I hear you on the burn out part, I'm refinishing a china cabinet I got at a
estate sale in June of 2003 for $110, solid Oak, very nice, but the
previous owners had tried to refinish it with a cherry stain, long story
short, I needed to sand the entire thing to clean it up. the bottom is done
and in the house, the top is now stained and just needs to be finished, I
am never refinishing an piece of furniture larger than an end table again,
the wood may cost more but I would much rather build it myself
as far as recovering wood, a friend was getting rid of an old futon, and I
needed a bed for my guest room, worked out well. after I got a new bed for
the master bed room, I futon was no longer needed, soon was sawed into
stock, it turned out to be Philippine mahogany and "rubber tree" working
with the rubber tree wood is so, so, but I like the Philippine mahogany,
there have been some snide remarks about it, but it's not bad to work with
and finishes beautifully, and would really like to get my hands on some
more some day, expressly for the same price :)
David wrote:
> I hear you. I bought an old solid oak dresser for $50.00 even though the
> paint job was in very poor condition. I thought that this was my chance to
> learn finishing! Halfway through the stripping process I started to get
> burned out and thought "I got taken for my money!!!". However I then saw
> how much single planks of oak cost (as much at $50 for a single 1"x12"x8'
> plank)! After that I realized that I got a great deal, regardless how much
> work would be needed to fix it up. It was really breathtaking when I got
> to the top of the unit and ever slide of the stripper revealed beautiful
> grain hidden for years.
>
Rarely does anyone around here throw out furniture, in any conition--but
they do sell it for cheap at garage sales, which is almost as good.
A lot of folks talk about salvaging wood from pallets. Maybe I lack the
finesse in disassembling the things, but I can't get the thinnner
crosspieces off without ending up with a bunch of useless splinters
(even if I cut them off rather than trying to pull those ring-shanked
nails), and the heavy "skid" pieces are usually warped or bowed or both.
On top of that, most of them seem to be made of pine--none of the oak or
other hardwood that folks report finding. :P
Sounds like a great neighborhood. Where I live, it's melamine.
Frankly, I don't think I have even seen any real wood being tossed.
On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 20:45:28 -0500, "Reynaud" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Hello group. I get a lot of my wood for projects from furniture that has
>been tossed in the garbage . I have gotten maple , walnut , oak and other
>pricey woods in the form of dressers, headboards, desks etc. People just
>don,t seem to know the value of wood anymore.
>
>Rey
>
I hear you. I bought an old solid oak dresser for $50.00 even though the
paint job was in very poor condition. I thought that this was my chance to
learn finishing! Halfway through the stripping process I started to get
burned out and thought "I got taken for my money!!!". However I then saw how
much single planks of oak cost (as much at $50 for a single 1"x12"x8'
plank)! After that I realized that I got a great deal, regardless how much
work would be needed to fix it up. It was really breathtaking when I got to
the top of the unit and ever slide of the stripper revealed beatiful grain
hidden for years.
--
Thanks,
David
"Reynaud" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hello group. I get a lot of my wood for projects from furniture that has
> been tossed in the garbage . I have gotten maple , walnut , oak and
other
> pricey woods in the form of dressers, headboards, desks etc. People just
> don,t seem to know the value of wood anymore.
>
> Rey
>
>