Pallet wood or similar - any suggestions?

[ChickenMan]

I'm on a little project at the moment which I want to clad with tongue and groove v-notched board. I have the router bits to do the notching, so my plan was to head to my local recycling centre and pick up some lengths of pallet wood, sand them down and use them. Except they've been practically cleaned out by people doing the same thing, and what they have left is too split / scruffy / full of nails etc.

So I've started to wonder if the extra cost of planed all round softwood might be worth paying in order to get done quicker and save myself some time on the sander. But as a novice I don't have any idea where to go or what the cheapest alternative might be.

I'm looking for something about 20mm thick and 100-120mm wide, but a bit of variance would be fine if it affected the price in the right direction. The only place I've looked so far is Wickes, and they would work out a bit too expensive to justify it really.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated

 

[lurker]

Skips and demo sites.
I get most of my wood from a window replacement company they even put the stuff to one side for me.
It takes a bit of prep and lots of waste but I burn that on my lounge fire.

It's free and very stable. And far better quality than anything you buy from the sheds

 

[ChickenMan]

Skips and demo sites.
I get most of my wood from a window replacement company they even put the stuff to one side for me.
It takes a bit of prep and lots of waste but I burn that on my lounge fire.

It's free and very stable. And far better quality than anything you buy from the sheds

Thanks lurker - I could carry on calling into the recycling centre and eventually I'd get what I need, but now I'm half way through the project I might suffer the cost just to get it done now.

But great idea for future projects, thanks for the tip!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You're lucky your "recycling centre" will allow you to recycle anything. Ours won't - if you get seen taking anything you get chucked off site.

 

[ChickenMan]

Ah no this is actually a wood recycling centre - they collect scrap from building sites and businesses and sell it on to the public. They're actually a registered charity - brilliant idea but from my point of view they're unfortunately victims of their own success, because every man and his dog knows to go there now when they have a little project. In the early days I was regularly amazed at what I could come home with for just a few quid. I guess maybe I've had my luck on the cheap stuff and will have to put my hand a bit further into my pocket

 

[No skills]

I'm a fan of recycling wood (got some today) but I'm increasingly finding my time is a lot more valuable than money (no you can't have any ).
Sometimes it's better to pay for new prepared timber than spend your free time sorting out rough stuff.

 

[ChickenMan]

That's exactly the conclusion I've arrived at - I think the recycling place is a good idea to call into when I'm passing to see if I can pick up anything to use in future projects, but if I have something on the go then it probably makes sense to cough up and get on with it. By the time I've driven 15 miles round trip and come back with 1/4 of what I need and prepared it for use, my time probably adds up to the cost of buying prepared.

Plus I just found some cheaper stuff online - total project will probably cost me about 25 quid more than expected without all the added hassle.

 

[Roughcut]

Wickes prices do seem very rich for t&g boards.
I would suggest seeking out a local timber merchant or maybe even one further away that can deliver.