[BobD]

Wood quality has been brought up in a different thread...and Mark offered some suggestions on where to get good-quality, but inexpensive (or free) wood.

I thought that would be a good thread to start. Where have you gone to get free wood.

There is a cabinetmaker shop near my house. I've got two totes full of oak, cherry, and maple cut offs. Most are pretty small, but they are great for little carvings. And since they are already planed, I can glue them up for a bigger carving.

I also got some hickory and maple (bigger pieces) from the place where I buy basswood...again, cut offs... where there was a knot about a foot from the end of the board, so they cut off the rest of the board from that point on.

I've salvaged a bit of mahogany from an old bar I helped a friend dismantle.

Anyone else got a good source of free, quality wood?

Bob

[Kenny_S]

I am hesitant to reply anymore!

[BrianMac]

It might be a kind of wrong, but I do look forward to the springs storms here in Texas. Our last big one brought a bunch of trees down. One way to get that wood is to offer to help clear it out. The other way is to cruise the ally behind the houses and browse over the piles of wood stacked up for the garbage truck to pick up. I have a piece of Chinese Pistache that was struck by lightning. I am hoping the wood has been stained or colored judging by the burn mark on this chunk of wood.

Brian Mac

[Thomp]

I have 2 millworks shops near by,

they dont build nothing but order rough cut wood from out of country and cut then plain to order, for cabinet shops and local inside finish woodworkers.

long ago i started haunting the shops for drops and scraps, like bob said, its where waynes, cracks, twists, knot or forign objects are imbeded in the drops,

hadnt been for 3 years, but i guess i need to go see if hes got me some work for wood...

[mark yundt]

Won't bore you with all the stories,but yes,,I have ,especially in the beginning ,got tons of wood for free,or for token amounts.My whole life my grandfather had 3 large bowls on his coffee table I had always admired.Turns out they were cherry side and end panels from a church organ,,about 24,20 and 18" diameter,,2 inches thick,,old furniture is a possible source,,dry ,clean and solid,,sometimes in large tabletops,,or nice fat legs,,good wood since it's furniture.I used to haunt every wood/cabinet/millwork/kitchen shop within an hours drive.Many had bins filled at the end of the day with a sign,,free,some dumped everything out back ,one on a 20 ft high pile.Even now,,I stop at a shop I didn't know about,,tell 'em I'm a carver and next thing I know is,,did you ever carve this,,just got it from Africa,,have you ever carved Spanish cedar,,here take this piece and try it (the greenman,,14"wide,20"long1" thick),,gave him 5 bucks for the pile he gave me.Used to talk with a new carver from Tenn..said he lived in the "boonies",,where is the closest bigger city,,an hour and a half to Chattanooga,,,get a phone book,,find every shop listed above,,and visit them,,two weeks later did it,,filled his truck bed with everything you could think of,,for a toal of 20 bucks,,,O.K.,,not free,,but will 20 bucks really cause you to not eat or bounce checks?Like I said,,I could go on. Lastly,,I just took down a 30" diameter x 50 ft tall black walnut on my property,,,and gave it all away as firewood ,don't know anyone who was interested,,some didn't even want it to burn,I couldn't use it,same reason I personally dont' use lumbermills.Lehigh University's Art and Architecture class came to visit me and I filled their cars with all my cuts for their projects.Great way to clean house,,nice size stuff too,,but little use to me.know any other woodworkers (not carvers) that have cut offs?Be resourceful and attentive,,talk to people,one was "my dad's got an attic full of old wood,,are you interested,,he's tossing it",,I wasn't but someone might be.It's out there,,just be attentive,curious,and above all,poke around,,talk and ,ASK.

didn't post these on the other thread,,fit better here,just got this bass in 1,2and 3" thick piece,,came from 12-18"wide x 14-18 ft lengths for my next project to glue up,,still ,,in 7 and 8 ft lengths,cost about 30 bucks,,get a coulpe of friends and cut it in thirds for 10 bucks each,,the 3"sq.x10 ft tall African piece is from another shop ,,for free,,and the big slab of butternut was another shop ,,free as well 2+ inches thick ,,gonna carve a wreath for my wife,,,yeah,,right...

[Lightningbolt]

Except for some exotic or specialty woods I'd have to be pretty hard pressed to buy any for most of my projects. Gosh, the southern Appalachian's is loaded with a great variety of woods. My favorite sources are as follows:

• Local backyard sawmills: I befriended two brother's in our community several years ago who operate a small sawmill on their farm. I helped to arrange for them to clear off an area where I work in exchange for the trees/lumber and ever since they've always welcomed me to scavange their rejects pile any time I want. On occasion they have even delivered truck loads of cedar, walnut, maple, etc. that they couldn't use or sell themselves but I can always harness a lot of good pieces.
• Local lumber yards: About 13 years ago when I was starting up a woodshop program I stopped at a local pallet mill after noticing huge mountains of poplar and maple out back. He was very supportive and said that I could get all the wood that I wanted. I later learned from other's gathering the big wood blocks and boards that the general public was allowed to scavange the wood for just $5.00 per truck load. Most used it for firewood but this has been a great source for wood in our woodshop for years.
• Free range wood: As I mentioned, the woods are plentiful in my part of the country and the many furniture factories prove it. Wood seems to be everywhere to me but I'm always looking for it too. I always have a couple of good saws in my pick-up truck so that I never have to leave a good find behind, along the roadside, a friends farm, or just from a walk in the woods. It's amazing the fine lumber that can be made from just a good powerful garage bandsaw and a 12" thickness planer

Those are just a few of my favorite sources but one of my favorite finds was saving a truck load of mahogany blocks that one kind lady was burning for firewood. One of the furniture companies had given to her but I was able to work out a great deal and I'm still pulling from that pile of wood almost ten years later!

Free or near-free wood is everywhere if you develop an eye for finding it. Too darn expensive to buy it by the "over the counter" method.

[Ron Davidson]

Evendently most of you have not been to Kansas the closest thing we have to a forest is a tree row planted years ago for a farmers wind break. And usually the wood is hedge not one of the favorite carving woods. When I had my cabinet shop I had plenty of cutoffs and I only know of one cabinet shop within 30 miles. The cutoffs they have are recycled into wood pellets for heating stoves so there goes that source. The most I can do is salvage some from old furniture. So some of us poor slobs have to buy our wood and have it shipped in. I do have some friends here on this forum that send me wood from time to time also.
Ron

[Just Carving]

Ron,

A while back, I picked up a couple of pallets--from a distance I thought they were bass but ended up being aspen. Still good for carving. The pallets were made of 2x4's, 1x3's and 1x4's---most about 4' long. They were used to deliver cabinets to a house being renovated up the street. So, maybe pallets could be source for the smaller projects. Depending on where the pallets come from--an area that has a lot of basswood like Wisconsin or Minnesota and the wood is cheap enough to use for scrap like pallets--you might find a goal mine. So, warehouses and manufacturing places that import from various areas might yield some really nice wood. Home Depot, Lowes, furniture stores, etc. usually have loads of crate and pallet wood they give away for firewood.

[Thomp]

lots of free wood behind them big box stores, and home improvement stores, especially shower/tub crates 6 foot 1x4" #3&4 pine.

be careful of pallets that are reused over and over as their historical spillage of chemicals on them is not evident,

I would be very careful what i reused or burned in my firepace
when i was in service a survey was taken on all the recycled pallets in supply, it was found more than half were contaminated with pcb's

[Ron Davidson]

I tried to access some pallets at a local home improvement store with a friend they saw me and told me I needed to leave. Being blind is a liability risk to many places they would just prefer we stayed away. For instance when I go to a store with an escalator when they see me they shut it off and say they are doing maintenance on it and would prefer if I would use elevator. This happens all the time. So its a little harder for me to go dumpster diving.
Ron