Shopsmith Forums

For some weeks now the cull bin in Fargo hasn't had anything worth messing with. I thought it was just my timing, but the posts here help to see another reality - a bad economy and companies that are cutting costs at every level.

It's not all bad. Few days ago I picked up a 1 X 6 X 10' for .51. It was better than what can often times be found in the rack. Had a 6 - 8" check in one end, otherwise nice piece. That was all I needed, but probably should have bought more as there was more full length lumber there. Hit it at the right time and was there just before it was to be cut into 4" lengths.
Sometimes just being nice to the help pays big dividends. Have found that to be true at both Lowes and H.D. Yes, we've all had the aggravation of encountering incompetent help. It's not entirely their fault. They applied for a job, got it, took the training that was offered and are doing the best they can with the limited product knowledge they have. Sometimes they know more than I, sometime not, but I'm aware before I go thru the door that few were ever professionals in any of the bldg. trades. Me neither.
Roger

alaskanexile wrote:It's not all bad. Few days ago I picked up a 1 X 6 X 10' for .51. It was better than what can often times be found in the rack. Had a 6 - 8" check in one end, otherwise nice piece. That was all I needed, but probably should have bought more as there was more full length lumber there. Hit it at the right time and was there just before it was to be cut into 4" lengths.
Sometimes just being nice to the help pays big dividends. Have found that to be true at both Lowes and H.D. Yes, we've all had the aggravation of encountering incompetent help. It's not entirely their fault. They applied for a job, got it, took the training that was offered and are doing the best they can with the limited product knowledge they have. Sometimes they know more than I, sometime not, but I'm aware before I go thru the door that few were ever professionals in any of the bldg. trades. Me neither.
Roger

Four Inches???????;)

Guys, I don't get the culled wood from HD, for the posted reasons. BUT;

I've found other things, like the styrofoam boards, with banged up corners, for cheap. Those I'll buy.

steve

Well it's good to know that I'm not the only HD dumpster diver that noticed a change. It used to be an adventure, I couldn't pass one of the orange stores without stopping in to check the cull cart. I would often leave with a furnace filter or some doo-dad off the sales floor that I didn't plan on buying. I always thought it was savvy marketing on their part to lure me in with the cull cart. It also made me feel good that the company recycled this damaged stuff, not something I see at Menards or Lowes (maybe they do). Bottom line if they're going to stuff the cull cart with floor sweepings they won't get me through the door as often.

I have looked for the cull cart, hoping for a special find but I have never found it. Well, maybe I found the cull cart but there were no special finds. What I did find, I would not drag out to the truck.

Hey Dusty, it's almost always back by the panel saw and radial arm saw. It's a lumber cart with colored price indicators. Green=51 cents, etc. More than once a 1/3 sheet of MDF was in the cart with no spray painted edge to indicate price. I would hunt down someone and ask them to get out the green spray paint.

tomsalwasser wrote:Hey Dusty, it's almost always back by the panel saw and radial arm saw. It's a lumber cart with colored price indicators. Green=51 cents, etc. More than once a 1/3 sheet of MDF was in the cart with no spray painted edge to indicate price. I would hunt down someone and ask them to get out the green spray paint.

If that is the trick, I could just carry the spray paint with me.

Gee, I hope that I have not been disregarding a lumber cart that was really the culls. I have looked by the panel saw but just never found what I thought looked like culls.

One Man's Culls Are Another Man's Wood Pile

The cull cart is the first place I hit when I go into HD. I use to get a few good boards out of it if I needed short ones. This winter I noticed that almost all the stuff they put in it looked like skis. I picked up one piece that was split on one end and it cracked the full length while I was holding it and each end shot out to make an arch. I have also noticed their quality of lumber has gone down. I wish I had my sawmill back now

Just a thought...you could start patronizing your local lumber yards instead of HD. The ones near me usually beat the chain stores on price and quality, and I know anything you have to place an order for at my Lowes they are buying from a local yard in the next county and marking it up.