Surface Planing Used Wood

rickm808 · Post by **rickm808** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:19 pm

I need some advice on working with used wood. I have about 500 lineal feet of weathered, practically clear, straight grained 2x8 Western Red Cedar deck boards that I would like to reclaim for other purposes. The wood is clean (no sand or dirt), dry, and checked for metal but heavily grayed. Can I run it though my SS surface planer as is, or should I pressure wash it first? Or should I take it to a shop I know of which will run it through their surface sanding equipment. I don't want this project to end needing to remove resharpen and replace the planer blades.
Thanks,

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:32 pm

500 feet of used lumber you will probably have to resharpen your blades.
If you can get them suface sanded I would.

sawmill · Post by **sawmill** » Wed Jul 10, 2013 6:45 pm

If these were used as deck boards you can be sure they are full of sand. If you pressure wash them it will remove some but not all the sand. Cedar is soft and thing get ground into it easy

rickm808 · Post by **rickm808** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:38 pm

Gentlemen, thank you, you've confirmed my suspicions.