“Don’t touch that! You don’t know where it’s been!”
If I had a dollar for every time my mom told me that… well, let’s just say I would have a really awesome cabinet saw in my shop!
Instead, I have a more modest model in my shop, and I’m still always looking for a good, budget conscious (read: Cheap) source of wood. So, imagine my surprise when one of my friends told me he goes out on weekends to check the ‘pickin’s’ in the neighborhood dumpsters.
It seems that a lot of folks who don’t want furniture tend to throw it right out into the trash. From cheap particleboard and knotty pine to the occasional piece made of mahogany, oak or even TEAK(!), he’s found some pretty choice timbers nestled in the refuse.
This week’s question – have you ever gone trash picking wood out of the refuse stream. And, yes, this includes everything… pallets, old furniture, etc.
[poll id=”98″]
Every spring the town has a free pick-up of discards. Just set out stuff at the curb and the Boy Scouts (with help) pick it up. The night before is trolling heaven for getting some old furniture and recycling the wood. Picked up some QSWO, walnut and maple in the process.
Does Craigslist count as the dumpster?
Just got some curly maple out of a dumpster last week. Old school furniture, easels to be more precice. Have not decided what to do with it yet. Good wood is good wood no matter where it comes from.
We have beach and river sweeps here. I have always been leary about wood soaked in salt water.
Can anyone advise me what I need to do to use the glory fines. With winter storms coming the tidal creeks will have good pickens. respectively submitted
Tom Churchill
Ehhhhhh, not sure! Was someone offering for you to come out and pick up the stuff they were throwing out?
Dang… that is a good question.
Here in Florida, there are plenty of people who work with drift wood…. Not sure how they handle it…
Most of what I build, I build out of wood from old pallets
I voted “something else.” That just means that I haven’t had the chance yet. However, given the chance, it’s heads first into the dumpster!!
with everything going on in my life i find i cannot afford to buy wood and also i tend to not have good sources to buy wood. I have on several occasions picked up cedar fence pickets from neighbors replacing rotted and broken sections. I found some 4×4 oak posts that were most likely in a barn. I often also dig through the cutoff bin at home depot for bits of wood.