Reply To: What's You Favourite Wood

I recently built some shelves to go in an alcove in our home (photo attached), and did so from completely reclaimed timber. The shelves themselves were old solid beech floorboards from a barn that had been knocked down, and the brackets were made from an 8ft 4×4″ post that had been in an extension that had been rebuilt. I found it all on eBay for a pretty reasonable price – I think the whole lot cost me about £100 and I still have 1/2 the floorboards left over and another 4 oak posts.

I’ll be making a small ladder to go at the bottom of the bookshelves so you can get to the top shelf out of what’s left, and probably a few boxes from the remaining floorboards.

Reclaimed timber isn’t something you can find whenever you need it. You just have to keep your eyes and ears open, and snag it when you can find a good deal. The only downside is that you have to have storage space for it! Try eBay, Craigslist, etc. You can also score trees that neighbours take down. I’ve got a pretty decent size pear tree coming my way soon from someone who lives a few doors down. I’ll get that milled and leave it to season in the loft, but that’s taking it a bit extreme!

George.