Source For Reclaimed Wood? Pro and Cons?

[Leon]

Reclaimed material...... Water and minerals sucked up from the ground by a growing tree. The reclaiming process is when the tree is taken down, cut up, and the the wood is reclaimed. ;~)

[hubops]

.. and the extra set-up fees will differ - depending on the size of the material order - that seems obvious to me. ... on a $ 10,000.00 order you might find that they will do a little custom work for free and maybe deliver it - to make the sale .. .. not so on a $ 250. order - where it might double your cost. John T.

[Scott Lurndal]

And I'd be real hesitant about running reclaimed stock through my nice sharp jointer or planer.

My prettiest boxes, on the other hand, come from some reclaimed old-growth douglas fir.... Just needed to check carefully for metal fragments/nails then fill the nail holes with tinted epoxy.

[Sonny]

for the lumber and any taxes, only. ...

Why would the lumber be in another "form"? What do you mean by "form"?

My perspective is, if the company is in the reclaimed lumber business, they should have an assortment of reclaimed boards already in stock, ready to s ell, at a set rate.... The boards having been shelved/stocked in their ori ginal salvaged condition. I would assume they should have a variety of 1" t hick boards of varing widths and lengths,.... same with 2", 3" etc. thick s tock. They should have a variety of beams (sizes), also, and all one need s, to do, is go select what size they need.

I am not thinking the company has, say, 12" X 12" X 10' beams, only, and th e beams need to be resawn into boards, as per a customer's cut list specs. If this is the case, then one needs to, possibly, find another reclaimed-l umber source.

The only thing OP needs done, as for as I understand, is the lumber needs t o be additionally planed and/or jointed. Each piece of purchased lumber sh ould already be in the basic "form" (its original salvaged condition, not r esawn), for building the bed.

Otherwise, I'm just understanding the whole senario.

Sonny

[dpb]

I have no knowledge of what they're reclaiming; OP has steadfastly refused to say. But there are a million ways to reclaim timber besides construction lumber which seems to be all you're thinking it is--I'd wager that is a _tiny_ fraction of the business'es form, if any.

[Mike Marlow]

Disagree. Absent the concern for nails and the likes in the wood - wood is wood. It does not matter if it is lumber or millwork.

[Mike Marlow]

So what is the "setup fee"? The guy is going to plane or joint a piece of wood. Ya gotta turn the knobs whether it is a rough cut board or a reclaimed piece. Just what the hell is the set up?

[Sonny]

Derby needs to find another supplier. He states the miller doesn't stock b oards, so, yeah, that shot my argument full of holes.

Maybe post on Craigslist and the like, for what stock you need and the plan ing/jointing services. I'd bet you'd get better offers, than that reclaime r/miller.

Or.....

How many replies might you receive, to satisfy your order, if you posted (o n Craigslist?) an offer of $500 - $1K, for the 72 bd ft of planed & jointed lumber you need? I'd bet lots!

Not a very complete lumber reclaiming business, IMO. Must be a log and/or beam reclaimer, only. Still, it doesn't take much to set up the bandsaw (mill?) to cut ~~72 bd ft of lumber. The saw(s) should already be ready t o cut. Additionally, if he cuts the beams/logs without hitting nails and such, he shouldn't have any worries about the planing/jointing, which shoul d already be setup, also. *His lumber fees should already include that ris k of hitting nails, etc., if his services are limited to what's described.

The millers "setup" statement is questionable, IMO, for this senario, in th at it's like an open end contract, to be generously revised, at his descret ion and to his advantage, especailly with a customer who may be unknowing.

Sonny

[DerbyDad03]

At this point I do not know what type of wood I would purchase. I haven't been to the lumber yard yet. However, the point I am trying to make is that if the wood needs to be planed or jointed, I can not do that.

The place I called said they do not stock any S4S reclaimed material. Everything starts as rough, you tell them what you need, they mill the material to your specs.

[DerbyDad03]

boards, so, yeah, that shot my argument full of holes.

aning/jointing services. I'd bet you'd get better offers, than that reclai mer/miller.

(on Craigslist?) an offer of $500 - $1K, for the 72 bd ft of planed & joint ed lumber you need? I'd bet lots!

or beam reclaimer, only. Still, it doesn't take much to set up the bandsa w (mill?) to cut ~~72 bd ft of lumber. The saw(s) should already be ready to cut. Additionally, if he cuts the beams/logs without hitting nails an d such, he shouldn't have any worries about the planing/jointing, which sho uld already be setup, also. *His lumber fees should already include that r isk of hitting nails, etc., if his services are limited to what's described .

that it's like an open end contract, to be generously revised, at his descr etion and to his advantage, especailly with a customer who may be unknowing .

I'm not quite sure why you find this all so strange. If I go to a lumber ya rd for S4S material, I am going to pay for the milling in the cost of the lumber. If I go to a place that sells reclaimed lumber and ask them to make it S4S, I am going to pay for the material and then pay for the milling servic es.

The difference (IMO)is that the lumber yard has thousands of board feet of every size imaginable (more or less) that somebody milled for them, while t he reclaimed lumber place is going to have to set up to mill a few pieces of 5 /4 x

6 in lengths that will work for the frame, then set up to mill some 1 x 4 f or the headboard, some other size for the legs, etc. That's why he requested a cut list so that he would know what I needed.

It sounds like his typical business is large scale orders, maybe like what would be needed for a post and beam house (more on that later) - some rough stuff, some S4S for casing, etc. Now, if it so happens that he already has a large order for 5/4 x 6 S4S, then running a few extra board feet for me wou ld result in minimal (if any) set up charges, but obviously there would be som e milling charges. However, if I just need a few board feet of some specific size within the next few days, and he has no other orders for that size, then I am going to pay something extra for the set-up. True, this might not be the pl ace for me since they don't usually deal in "bed frame sized orders" but all it will take is a cut list to get an actual quote. I'm not sure why you say "i t's like an open end contract" since I'll give him a cut list, he'll give me a quote and we'll agree to do business or not.

Here's a perfect example:

I found a CL posting for a person in my area that had a post and beam house built with reclaimed Douglas fir. The company he worked with built the actu al structure and he did all of the interior and exterior trim work. He supplie d a cut list for his part of the job and they milled the material as part of th e overall project. He now has some wood left over. He has about 70 BF of 5/4 x

4.5" (actual size) S4S that was supposed to be used for casing, but it was supposed to be 5" (actual size). The company cut it wrong. He made them an offer and he bought it for a really good price, while they fulfilled his original order at the original price. He changed his mind about his plans f or the 4.5" wood and now he is selling it. He also has a lot of rough-sawn dou g fir from the same place that he bought to use as exterior trim. As one woul d expect, he paid more for the S4S lumber than he did for the rough-sawn material, since there was milling involved.

Here is the material he is selling. If I went to a place that sells reclaim ed lumber, I would expect to pay more for a small order of something that look s like this:

Than the same size order of something that looks like this:

OK, so back to my project. Unfortunately, the long boards of 4.5" S4S mater ial is not wide enough for my liking, but it turns out he has enough of the rough-sawn material in the 6"+ widths that I need for the bedframe. It also turns out that my neighbor would be more than willing to plane and joint th e material to my specifications, probably for no charge, but I'll certainly o ffer him something. So I may end up buying a lot of the S4S material for the headboards and other parts of the bed, and the wider pieces of the rough-sa wn material for the frame itself. However, the key point here is that I found someone who is willing to mill the rough-sawn material for (probably) nothi ng. If I had to pay a commercial place to mill such a small order it *might* co st more than I want to pay.

[dpb]

So why were you arguing with me about what you didn't know?

You were thinking only of what I'd call primarily a salvage operation, not reclaiming...

[Sonny]

Well, hells bells! Since when are the terms salvaging and reclaiming so v ery different, no matter what is being recycled? I simply use the term sal vaging, rather than reclaiming, when it comes to this kind of lumber from a ny source.... and when it comes to any other product that is reuseable.

Derby asked us about pros and cons of reclaimed lumber, sourcing, etc., ... . from those with some knowledge. For any supplier to give even a rough q uote, he would need some semblance of a cut list. My only oversight was, THAT particular supplier didn't have boards in stock.

I don't recall my frame of mind, initially, for that oversight, but my know ledge and experience, as per the product and suppliers, was that most salva gers/reclaimers have an assortment of all kinds of lumber readily available , and I responded with that in mind.

There are several salvaging/reclaiming outfits, around here, that deal with slavaging/reclaiming from, not only salvaging buildings, but sinkers, stor m-felled, tree trimming/removing, etc.: Palmetto, Krotz Springs, Port Barr e, Maringouin, Ponchatoula (is a huge outfit). I have either inquired and /or bought from them all of them, so this experience is the perspective fro m which I was thinking, when giving advice, suggestions and/or recommendati ons. They all have a large assortment of lumber available, and yes, they do/will cut to specs, as well. I have never been quoted for an additional setup fee for simply cutting logs into boards.... they are already setup t o do 'most anything with lumber, logging, etc.

With my experience, Derby's contacted-supplier operation seemed out of the ordinary, to me. However, since he only cuts (I assume) logs and beams int o boards, he should already be setup to do any cutting. Once the boards a re cut, I would assume he is already setup to do any planing and jointing.

The only additional (special?) setups I can think of, for anything, is 1) m illing of profiles and the like. 2) I may be behind the times, so maybe so me sort of computerized setup, for simply cutting/planing/jointing boards, may be what is being used by that supplier. Still, I would think that oper ation would already be factored into any quote. 3) Since the outfit does v olume work, the feeding of lumber is done automatically, and not by a perso n feeding one board at a time. As for as cutting the log/beam into boards, he can only cut one log/beam at a time, even for volume orders. Is there a setup fee for each log/beam?

But if the miller has a separate setup fee, then, to me, it would seem ther e would be another aspect, of the total cost, that is lower.

The only additional fee I have ever paid, and I was informed of this prior to cutting, is if a nail was hit, during the cut of a log I supplied, then I would either pay for sharpening or buy the blade. For logs not supplied by me, i.e., supplied by the miller, then any nails hit are his liability. Even the small salvaging/reclaiming outfit I've most often used, in Lake Arthur, has no setup fee. He's already setup.

Derby states: I'm not quite sure why you find this all so strange. If I go to a lumber ya rd for S4S material, I am going to pay for the milling in the cost of the lumber. If I go to a place that sells reclaimed lumber and ask them to make it S4S, I am going to pay for the material and then pay for the milling servic es.

Why, sure he's gonna pay for the cutting, planing and jointing. Those oper ations are already factored into the "cost of the S4S lumber he requested". I have never heard of an additional setup fee, for any similar(?) senario I've had or for anyone else. (*We were asked for advice, suggestions, pro s & cons, etc., based on our experience.) Any service should already be fa ctored in to the quote. What is it about those tools that need to be setup , to warrant a setup fee beyond what I think would be normal? Or is it the personnel, who'll perform the operations, that need to be setup? Why woul d the miller not automatically (no additional fee involved) accommodate thi s small order of X-variety lumber, while accommodating a larger order of Y- variety lumber? Is the setup the act of going fetch the log from the pile of logs to be cut? The miller has a minimum order size. To me, order si ze has nothing to do with "setup", whatever that is.

Derby says: Here is the material he is selling. If I went to a place that sells reclaim ed lumber, I would expect to pay more for a small order of something that look s like this:

Than the same size order of something that looks like this:

Well, yes. You'll pay for the rough lumber, say $50, total. If you have it planed, you'll pay, say, $75 (@ $0.25 per bd ft), total. Doesn't this $

75 fee include the cost of "setting up" the saw and planer.... or are you g onna pay an additional $20 for the setups. All millers I know have a set f ee, only, of about $0.25 per bd ft, for planing & jointing.... and a set fe e (hourly rate/other - about $60/hr) for milling logs. As for as my experi ence, there's no such thing as, and/or I have never heard of, an individual setup fee for each these operations, no matter what the order size or what the type of wood. To me, that aspect, of Derby's obtaining the lumber he wants, makes for an unwarranted higher cost he would, otherwise, normally p ay.... unless some other aspect of the total cost is reduced.i.e., maybe he charges $0.20 for planing or jointing.

You stated earlier: You are buying millwork as well as the material by definition of the product and its source. Every order is essentially custom work.

Right. Buying the lumber, itself, and, additionally, the cost to have it p laned and jointed. The cost of the lumber, itself, includes the cutting it off the log/beam, is my experience, unless I supply the log, then I only p ay for the cutting, again, about $0.25 bd ft. In my experience, the cost f or each the planing and jointing operations is about $0.25/bd ft, which inc ludes "the setup" of the machines, which is already setup, always in its/th e ready-to-work position. It's already setup, no matter what the lumber o r how much!

So, why was I arguing with you? I didn't percieve it as arguing, though I used the word argument. My first thoughts was about boards in stock, the s econd about setup fee(s). I was trying to explain my point of view and und erstanding of, relative to, Derby's senario. Tell me, what is it, that's t o be set up, to get his boards cut and planed/jointed, to warrant an/any ad ditional setup fee(s)? I am simply not understanding what is to be "set up " and why there would be a charge for it (a charge for something that, seem ingly, doesn't exist.). Cutting, planing and jointing are not special oper ations, requiring special setups. Hence, to me, a proposed setup fee is ( possibly) questionable for someone (as Derby?) not knowing. Knowing that cutting, planing and jointing are not "special" operations, one shouldn't n ecessarily believe, be convinced, they require special setups and fees for such.

It doesn't matter if the miller did have boards in stock, or has to cut som e. They need to be planed and jointed. To me, that's not a special opera tion, warranting an additional special(?) setup(?) fee.

Within reasonable driving distance, here, there are a number of salvaging/r eclaiming outfits. I assume there are a number in Derby's area. I recomme nded he might look for another supplier.

Sonny