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403 Posts
As some of you know, I am active duty Army, have a family of five, and am
only an E6, so I don't have a whole lot of extra funds for my woodworking
ideas. To be honest, my budget is as low as $100 a month most of the time,
which ends up going to tools I need, and sometimes wood from big box stores
because its actually cheaper than going online.
I dumpster dive every so often, in search for a hidden discarded gem. I have
been fortunate enough to find Brazilian Cherry Hardwood Flooring, as well as
some random pieces of birch, and plywood. I normally am able to find these
things at Closet Stores, or even Kitchen and Bathroom Centers. Sometimes a
Furniture store or Door Company will throw out full sheets of Plywood and
Particle Board, even MDF. Flooring Stores will throw out boxes of laminate
or hardwood flooring, but Last week, I went in search for some sheets of
Particle Board for my Table Saw Center I am working on. What I found was
more than I could have imagined.
I stopped at a Cabinet Shop, and asked the guy sweeping the ground around
the trash dump if they had any plywood they were throwing out, to which he
replied "All the time, what do you need?"
I told him anything I could get my hands on for a woodworking project or
two, and he immediately smiled and told me to follow him upstairs. As we
were walking, he stated that he was the owner, and these three gigantic
buildings are his. He owns the Cabinet Shop, the Granite Shop, the
Construction company. Once we reached the second floor, he pointed at a
walnut looking cabinet and desk set.
"These were custom made for, and belonged to Mike Singletary, when he was
the Head Coach for the 49ers. Take it all, and let me know when you are
done, I may have some sheets of plywood I can part with."
My buddy, who was with me, was shocked. We began loading this stuff up, as
much as we could fit in one trip. When we finished, we waited around for him
for about an hour. When he finished with his customer, he came out and asked
me if I wanted the Table Saw that was up there (Bosch TS 4000)! Then he gave
us a tour of his shop, let us play with his $60,000 Table Saw, and showed us
a few machines he had that he was replacing due to them being older. These
machines were basically a set of Saw Stop's, a Delta Uni-saw, etc.
I told him that if he wanted to junk them, id take care of them like they
were my best friend. He laughed and said "we shall see my friend".
He told us to come back Thursday afternoon, he'd part with a few more sheets
of Plywood, and we could go thru his scrap bin, which was filled with Curly
maple stock, mahogany, and other various sized stock. Some of them were
planed, some were not. They apparently would toss out 4 feet of a 2x6 sized
piece of Curly Maple because it ripped off center, one side squared, the
other off.
The plywood is both shop face and furniture grade curly maple. It is
absolutely beautiful. Pics posted below.
only an E6, so I don't have a whole lot of extra funds for my woodworking
ideas. To be honest, my budget is as low as $100 a month most of the time,
which ends up going to tools I need, and sometimes wood from big box stores
because its actually cheaper than going online.
I dumpster dive every so often, in search for a hidden discarded gem. I have
been fortunate enough to find Brazilian Cherry Hardwood Flooring, as well as
some random pieces of birch, and plywood. I normally am able to find these
things at Closet Stores, or even Kitchen and Bathroom Centers. Sometimes a
Furniture store or Door Company will throw out full sheets of Plywood and
Particle Board, even MDF. Flooring Stores will throw out boxes of laminate
or hardwood flooring, but Last week, I went in search for some sheets of
Particle Board for my Table Saw Center I am working on. What I found was
more than I could have imagined.
I stopped at a Cabinet Shop, and asked the guy sweeping the ground around
the trash dump if they had any plywood they were throwing out, to which he
replied "All the time, what do you need?"
I told him anything I could get my hands on for a woodworking project or
two, and he immediately smiled and told me to follow him upstairs. As we
were walking, he stated that he was the owner, and these three gigantic
buildings are his. He owns the Cabinet Shop, the Granite Shop, the
Construction company. Once we reached the second floor, he pointed at a
walnut looking cabinet and desk set.
"These were custom made for, and belonged to Mike Singletary, when he was
the Head Coach for the 49ers. Take it all, and let me know when you are
done, I may have some sheets of plywood I can part with."
My buddy, who was with me, was shocked. We began loading this stuff up, as
much as we could fit in one trip. When we finished, we waited around for him
for about an hour. When he finished with his customer, he came out and asked
me if I wanted the Table Saw that was up there (Bosch TS 4000)! Then he gave
us a tour of his shop, let us play with his $60,000 Table Saw, and showed us
a few machines he had that he was replacing due to them being older. These
machines were basically a set of Saw Stop's, a Delta Uni-saw, etc.
I told him that if he wanted to junk them, id take care of them like they
were my best friend. He laughed and said "we shall see my friend".
He told us to come back Thursday afternoon, he'd part with a few more sheets
of Plywood, and we could go thru his scrap bin, which was filled with Curly
maple stock, mahogany, and other various sized stock. Some of them were
planed, some were not. They apparently would toss out 4 feet of a 2x6 sized
piece of Curly Maple because it ripped off center, one side squared, the
other off.
The plywood is both shop face and furniture grade curly maple. It is
absolutely beautiful. Pics posted below.
That is AMAZING!!!
