Used lumber might not seem like a great source of material to build a piece of fine furniture out of; however, looks are deceiving. Rough cut lumber from old barns, factories, and yes old homes are an excellent source of high quality hard to get lumber. This is especially true the older the structure is.
Granted it is highly unlikely that you will be contacted by a commercial property owner who needs to have a turn of the century factory building demolished so that he can build a new high rise on it. What many of these developers don’t realize is that the lumber in the old build could be worth the effort of calling in a salvage team that will salvage the timbers and resell them to woodworkers for a tidy profit.
So, how do you, a weekend woodworker get you hands on 100 year old plus lumber from an old building ready to be demolished? Take a drive in the country and ask. If you have family that owns farmland, ask them if they have any structures that they are planning on getting rid of. Most of the time they will let you take the lumber just for taking down the structure. Do you know the owner of a small business that is planning on remodeling? They might have some old lumber that they are going to throw away that they may let you have for free.
Back in the 1800’s it wasn’t that uncommon for barns, homes or small factories to be constructed via the post and beam method. Take a closer look at the wood. The beams might be cypress or longleaf pine. Longleaf pine is slow growing tree that takes about 100 to 150 years to reach maturity and then can live for about another 150 years. The grain is tight and straight. It is a highly desirable wood to use to build fine furniture out of.
As a last resort there are several web sites that offer for sale salvaged and reclaimed lumber. Most are legitimate; however, do your due diligence and check them out before placing an order. I say that because you are going to be paying retail price for the lumber and depending on the type it can be quite expensive.
Why buy recycled lumber when you could get it for a little sweat equity and save the lumber from being thrown in the dumpster or being burned?
