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myself and my dad buy virtually all of our lumber at auctions. I'm an auctioneer, so I have an inside track, but we advertise as do other auction companies...

I like aged lumber to work with, so this works well for me. I'd check your State Auctioneers Assocation website for auctioneers in your area.

Auctionzip.com and auctioneers.org are also good sources.

tmillie wrote:myself and my dad buy virtually all of our lumber at auctions. I'm an auctioneer, so I have an inside track, but we advertise as do other auction companies...

I like aged lumber to work with, so this works well for me. I'd check your State Auctioneers Assocation website for auctioneers in your area.

Auctionzip.com and auctioneers.org are also good sources.

Great idea. I personally have become good at scrounging. I am often surprised by phone calls from friends who have a tree down and want it hauled off. For turning and small pieces of wood this works great. Now if I had my own mill I could become a truly serious scrounger. fjimp

fjimp wrote:Great idea. I personally have become good at scrounging. I am often surprised by phone calls from friends who have a tree down and want it hauled off. For turning and small pieces of wood this works great. Now if I had my own mill I could become a truly serious scrounger. fjimp

I have found that having your own mill doesn't help much when you are too busy at other stuff and it is still sitting in the shop in boxes...
Maybe next week...

Last night I took apart (chopped up) a well worn antique cherry queen size headboard. (solid not laminated) It was given to me by a person who was moving and no longer wanted it. Although saddened to deconstruct an artists work, I used the following reasoning. If I donated the headboard I would have no idea where it might end up. If I purchase cherry, even craft size pieces, it will run into a sizable chunk of money. Thus, the wood will be recycled. Perhaps a jewelry box. There really are no fine lumber yards in my area, a city of 12 million. Plenty of construction wood, but figured wood is special order, sight unseen.
When we travel, in our motorhome, I make it a point to stop at small lumber outlets, selling regional woods, and I stock up on wood for future projects.
Not effective for commercial operation, but I'm just a hobbyist.

Hi Gary! Are you forgetting about Integrity Wood? I've never been disappointed by their service. They are only a few blocks from you, and I have been (still am) jealous of that situation.

Of course, they are more expensive than FREE!

I've always been pleased by the service I receive at Integrity Wood, nice people and willing to order or mill requests. However, they are primarily a special order shop, and have limited supply on hand. When I am working on a larger project, I head down there with a materials sheet or cutting diagram, and see what is on hand. But it would be nice to have a on hand supply of finer lumber available. I do miss Terry Lumber.

fjimp wrote:Great idea. I personally have become good at scrounging. I am often surprised by phone calls from friends who have a tree down and want it hauled off. For turning and small pieces of wood this works great. Now if I had my own mill I could become a truly serious scrounger. fjimp

Today my neighbor had his Black Walnut tree taken down, I was able to get two eight foot logs and two six foot logs 24 and 18 inch diameters respectively. My son contacted a buddy of his who has a sawmill and he is going to plane saw the logs into 1 inch boards for me. It should help save some money. Nothing like being in the right place at the right time!

BPR

ryanbp01 wrote:Today my neighbor had his Black Walnut tree taken down, I was able to get two eight foot logs and two six foot logs 24 and 18 inch diameters respectively. My son contacted a buddy of his who has a sawmill and he is going to plane saw the logs into 1 inch boards for me. It should help save some money. Nothing like being in the right place at the right time!

BPR

Great find! One of my favorite woods.

My wife is a geneology nut. She found a book on the history of Washington County Indiana. One of the stories tells of the early pioneers felling a poplar tree with an 8 ft diameter trunk. It yielded 6 logs 12 feet long. It took " 14 horses to haul the first cut to Salem". The book also states" " It ( the bottom log) made 3000 feet of lumber, many planks measuring 42 in wide. The entire tree yielded 12000 feet of lumber". The planks were apparently 5/8 thick. The author laments the " reckless distruction" of much of the forest to allow farming. He further states that in 50 years it would be hard to find a young person who "would believe that such trees existed." The book was in 1884, the article quoted written about 40 years earlier I think.
I just thought you might enjoy the story.

dlbristol wrote:My wife is a geneology nut. She found a book on the history of Washington County Indiana. One of the stories tells of the early pioneers felling a poplar tree with an 8 ft diameter trunk. It yielded 6 logs 12 feet long. It took " 14 horses to haul the first cut to Salem". The book also states" " It ( the bottom log) made 3000 feet of lumber, many planks measuring 42 in wide. The entire tree yielded 12000 feet of lumber". The planks were apparently 5/8 thick. The author laments the " reckless distruction" of much of the forest to allow farming. He further states that in 50 years it would be hard to find a young person who "would believe that such trees existed." The book was in 1884, the article quoted written about 40 years earlier I think.
I just thought you might enjoy the story.

Good stuff! I grew up not too far from Washington County, IN.

Here also is an old Indiana tree of exceptional size:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/3343

Regarding the "reckless destruction" of resources, it is a sentiment that sane people have in every generation. Gas City, Indiana, used to pipe plentiful natural gas to Chicago, quite a long stretch of pipe (well over 100 miles). But the natural gas was so freely wasted that it ran out, and that same piping is now used to bring synthesized natural gas from Chicago back to Indiana.