Free Wood :)

[john lucas]

OK you know you've got it bad when you become a dumpster diver. Well not really a dumbster but when I see good wood on the side of the road in someones trash I grab it. I remember several years ago when I saw a Cherry bed in the trash. It had broken pieces. I grabbed the legs and sideboards. The legs were 4x4 and the sideboards were 2" thick and 8" wide. I re-turned the legs and put them on a table for my sister. I used the sideboards for all sorts of projects.
I'll pick up broom and mop sticks if they are wood, especially if they are thicker than 1". They make great tool handles when cut down.
Now that I'm into metal work I'll grab anything that can be cut up and used as scrap metal.
Anybody else got it that bad. 🙂

 

[MichaelMouse]

Used to be a dunnage diver before container ships took over the business. Stuff out of the far east with no hope of naming, but good looking with the right price!

 

[Ken Ferrell]

With the Ice storms we had here last month I've been stopping every place I see something down if someones yard, so far one cherry tree a Magnolia as well as several Bradford pear trunks are drying under cover. I just wish there was some use or all of the pine.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Where can I get one of those signs to put on the back of my pickup truck that says, "This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops"? 😀

 

[john lucas]

I guess I need one that says One man's junk is another man's treasure.

 

[John Torchick]

Free!!!

Now you're singing my song. I spotted a cut-up tree today and can't remember where I saw it. I'm going to carry a bowsaw in my van. There must be a bunch of woodworkers/turners in town as there is very little furniture at the curb.🙁

 

[Robert Manning]

Last year I found what we call Curbwood, here in the city, in the form of some Ash shelves that probably served their owner for thirty or forty years. I made the following bowls out of one of those shelves:
http://www.aawforum.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=7156&ppuser=19584&sl=r
http://www.aawforum.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=7015&ppuser=19584

Last weekend the word went out to all of the local woodturners that a big oak was coming down, out on the Camino Real. I was the only woodturner who showed up, and they were cutting down a 500 year old dark hearted California oak that had a bole five or six feet in diameter. There was enough wood to fill a hundred pick-up trucks from this behemoth. Here is a photo of a few pieces I got before the owner kicked us off the property: Because of the liability of having people on the property to recycle the wood, most of this historic tree went to the landfill.

 

[john lucas]

Beautiful bowls Robert. Liability sucks. I used to go to the chip mill and get some fantastic wood that was going to ground into mulch. We did that for about 2 years before they decided it was too dangerous for us and made us quit. It really sucks to drive buy and see a 4 foot thick ambrosia maple tree getting ready for mulch.

 

[Joe Greiner]

Where can I get one of those signs to put on the back of my pickup truck that says, "This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops"? 😀

Make your own. Compose in MSPaint, then print on full-page label stock. Spray varnish before cutting and peeling for attachment.

Our WT club gets a heads-up from DOT contacts about clearing projects, then has a chain saw party.

My best roadside orphan so far was a billiard table. Legs were damaged by basement flooding in Hurricane Fay. The rest was in perfect condition. Mahogany, about 2" x 6" and some smaller. The 1x6 was used for my Tumble Rings: http://www.aawforum.org/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=7367

 

[Mr. Don]

Wood stops

I'm gonna make a sign for the back of my pickup "I panic stop for wood...do NOT tailgate! Driver armed (with chainsaw!)"

 

[john lucas]

Mr Don In Tennessee that would fall under "intent to go armed" an you could be arrested. 🙂

 

[Bill Boehme]

I got a call late this afternoon from relatives who cut down a large ash tree in their yard today and asked if I would like some of the wood. I think that I made it to their house before they hung up the phone.

 

[Mr. Don]

Wood

John....I guess I better stick with the no tailgating part....and leave the rest to the imagination....😀😀

 

[Tony Pridmore]

John,

I think there's a bunch of us, but some are worse about it (or better at it) than others. I haven't started carrying my chainsaw full time, but the thought has crossed my mind. My nine year old son gets embarrassed when I stop to pick up wood on the roadside. He will just have to get used to it. 😱

-Tony