When a log is opened up for the first time during milling and the unique grain is exposed, it's a sacred moment for those of us that so strongly admire the natural characteristics of the raw material we work with. Just as God creates every one of us so individual and unique, no two logs are identical, either.
I suppose that characteristic contributes to my affinity to reclaiming wood that has lived a prior life and giving it a second one. Much of the time, what is visible on the outside when the reclamation process begins isn't what is seen when the eventual project is finished.
But it's more than that.
"They" say that reclaiming material is "green". It keeps waste out of landfills and helps save the planet and all that good stuff. I get that and appreciate the fact that my actions can help out the world in other ways. If I'm being honest, though, my motivations are more selfish than selfless.
I like to see the transformation. I like it when people say "I can't believe that came from that". I like projects where the cost of material is low and the effort that I put in is the predominant factor in the outcome. I like the artistry involved with figuring out how to take something ugly and make it beautiful again.
Reclaiming wood is no piece of cake, though, especially if it's going to be used for furniture applications where strength and appearance are at a premium. One of my first formal reclaiming efforts a few years ago was an investigation into the pallet wood craze. I was making a rustic, portable bar for a man cave and thought it would make a good sheathing material, which it did. The process to demo pallets, though, is no small feat as I learned.
Pallets are made of low-grade hardwood for durability and assembled with power nailers or staplers so that the fasteners are driven deep into the material for strength. Getting them apart by traditional nail pulling techniques is time consuming and often an effort in futility as you watch the pieces split apart one after another. Garage inventors have come up with their own ingenious devices to make the process go faster and will gladly sell you their custom implements. However, once you sweat it out to get a pile of rough, twisted, cupped, warped boards of no consistent dimension, you realize that there's still more work to do to use them for any "refined" purpose.
Needless to say, that was not only my first adventure into the pallet wood reclamation process life cycle, but it will also be my last. Waaaay too much work for so little gain. Plus, I just decided that pallet wood was too far down the wood quality continuum for my taste.
Most, but not all, of my wood reclaiming has been via outdoor structures made with cedar (i.e. decks, pergolas, etc.). The first deck I reclaimed I got off of Craigslist and I was spoiled. The guy lived 5 minutes from my house and he has done all the demo himself, including removing the screws/nails. His deck wasn't in terrible shape to begin with and many of the boards were so long that I had to cut them in two so they didn't stick too far out the back of my truck!
From that deck, I made (at least) an 8x10 pergola and a large harvest table for our Church's community garden (shown below).
A more recent project illustrated the max-effort required to turn old into new. Once again, I was working with used decking from a friend that had converted to the composite decking material. First, I had to sort through the stack to find boards that didn't have too much distress for the project at hand. Then I had to joint the top side flat. This served the purpose of having a flat side but also removed the stain and majority of the surface weathering.
Now, you might say, "Isn't having a weathered look something you shoot for in reclaimed material projects?", and I would say... "sometimes". There have been projects where the gray, weathered wood was exactly the look I was going for and basically power washed the surface and went with it.
In this case, after jointing one side flat, I then ripped it on the table saw to the width I needed. Then it was on to re-sawing it on the band saw to achieve a thinner board (7/8" vs 1-1/4"). Lastly was a trip through the thickness planer to achieve a consistent thickness and smooth the rough side created by my band saw blade.
Whew! And I didn't even mention a reclaimer's #1 enemy- metal, like in nails, screws, and other odd materials that have found their way into and under the surface of the wood through the years. Hit a nail with a planer or jointer and you're changing blades at a significant cost of time and money. Hit a nail with a band saw or table saw blade and you may be sharpening a blade or even damaging one by chipping a carbide tooth. How do I know this? Well, let's just say my first post-pallet experience was with some old barn 2x12 floor joists and I pretty much did all of the above!
I've since invested in a metal detector. I just have to be disciplined enough to use it consistently.
So, it was a pretty immense effort to just get the dimensional lumber I needed to even start the project.
Wouldn't it have been easier to run down to the lumber yard and pick up some ready-to-go material and just start measuring and constructing?
Well, of course, but there's just no way to reproduce the characteristics of reclaimed material (i.e. nail holes, cracks, patina when left alone) with store bought goods.
Plus, who's going to save the planet if I stop hauling off old decks?!