I have always found that looking for just the right boards for a furniture project can be one of the most enjoyable aspects of woodworking. Surely everyone has experienced the joy of uncovering the beautiful, organic and unique grain patterns found within the wood you plane, sand and finish, but recently, I found another joy: Craigslist.org as a great source for locally harvested lumber.
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The Treasure Hunt
I found dozens of postings of people selling everything from oak, maple, rustic pine, poplar, to my personal favorites; black walnut and cherry. The Ohio Valley and surrounding area have no shortage of beautiful Cherry and Walnut trees. Many have fallen victim to a number of recent storms, or were cut down for commercial/residential development. Rather than cutting these 50+ year old trees for firewood, property owners have them cut up and then kiln or air dried by local sawyers, then sell the lumber at 50-60% less than most retail suppliers. The Cincinnati area even has a local University professor (Sam Sherrill) who has been published numerous times on the subject of harvesting urban timber. It is an interesting and eye-opening perspective on wood sources.
After finding a local guy with over 500+ bd/ft of 5/4 rough-sawn cherry for less than $3 bd/ft, I cleared out my wife's mini-van seats and headed out on my journey. In less than an hour, I had about a dozen hand-picked, 8'-10' long x 8"-12" wide boards sticking out the back of my soccer-mom low-rider. I got them home and started to take some measurements for my bookcase dimensional requirements. Cross-cutting the boards down to about 8" over their final length made it easier to handle and plane to their approximate final thickness.
Improvising with the Tools You Own
With only a 6" joiner, all of my boards required a little more effort to surface join them flat. I utilized a technique featured in a recent issue of Fine Woodworking (FWW #204) that uses a few basic shop-made sleds to tackle this challenge. It worked like a charm, and I found it relatively easy to get from 5/4 to 7/8" surfaced both sides. A few pieces required rip-cuts down the length of the board to eliminate some cupping that would have prevented me from flattening to the right thickness, but I am sure that after glue-up, the joint will virtually disappear.
I'd say at this point, I'm looking at about 20-30% waste from the rough-sawn material, but I believe I got my money's worth, particularly with the quality of the grain, and the width of the boards. I discovered that not only uncovering the hidden grain during milling, but really having to think through what boards will go where on the bookcase was really enjoyable. This does take time, and careful consideration however, so if you have never done this, prepare yourself for not getting right into cutting dovetails and glue-up the same day you get your wood home. Getting all of my material prepared for work took about 4-5 hours and gave me another reason to appreciate and love building furniture.
Your Thoughts?
For this first blog discussion, I'd be interested to hear from other folks about your own journeys/adventures in finding the right wood sources, as well as what you discover. Urban harvested wood is just one of a number of sustainable ways of being "greener" and ecologically conscious in how we apply our craft. Other ideas on making the most of the wood you buy could also produce some interesting comments and ideas. Like most woodworkers, I'm sure there are plenty opinions, so have at it.