Tearing up Used Furniture vs. Paying Lumber Yard Prices

[Art Mann]

To answer your original question - no, you are not the only one who salvages old furniture for building material. At this moment, I have a computer desk made out of solid pine that my son gave me after finishing college. It is rickety from abuse but has some nice glued up side panels and top. I plan to disassemble it and cut it into pieces to make inspirational CNC carved signs out of. I wouldn't plan on using the material to construct furniture because it won't yield big enough pieces and I don't want to put too much time into building furniture out of pine.

[Larry Fox]

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.

+1 on this.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Depends on the piece you buy in order to salvage the material.

A chair would definitely not be worth the hassle. A big dining table with a solid top probably would. An armoire with solid, non-raised panel sides might be worth it. an end table, probably not.

As hobbyists, efficiency has less to do with whether it's a good decision since it's mostly about whether or not you enjoy what you spend your time doing. So if you don't mind doing the work of dismantling, stripping, and sanding, then go for it! You're also doing a good deed by keeping old furniture out the landfill and driving less demand to cut down trees.

I know I would hate the salvage process, and it would likely kill the enjoyment of the hobby in general for me. But good on ya if you it's worth it to you!

[rudy de haas]

I imagine (perhaps wrongly) that you are really interested in getting better quality wood at less than big box store retail price... if so:

1 - I found some people in Calgary (Alberta, rather far from you ) who buy a lot of hardwood, use most of it themselves, and sell the stuff they
don't want for about what they paid for it in multi-skid truckloads. The jatoba I got from them was first class, one third retail. There must be someone in
south Florida in the same position.. ?

2 - if what you want is thin wood, and you have a good planer with throw-away knives, hardwood flooring (especially remainders available via craigslist and other sites) is usually much cheaper than raw wood. I'm paying Windsor plywood here $16.50 a board foot for Santos mahogany, it's widely available here as flooring
for under $4 a square foot. It's half the thickness once you clean it up, and has short lengths, but it is cheap, nail free, and of consistent quality.

[Mike Schuch]

I have made quite a few shop and garage cabinets and shelves out of kiln dried 2 by stock from home depot planed down to about an inch think. I would never buy any other wood from HD through. The only thing more outrageous than their wood prices is their price on sticks of metal stock. They want 10x what the steel supplier wants for comparable stock.

[Brian Henderson]

I have made quite a few shop and garage cabinets and shelves out of kiln dried 2 by stock from home depot planed down to about an inch think. I would never buy any other wood from HD through. The only thing more outrageous than their wood prices is their price on sticks of metal stock. They want 10x what the steel supplier wants for comparable stock.

Unfortunately, you pay for convenience. You have to decide what's more important, your money or your time.

[Frank Pratt]

I imagine (perhaps wrongly) that you are really interested in getting better quality wood at less than big box store retail price... if so:

1 - I found some people in Calgary (Alberta, rather far from you ) who buy a lot of hardwood, use most of it themselves, and sell the stuff they
don't want for about what they paid for it in multi-skid truckloads. The jatoba I got from them was first class, one third retail. There must be someone in
south Florida in the same position.. ?

2 - if what you want is thin wood, and you have a good planer with throw-away knives, hardwood flooring (especially remainders available via craigslist and other sites) is usually much cheaper than raw wood. I'm paying Windsor plywood here $16.50 a board foot for Santos mahogany, it's widely available here as flooring
for under $4 a square foot. It's half the thickness once you clean it up, and has short lengths, but it is cheap, nail free, and of consistent quality.

Rudy, care to share the name of our Calgary supplier?

[johnny means]

Depends on what furniture. I bought a church full of old pews once. The seats alone yielded me about about 50 1.50x144x15 100+ year old white oak boards. Old veneered tables can yield some really useful veneered panels, if you can work them into a design. Stuff made from small parts, like dressers, aren't worth the effort in my opinion.

[Bruce Page]

Don't put too much faith in the Woodfinder database. While NM lumber prices are not friendly to woodworkers we do have a 1/2 dozen long time suppliers in town. Woodfinder doesn't list any of them. The nearest they list is Alpine in Santa Fe, the rest are out of state.

[Brian Henderson]

Don't put too much faith in the Woodfinder database. While NM lumber prices are not friendly to woodworkers we do have a 1/2 dozen long time suppliers in town. Woodfinder doesn't list any of them. The nearest they list is Alpine in Santa Fe, the rest are out of state.

I pointed that out a while back on another thread, absolutely none of the local dealers are on Woodfinder and one of the local Rocklers, which moved about 4 years ago, is still listed under the old address. They're not particularly swift.

[Steve H Graham]

Now that I think about it, my great aunt made a beautiful dining room table and chairs from the stairs of a high school where she worked.