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Reclaimed Wood

Started by Ron Scott, August 02, 2012, 09:51:32 AM

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Ron Scott

~Ron

Cypressstump

There's a guy down here that has a reclaimed wood business. He buys from large metropolitan areas all over the nation, old reclaimed wood from warehouses structures, etc. Takes them and re-saws for flooring and architectural items. Does a very good business it seems.
Stump

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redbeard

It is really catching on in Pacific nortwest also mainly Douglas fir I have a small scale operation try to get it when I can look for the tight grain heart wood try to capture CVG but latly the flat sawn with knots is popular also.

  

 
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Ron Scott

Yes, it seems to be a growing nich and specialty market for a number of mill owners. Their business in reclaimed wood seems to be growing as they become known. It's great to see the wood being reclaimed.
~Ron

T Welsh

Its hot in my area, Greater Philadelphia. I have resawn many of timbers over the years. Its a very niche market. And they have to advertise in high end places to find clients! But very lucrative. Tim

sealark37

A requirement for a reclaimed wood market is an ample supply of old buildings with bad roofs.  The combination of structures that cannot be brought in line with current building and fire codes and bad roof conditions render the building not economical to refurbish.  The sale of wooden and steel components from demolition can cut the overall cost of removal.  I know that the guys who saw these items go to a lot of trouble to locate and remove tramp metal, but I would guess that they go through a lot of blades in a day's time.  Regards, Clark

red oaks lumber

reclaimed is way bigger than most realize.we have been involved for aleast 5 yrs. shipping reclaimed flooring all over the world, and all across the us.
the price people are willing to pay for a floor is mind blowing. pine will sell for $5.25 per sq.ft oak will bring upwards of $7.50-$9 per sq. thats not installed, thats just the floor. a couple of yrs. ago we did about 30,000 sq.ft. of walnut for a flooring house down in houston tx. they were selling this floor for $15.50 per sq. and couldnt keep up.
if you can get over the fact of all the hardware and debris in reclaimed there is a lot of money that is being made working with reclaimed.
the experts think i do things wrong
over 18 million b.f. processed and 7341 happy customers i disagree

clww

Last weekend, I started reclaiming a early 1970s cow barn that I found on the local CL. The main thing I wanted was the sheets of metal roofing: 78 pieces at 12' X 30" wide. These are in pristine condition and only have 9 screw holes in each sheet. Additionally, I got 42 4" X 6" timbers, all 10' long and greater; more than 30 2" X 4" X 16'; more than 25 2" X 10" X 16', and another pickup bed load of assorted lumber. All wood already has the nails/screws removed when they took the barn down! Most of the wood has very minimal rot and no bugs that I have been able to find. The wood has a great patina to it, so I plan to use much of it on our log cabin build. The man also threw in 9 huge rolls of 5 foot fencing, which I think will be at least 1,000'. It's not new, but it's not totally junk, either. I think it will work fine for the chickens and goat pen I plan to build this winter. I paid $400 for the lot.
Sometime in September, there's a home in Norfolk that I get to remove all the 100 year old hardwood floors from (1,200 Sq Ft) for an even trade. That's going to the cabin, too. :)
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Ironwood

I do some reclaimed as well.


Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

shelbycharger400

I like to tell customers, i do PREconsumer reclaim,  the short logs that the big mills cant and wont do :)

tyb525

I bought about 15 big barn beams at an auction for $50 for all. I sold most of them for 2.50 a linear foot, made my money back pretty quick. I resawed a couple in half that someone wanted to use as false beams on their ceiling.
LT10G10, Stihl 038 Magnum, many woodworking tools. Currently a farm service applicator, trying to find time to saw!

kelLOGg

I just finished a re-claimed job yesterday. The owner of tobacco-warehouses-turned-upscales-shops saved the pine beams and is now selling re-sawn lumber to architects, builders and woodworkers. That's where I come in. It's nice to be part of this even though I saw a lot of spikes, nails, screws - even after they are scanned. Here's a pic of one of their yards.


 
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Gday

I have done Millions of Bft of it over the years on My own and other peoples mills and its a big market but  I would  be glad if I never see another stick of it but have a bad habit of saying yes esp when I am getting $1 to $1:50 a bft for the sawing component Never say Never  ;) :D ;D ;D 8)

Regards Chris
4TH Generation Timbergetter

Solomon

You guys would have been sick as I was.  I work in the Port here in Virginia.  I'm    a Longshoreman.  A few years ago the Port  Athority tore down about  5 miles of wearhouses 200 ft wide, built  by german prisoners of war around  1942.  12x12 posts, 6x12 rafters not to mention all the 3 inch thick tounge and groove  roof.  It was all fir.  pretty straight grained almost no knots.  Something in the contract for the demolition dictated that it all went to the incinerator.   I have no idea what the board footage was but it was astronomical for sure.
  There ought'a be a law!!      Pete   Chesapeake, Virginia
Time and Money,  If you have the one, you rarely have the other.

The Path to Salvation is narrow, and the path to damnnation is wide.

submarinesailor

Pete,

I saw the same thing in Charleston, SC back in the late 70's when I was stationed at the submarine training center.  Way up at the other end of the base, the shipyard was "changing things around".  There were some very big, old warehouse that had to come down.  Lots of big beams and other things were taken to the dump.

Bruce

beenthere

For years there was an Army ordnance ammo plant nearby that was scheduled for elimination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger_Army_Ammunition_Plant
Because of "fear" of asbestos and possibly other contaminants, along with the rules that each of the 2000+ buildings had to have individual EIS (environ. impact statements), not even the Army could afford to dismantle the buildings. SO the decision easiest to make and cheapest, was to bury it all (not a stick of wood to be allowed off the property).
It was built during WWII and the buildings' timbers and construction wood was all clear D.fir shipped in and nothing but clear wood. These buildings were huge for the most part with many, many outlying buildings behind bunkers where workers assembled ammo and such.
Finally during the Bush years, the go ahead was arranged to dismantle the wood and salvage it. I'm not sure where it all has been going, but understand the Amish people ended up with the majority of it.
Now the WI DNR, the Indian Tribes, and who all knows who are all scrambling to get the land. It was prime farm land that was taken for pennies from the local farm families, but they didn't get a chance to get it back.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Ironwood

It is likely SOMEONE was concerned about lead paint liability. We had a REALLY cool old steel bridge here that could not be sold even from the scrap yard it ended up in due to lead paint concerns.  ::)

Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

bandmiller2

Whats old is new again,wood has always been reborn.My old house is pretty much all built from recycled lumber.Some of the hardwood beams are so hard I must drill them as steel.After WW2 and the building boom contractors became wastefull and burned or burried old wood.Look at just about any old house or barn and you will see a mix of lumber.Yuppies just reinvented recycling. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Ironwood

Yes, that is true. We have ONLY institutionalized the "ReUse" movement. Country folks have always been reuse oriented......I volunteer with a reuse non-profit in Pittsburgh.

Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

bandmiller2

Years ago when I'd take a truck to Woodward spring in Quincy ma. I'd walk down the street to Duane the Wreakers yard right on the bay.They had the longest carriage and mill I've ever seen, milling nothing but reclamed beams from old warehouses and factories.A crew of three would pull nails,load the beam and everyone would dive for cover.The roof was full of holes.They ran every outher bit cutting, the blunted ones in between supposidly would punch out the nails.In outher words the boss would only give them a few new bits.Its gone now, high end condos and a boatyard. Frank C.
A man armed with common sense is packing a big piece

Sawdust Lover

Reclaiming lumber is a great buisness. I started my sawmill buisness last year and is all I had to saw was American chestnut. I was lucky to find 3 tobacco barns here in Va. that needed to come down to make way for a new housing development. I bought the logs and then bought the sawmill. I now have alot of heart pine beams and still have a few thousand ft of chestnut left but it takes it's toll on the mill. To make $5.00 a bf for reclaimed lumber it takes about $3.00 a bf to tear it down, haul it, denail it and then kiln dry it to kill the bugs. Oh and you waste about half of it cutting around cracks and other imperfections in the wood. It's a good day when I can go grab a nice new green log and just cut without worrying about nails.

Magicman

Welcome to the Forestry Forum, Sawdust Lover.  Yup, recovering "high dollar" lumber can be expensive, and has it's challenges.   :)
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treeworkx

Check out my local wood guy,this wood came from hangar one at moffett field.
http://www.westcoastwoods.com/moffet_redwood.html
Steve is a cool guy,I got western red cedar from him a few years back that were from logs he got after clear cut operations,he would take the remaining logs from sidings that had a log deck at the bottom so the chopper didn't need to lift up hill.
I've also pulled down old shearing sheds and houses in New Zealand that were all Rimu,used as structural and finish wood.
Nev

 
 

Solomon

That is some nice tongue groove.  Looks thick enough to just run it through the planer and use it as flooring,   or resaw it and V-groove it for paneling.   Nice Haul.
Time and Money,  If you have the one, you rarely have the other.

The Path to Salvation is narrow, and the path to damnnation is wide.

Stephen1

I just did a job of 225 DF beams from old Montreal warehouses, trucked to Toronto, and then I cleaned them up for the owner. He hired the crew to clean the hardware out. they worked for 6 weeks before I got there. I still had 2 guys with me pulling nails that the saw found.

  

  

 
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