Free Wood Sources

[qlty]

Do you have any sources or ideas on where to obtain free wood?I have a large wine store near me that gets most imported wine in wooden boxes that are discarded.I have obtained many of these free and made many projects with the wood most of it is 1/4 to 1/2" thick and various types of pine.Another source is flooring I was able to find discarded oak and maple most 3/4 to 1 " thick but only 3" max wide but good for name plates and funny signs

[Travis]

You can try cabinet shops. Just tell them you're a scroll sawer and were looking for cutoffs and scraps. A lot of time, they'll let you just cart it away. If they do charge, I'd imagine it's pretty cheap.

 

Create an account with LumberJocks and seek out local woodworkers. After opening up a dialog (via post comments and forums), ask them if they have any scraps they'd like to unload. Woodworkers are notoriously generous to the "brotherhood."

 

Also do a little dumpster diving. Especially during garage sale times. Lots of folks throw away some good wood after the sale. It can be cabinets, old bed frames, old dressers. Check in the dumpster behind thrift stores too. They get a lot of stuff they can't sell, so they'll toss it. Salvage that wood.

 

Some people will upgrade their fence to vinyl and discard their old wooden fence. This is really cool wood because its pre-weathered. I think it looks awesome and make great wood for projects. If nothing else, plane it down to get the wood looking fresh again. I even considered putting an ad in the paper where I'll remove people's fences for them. I'd salvage the wood I want, then haul the rest to the dump for them. Free wood for you, free labor for them.

 

Keep an eye out on Craigslist too. Many times folks have lumber they'll just give away if you haul it for them.

 

This is all I can think of. Anybody else have any creative ideas for free lumber?

[Travis]

H'bout recycling old pallets. It worked for this guy!

[woodinhead62]

There's a company in my town that produces laminate top furniture, mostly the electronic industry; they throw away all kinds of laminate tops, shelving, and laminate all the time. (Their dumpsters are like treasures chests!)

I walked in one day, and asked them for some scrapped laminate, after sharing with them a little about myself, and they gave me a full sheet! The laminate top is great for making templates(patterns), and also a "cover piece" for my scroll saw over the hole(where the blade goes thru), for cutting real small pieces. I just use double stick tape to adhere to the top. The material is very hard(and brittle), but also quite thin(maybe 1/32"). I also have gathered broken chairs, the kind that have the spindles(like kitchen chairs), I cut the spindles up, and use them for handles for hand-made tools+ the seat, I use for stock. They are generally made from oak. Also, we have a lot of old factory mill buildings around(Lowell is the "mill city"), where I have obtained oak slats measuring approx. 2"x 1/4" x 2' . They're perfect for making name chains/zipper pulls, etc. They came from some 100 year old production carts, with these 5 lb. cast iron wheels! Really cool, if you like old things. Also, I have gotten stacks of wood, mostly hardwood plywood strips(many sizes), and even some 1/2" maple boards(2'x2'), that were slightly marred, or stained, that they couldn't use! Furniture companies are an excellent resource for all kinds of cut-offs and throw aways; their stock has to perfect for production needs, so...there I am! I have always developed relationships with neighboring sawmills, furniture factories, and electronics companies, etc. and showed them what I do; the resources are all around us, it just requires a little snooping or detective work, as well as some personality! People are usually very accommodating...

[greasemonkeyredneck]

Check any plant in your area that makes ANYTHING out of wood. Some nice wood can come from the most unlikeliest places. I get near all of my wood from a local casket plant. I have beautiful oak, cottonwood and mahogany from there. We're not talking scraps here. I have gotten 30x72 sheets of planed 3/4 thick mahogany. If it's got the slightest imperfection, they scrap it. Now, I have to take the good with the bad to get it. I have taken a whole load of firewood just to get five to ten sheets of good wood. There's always people in the winter though willing to take the firewood off my hands. Between that and my scraps, about five different households we know don't have to worry about firewood.

[deerwatcher76]

Watch for old buildings being torn down some of the wood from them is fantastic. The main problem is the contractor tearing them down doesn't have time to be gentle with the wood. They use trachoes and bulldozers. I got lucky last year when they tore down an old stable near me found some boards 16 in wide and one beam that was 16x16 slavage a 10 foot section of it. Now I'm looking for some one with a bandsaw big enough to to cut it into planks. This barn was shipped from out west somewhere and assembled in Ohio in the 1850s. It was all ponderosa pine.

JD

[mikesscrollsaw]

I talked to my local cabinet shop and now I go once a week to get all the trash hardwoods. Seems like every week it's a big score! Maple, red oak poplar all kinds of hard woods. It's all small stuff though nothing real big. But it's free!

 

I've made some stuff out of the reclaimed wood as gifts for them.

[Messman]

Some great ideas here

[Old Dust]

Check out your local Motorcycle dealer. Many bikes come in wood crates.

 

John

 

Old Dust

[amazingkevin]

Greasemonkey redneck i'm so glad you said that about the casket companys as they really have some beautyful wood .I'm going to see if there's one around so i too can reap the bounts of there dumpster!

[montgomery0]

Sides, backs, faces, and bottoms of older drawers from dressers, desks and cradenzas. Havent found much use for the skeleton of these items, but the drawers if made in america have some very nice pieces of native hardwoods. Scandanavian made have very nice teak, forign oak and maple..

[montgomery0]

I was visiting Missouri with my Mother a few years back. The visit left me with lots of time on my hands. The hard wood was in abundance, priced accordingly, but they werent giving it away....There are medium, small and smaller wood mills scattered all through the Ozarks, my three month stay, plus having family in the state allowed me to get to know these good ol' boys. bla, bla, bla... Long story short..

There are charcoal mills as well that take all the scraps and burn them into bricketts.

There are massive ammounts of banded and stacked for ageing and natural drying 1/8 -

1/4-3/8- 1/2- 3/4 inch rough cut to 6 and 8 foot lengths...I thought I was in heaven. Ended up with a jeep load { all I could squeeze in} to haul back to Casper Wyo.

I noticed Dan-Woodman here in the Village may reside in the very woods I speak of.

Lots of my family has worked for Ozark Lead around Ellington and Redford..

If you don't mind chit chat with Missouri folk, have a good heart and a sturdy trailer, it would pay to vacation in Missouri this summer. The Old Timers still set on the porch and carve ax handles from hickory branches that they harvested 2 and 3 years prior and can talk about hard woods forever. For some its their main topic.

[scroller99]

I usually cut 300 or so xmas ornaments and I use almost all pallet wood. I thickness plane the boards stack them up and start cutting. and if you are selective you can find some awesome grain in them. I watch for old dressers and desks the drawers are usually made from oak and are about 3/8" so not to much work for thin wood. good luck

[elum]

Don't forget to check Craigslist for the free stuff. Did that the other day and 3 blocks away, someone had but 6 sliding closet doors out to be taken for free. They are the hollow core doors. Took them apart, now I have a good supply of 1/8" ply.