Some Great Wood Finds!
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21 June 2015 at 8:30 pm #127915
I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying “When one door closes, another one opens.” A company called A Piece of Cleveland closed down a while ago, following the death of one of the partners. They were a deconstruction company that salvaged anything worth while, from all around northeast Ohio (USA). A couple of the guys I co-op my shop with bought some of the equipment, and I bought some wood. I got a lot of long leaf pine and some Douglas fir framing members.
I also got a stack of tongue and groove sub floor, which turned out to be a mixture of maple and American chestnut. I’m fortunate there, since the American chestnut was wiped out by blight in the early 1900’s. It’s all a full 1-1/4″ thick and 5″ wide.
I found some reclaimed black walnut, which is old enough to have been nailed with blacksmith made square nails. Most has been skip planed to 1-1/8″ thick, in varying widths from 4″ – 10″ and all about 5′ long. There is also some 2″ thick pieces, about 4′ long and 20″ wide.
This past weekend, I got last crack at any remaining wood. Since I have my fork lift operators license, I drove and emptied lumber racks full of material, some still fully nail embedded, others had already been denailed.
Of the great finds this weekend, bleacher material from Madison Park, a softball field built in the City of Lakewood in 1950-60’s (I think). The joists were green heart and the seats were purple heart. I got 6 joists, each 2″ x 12″ x 20′ long. The purple heart had been mostly reused, but several large scraps remain; at least enough from some accent pieces. The story goes that the demolition contractor rebuilding the bleachers several years ago called APOC, because the dumpster company wouldn’t haul debris from that sight anymore. The dumpsters were too heavy and broke the axel on the truck. APOC got the description as wood that was “sort of green and purple, but mostly gray.”
I also got several pieces of cocobolo, a 1″ x 6″ x 4′ plank and several 2″ x 2″ x 10′ pieces.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.21 June 2015 at 8:47 pm #127922Wow, what great fortune. That should keep you in wood for a while. The chestnut looks like it will make some beautiful pieces. Have fun with it.
@woodworker435: If you run out of room and decide to give away or sell any of that, drop me a line. I’m just east of you in Geauga County. Sounds like a great haul.
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