[landman]

As I said in my introduction, I like to work with recycled wood. This one was done about 10 years ago. I found a piece of Douglas fir 3X10 about 16ft long in a creek. Some kids had used it as a bridge for their ATV's. It had broken and they left it. I used it to make a hope chest for my daughter who was leaving for university.

 

[jharris2]

Beautiful!!!

 

[Chaincarver Steve]

Nice work on the chest. It's nice to see discarded, forgotten wood given new life.

 

[landman]

Around the same time my other daughter announced she was pregnant. I had come across some maple from an old barn that had been dismantled. Made a changing table out of that.

 

[landman]

Lee Valley Base Cabinet

Built this cabinet with plans from Lee Valley. The only thing new in it are the hardware and the plywood for the sides and top. The rest is stuff I found around the shop. The deck is made of cherry cut & relaminated from an old cutting board. The drawer fronts are the remnants of the Douglas fir used in the hope chest above.

 

[bladeburner]

Excellent work!
Is the cedar lining recycled too?

 

[landman]

Excellent work!
Is the cedar lining recycled too?

No. That was the thin tongue and groove stuff you buy for closets or wainscoting.

 

[landman]

One day I was talking to a man who was restoring a 150 year old barn built by his great grandfather. He had made 4 x 6 beams out of ash for this and had piled the outside boards in a field with crosspieces. It was gray but solid. I bought the whole pile. I used some to make the wood structure of my '34 Chevy. GM cars of the thirties had "composite bodies" consisting of a wood frame over which the steel was nail & screwed. You can see the car in the posting above under "show us your shop".

 

[Travico]

Landman, you are an INCREDIBLE woodworker!!

 

[landman]

Thanks Travico, but I have a lot to learn. I still have to make dovetails and I'm still having problems with making things square.

 

[landman]

And here is the upper chest of the Lee Valley tool combo. The carcass is made from butternut cutoffs I got from a furniture maker and the drawer fronts are applewood. I had asked the orchard owner to keep the trunks of whatever he cut that fall, which he did but he cut it up in firewood lengths. So that's why I could only use it on small items. Boy that's stuff is hard to work with. The two mahogany pieces in the front panel are from a real hard and heavy mahogany that I got from a pallet. Unless it's something else that looks like mahogany.

I never did get this one right. You have to be deliberate when opening the drawers as they tend to cock and jam and a few of them seem to stick at the back.

 

[johnnie52]

Making draws that actually work is a craft all in itself.

Everything you've posted is beautiful and being made from recycled materials makes it even more outstanding. :thumbsup:

 

[GoIrish]

Great work.

 

[Chaincarver Steve]

Great stuff. And that's awesome about the Chevy.

 

[Pauley]

Awesome work! Your very talented. Wish I could find stuff like you've found....maybe I should just look harder....

 

[Masterjer]

Very beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Up until now, I thought that you could only make beautiful heirlooms out of expensive hardwood bought from the lumberyard. You've opened my eyes to what you can do with Douglas fir and other remnants.

 

[chopnhack]

Really nice work!

What was the finish on the hope chest? In the middle picture it looks almost like a milk paint, but the third pic after top coating shows it with a lot of depth.

 

[landman]

Really nice work!

What was the finish on the hope chest? In the middle picture it looks almost like a milk paint, but the third pic after top coating shows it with a lot of depth.

Chopnhack, the middle picture was a stain, can't remember which one, likely mahogany. I seem to remember several coats of varnish, with sanding with very fine paper between coats. It was over 10 years ago.

 

[landman]

Great stuff. And that's awesome about the Chevy.

I had quite a bit of that white ash left after doing the frame for the car so my wife had the idea of building a new staircase to our basement with it. We did it together. we hired a real carpenter to build the stringers then we put the ash on it.

 

[landman]

Awesome work! Your very talented. Wish I could find stuff like you've found....maybe I should just look harder....

After a while you just "see" it wherever it is. I've even picked pieces on the side of the highway. I remember during my early working years there was an avid woodworker at work. He called himself a scrounger. I thought he was nuts. Why bother when the lumber store if full of nice new stuff. I've turned into him....go figure.