finding inexpensive wood

Here are a few tips for finding inexpensive wood:

Sawmills: Ask if they sell their off-cuts.

Palette manufacturers: Ditto. They often discard boards that are too knotty or short, for instance. Avoids fastidious nail pulling.

Wood salvagers: For example, wooden floorboards from old train wagons can be converted into living room wood flooring. This idea was taken from a French decorating magazine dating back a few years. The living room floors had been painted light grey.

Construction sites: On a web forum called citadins du futur ("city dwellers of the future") a carpenter from Quebec wrote: "If you need material for minor renovation work, go to residential construction sites. As a carpenter, it brings tears to my eyes to see how much is wasted. My boss says that recycling certain materials would cost twice as much in prep-time (cleaning, removing nails, etc.) but I feel guilty whenever I see all these trees that wind up in dumpsters. So whether you have projects around the house or need wood for a little campfire, check local construction sites first - they are overflowing with recyclable material."

January 2007 [toolbox]
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