Shopsmith Forums

(from the thread "Best tool for certain lather turning"

mgdesigns wrote:I recently turned 14 magic wands for my daughter's Harry Potter Themed Birthday Party. I used dunnage from the scrap bin at Home Depot (free).

What a great idea. Who needs sharpening stones and guides when you have a magic wand!

Just kidding. Actually, I like your approach of using the free pallet wood. I've been an advocate of salvaging dunnage for about 20 years. A neighbor told me a story about using teak pallets for a deck on a boat he built. I thought that sounded like BS but I started scoping out the free wood piles in an industrial area outside Portland, OR. I was amazed at what I found. For the next 10 years I made a nuisance out of myself on our block by ripping apart pallets and crates and piling up the wood in front of our house. We bought property out in the woods and for the last 10 years I've been using that horded wood. I used pallets and shipping crates for most of the finish woodwork at Mintlake Lodge. (http://www.mintlakelodge.com)





Note the casing around the door to the left of the china cabinet. That is rosewood from a pallet used in a shipment of hi grade veneer.



Flooring made from shipping crates that came from Indonesia. When asked "what kind of wood is that?", the easy answer is FREE!

Thanks for sharing that!

Nice work!!!

Rosewood?????:eek:

JPG40504 wrote:
Rosewood?????:eek:

I know - now I'm the one sounding like BS. That pallet came from a company that imports veneer from all over the world and laminates it to plywood. Here's another piece used as a header strip in a VG oak floor. The VG oak comes from the same place. They peel high grade veneer across the log instead of around it so it looks like boards, not plywood, when glued up. They use the centers of those logs for dunnage.



I still have a couple of really nice boards left from that pallet - roughly 10' X 6" X 4/4. I'm thinking of using it to expand on the spice rack concept around the kitchen stove.



This rough cut rosewood was surface planed and ripped one edge. I left the rough cut and wane on the front edge for character. Sanded just a bit and applied linseed oil - nothing else. This wood probably deserves better treatment. Maybe I should save it for fret boards.

deec wrote:I know - now I'm the one sounding like BS. That pallet came from a company that imports veneer from all over the world and laminates it to plywood.

. . .

I wasn't questioning it, merely expressing my 'surprise'!:)

JPG40504 wrote:I wasn't questioning it, merely expressing my 'surprise'!:)

I thought as much - was just using your comment to segue into posting some content intended to inspire the salvage of FREE WOOD.

deec wrote:I thought as much - was just using your comment to segue into posting some ideas about the salvage of FREE WOOD.

You a musician, or an actor?:D

JPG40504 wrote:You a musician, or an actor?:D

Actually a technician and sometimes contractor. I've been fixing electronic gear for 40 years - mostly musical stuff since 1977. See http://www.technicianlarry.com

Absolutely incredible craftsmanship of recycled good lumber. Great job and thanks for letting us see what we've been missing. I normally dumpster dive for oak in pallets to make toys. Each board has a story to tell. And, the children rarely ask about any minor defects.

And I thought my "Cowboy Cooler" was an effective use of recycled pallet wood! Amazing work and I love seeing wood recycled like that.

Any concerns about the chemicals used in treating pallets? I was really interested in using them until I read some info about the way they sprayed them for insects or whatnot.