dozer/track-hoe, it is too late.
jt8
Regarding recycling - I'm currently working on replacing an old deck made of old growth redwood that some bozo years ago had painted with some evil brown stuff that made them look terrible.
When I first cut into the old redwood 2*6 deck board I couldn't beleive how tight and consistent the grain pattern is.
I'm saving the boards and plan to run them through a joiner to take the brown stuff off, build some Adirondack chairs and an outdoor table. Great way to make lemonade out of lemons
Wylie
Success = Work+ Risk + Luck, in that order. Muriel Seibert
In the sixties, during urban renewal, a building inpector in Saginaw told me he saw a "lumber baron's" house bulldozed. The original owner had something like 16 columns in a huge living room, each was made from a different special species of lumber. The columns were 16" diameter and 12 feet tall. They, along with stained glass and so on, were destroyed and carted away to a landfill.
I understand you can't pick through lumber every time. Next time I buy a whole load, I'll have to ask about return policies ... guess I always figured you're pretty much stuck with what you get! I bought a bunch of clapboard at a local lumberyard ... and three-quarters of it was garbage. Some of it was returns from someone else, I'll bet.
In the eight years I've been in Orleans County, N.Y., SIX nearby c.1840 houses have been demolished with no attempt to salvage anything from them. When I think of the antique glass, the wood ... and the cost of reproduction hardware ... it sickens me. On the other hand, it takes a lot of time and labor to do the salvage ... then remove nails, etc.
I've got chestnut floors in my house that are incredibly dense-grained. American chestnut is a fast-growing tree when young and in the open. I can only imagine the deep-forest conditions when these trees were growing. I counted nearly 200 annual rings across a five-inch board (which was installed in the 1830s). That tree was growing VERY SLOWLY from 1630 to 1830!
Do you ever put aside lumber that's TOO GOOD to use? I've got a collection now of boards that I'm saving for "that special project" ... but when will that be?!
Allen
Edited 9/16/2004 9:33 pm ET by Allen
Pretty much every day around here another house gets knocked down that would have had something worth salvaging. I suppose they need permits to knock them down? In which case maybe if you had a friend in the permit office, he/she could tip you about which ones were about to get zapped. Typically around here they are GONE before you get a chance. You just drive by and notice another house missing.
As far as the salvage: If I'm going to use it as a structural part of the house, I'm not too concerned about getting nails out. I'll more likely just trim them off with the Sawzall. Anything I am going to put through a planer or a table saw, I try and get all the nails out of. Carbide blades are expensive.
As far as putting 'good' stuff aside, I don't do that much anymore for the simple reason that my storage space is currently very restricted. I've had to pass on several good mis-match lumber deals for that very reason.
jt8
I've bought 2x8's at Lowes that varied in width by a quarter inch. Don't think that's normal--hope not!
I agree with Allen - I live in Northern CA and you can find good lumber at HD and Lowes but you need to be willing to pick through the entire pallet of lumber, which takes some time and can upset the lumber guys in that area of the store if you don't put them back all nicey nice
Wylie
Success = Work+ Risk + Luck, in that order. Muriel Seibert
Yes, that is normal in 2x8, 2x10, and 2x12
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There doesn't need to be a couple years between purchases to find that kind of variety. I can get the same span ifof differences in the same load.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!