Wood for projects:

Sounds like a great neighborhood. Where I live, it's melamine. Frankly, I don't think I have even seen any real wood being tossed.

I hear you. I bought an old solid oak dresser for $50.00 even though the paint job was in very poor condition. I thought that this was my chance to learn finishing! Halfway through the stripping process I started to get burned out and thought "I got taken for my money!!!". However I then saw how much single planks of oak cost (as much at $50 for a single 1"x12"x8' plank)! After that I realized that I got a great deal, regardless how much work would be needed to fix it up. It was really breathtaking when I got to the top of the unit and ever slide of the stripper revealed beatiful grain hidden for years.

Rarely does anyone around here throw out furniture, in any conition--but they do sell it for cheap at garage sales, which is almost as good.

A lot of folks talk about salvaging wood from pallets. Maybe I lack the finesse in disassembling the things, but I can't get the thinnner crosspieces off without ending up with a bunch of useless splinters (even if I cut them off rather than trying to pull those ring-shanked nails), and the heavy "skid" pieces are usually warped or bowed or both.

On top of that, most of them seem to be made of pine--none of the oak or other hardwood that folks report finding. :P

I hear you on the burn out part, I'm refinishing a china cabinet I got at a estate sale in June of 2003 for $110, solid Oak, very nice, but the previous owners had tried to refinish it with a cherry stain, long story short, I needed to sand the entire thing to clean it up. the bottom is done and in the house, the top is now stained and just needs to be finished, I am never refinishing an piece of furniture larger than an end table again, the wood may cost more but I would much rather build it myself

as far as recover> I hear you. I bought an old solid oak dresser for $50.00 even though the