40 yr old apprentice

[Andyj]

Hi can I break down and reuse old style real wood furniture like mahogany wardrobes and dressers etc, I mean as in machining them back to bare timber and squaring them. I'm only getting into woodwork proper after years of messing about at it. My workshops in the making but I'm still trying to work out economical ways of getting wood supplies. Any help appreciated.

Many thanks Andy

 

[MusicMan]

Yes, it is a very good way of getting quality, seasoned wood, and you can often find it in the "antique sheds" if you ask for stuff not good enough to sell. Charity shops is another good source. "brown" furniture prices are very low at the moment. I saw a huge solid oak table recently for £40.

I wouldn't recycle a nice piece, especially Victorian or earlier, that simply needed some restoration work, but much of it isn't in that class. And it is usually really well seasoned and pretty flat. Restoration is also very interesting woodwork, and has the advantage that it doesn't need much in the way of timber supplies. There are some threads on restoration in this forum.

Another source is architectural salvage firms. A bit pricier but still OK. I am still using some teak floorboards laid in 1850 that were surplus to reflooring my living room about 15 years ago. They came from St Mary's Hospital, London. Oregon Pine (bedroom floor) from Dover Naval Barracks made bookshelves.

Welcome and good luck!

 

[Jacob]

It's a really good idea - not least because in the process of pulling it apart you'll find out how stuff was made - and it's often very different from what you read in the mags.

 

[MusicMan]

It's a really good idea - not least because in the process of pulling it apart you'll find out how stuff was made - and it's often very different from what you read in the mags.

Yes, that is part of the fun of restoration, too.

 

[Andyj]

Hey thanks for the quick reply that's handy to know I've seen a few things on freecycle recently and played with the idea but as I said I'm still kinda new to this. On another line could anyone recommend a good mag subscription that I could think about bearing in mind that tools are expensive so I'll only be subbing to 1 at the minute so a good all rounder if anyone could personally recommend 1.
Many thanks Andy

 

[MusicMan]

What sort of things are you interested in making? Furniture, boxes, restoration, house joinery... people will advise you better if they know your ambitions.

Personally I learn a great deal from this forum and don't get magazines, unless I browse in a bookseller and one has some content that I want. Or is it your workshop/tools/jigs that you want advice on?

 

[John15]

As Music Man says, Mahogany from cheap old furniture can be a very good source, either from auctions or Ebay. I've bought gate leg tables in the past because they are easy to fit in the back of a car. Look out for woodworm which is usually confined to the softwood sub-frames.
As Jacob says, there are interesting methods used. In old gate leg tables the hinges are made from wood.

John

 

[custard]

Breaker antiques can be a useful source of hardwood timber, but it's mainly relevant for more experienced makers. There are a few problems,

- it often takes quite advanced techniques and machinery, plus a lot of effort, to turn antiques into usable boards of timber
- a large antique only yields surprisingly small amounts of usable timber
- you're limited to finding projects that fit your timber, instead of finding timber that fits your project

If you're just starting out there's a lot to be said for learning the basics with softwoods, and only then progressing to hardwoods. I appreciate that buying hardwoods is a significant barrier for many aspiring furniture makers, but if you're going to make progress then cross it you must.

Provided you set about things sensibly it shouldn't be too daunting. Take for example an item like this,

After a year or two of structured learning a piece like this should be within the abilities of most amateur woodworkers. It requires about one cubic foot of a hardwood like American Cherry, which will cost you about £60. In reality you'd want a bit more to be safe, so let's say it represents about £100 in materials. Depending on how sophisticated you make the drawer it'll probably take a hobbyist woodworker anywhere from 40 to 100 hours to make. Put it another way, if you make a pair of these it'll cost you under £200 in materials and probably occupy your spare time for the best part of a year. As hobbies go I'd argue that's a pretty good return, but it all hinges on cracking that problem of sourcing hardwood timber.

Good luck!

 

[bugbear]

On another line could anyone recommend a good mag subscription that I could think about bearing in mind that tools are expensive so I'll only be subbing to 1 at the minute so a good all rounder if anyone could personally recommend

I would strongly recommend NOT subscribing to a magazine.

Books (second hand, or from libraries) or articles on the web are a much better bet.

BugBear

 

[54Strat]

I bought a very cheap old beat up oak bookcase from an ad on Gumtree for £20, and got about 5 usuable 900mm lengths from it barring a few holes. The look on the sellers face when I 'disassemmbled' it with the help of a soft hammer and saw in front of the boot of my car was priceless.

 

[custard]

barring a few holes

:shock:

 

[custard]

I am still using some teak floorboards laid in 1850 that were surplus to reflooring my living room about 15 years ago. They came from St Mary's Hospital, London. Oregon Pine (bedroom floor) from Dover Naval Barracks made bookshelves.

I love timber with a back story...and more importantly clients love it too. A few years ago the pier in the seaside town where I live was refurbished, I got a load of salvaged greenheart and turned it into garden furniture which I had displayed in a local garden centre. It wasn't really selling, but then I changed the signage to say it was made from timbers from the pier, after that it all went like hot cakes!

Incidentally, a few years ago there was a load of Oak being sold that came from restoration work to Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory. I know a few furniture makers who did a roaring trade with "Victory Oak" pieces. The only trouble was it was actually timbers used in poor quality Victorian restorations of HMS Victory, so when Nelson strode the decks it would still have been growing in a field!

 

[MusicMan]

Haha that's good! Could have been planted by Nelson though, he used to carry a pocketful of acorns with him and plant them when he visited estates, to ensure the next generation of battleships. But iron and steel took over, which left us a fair bit for furniture now.

I also have teak for St Mark's Hospital, pine from Spitalfields market roof (Jack the Ripper was here) and oak parquet blocks from the Tower of London. All around 1850, so probably seasoned OK by now! These all came from LASSCO in Battersea.

 

[Andyj]

Thanks for all the info folks and thanks custard, most helpful. I'm mostly looking to set up the w/shop at the minute rather than making anything project wise as such.I'm more concentrated at trying to figure out jigs, clamps and saw sleds etc at minute.

 

[skipdiver]

I get a lot of timber from skips, hence my name. It's amazing what people throw away and the good thing about it, apart from it being free, is that it is well seasoned and has done all the moving it is likely to do, so is very stable. Sometimes i get to show people what i turned their throwaway wood into and they are amazed.

 

[sawdust1]

Try the lower end auction houses where the house clearance stuff end up, the stuff that does not
sell goes to the tip. You will save them the trouble if you can collect any unsold stuff.
I did this with a local auction house 30 years ago, i would pop in after every auction to take away
any unsold furniture destined for the dump.
Get it home and salvage what was useful then cut the rest up for firewood.
Also gives you the chance to see how items where put together.
If you don't have a wood burner then maybe of no use.
Once found a purse containing £300 hiding in the back of a wardrobe.