Shopsmith Forums

OMG....so many have experience with using old furniture, but I NEVER hear anyone brag about that....it seems such an obvious source.....and generally, the beautiful hardwoods are more likely stained than painted....in my experience.

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I used to pick the "leave it to Beaver" beds when people left them at the curb for the trash man. ( sorry I meant trash person). You know, the old maple twin beds that the boys used to sleep in. The headboards yielded a lot of good hard maple. My drum sander is really good at removing the finish. Today if you can find them people want an arm and a leg for them
Bill V
P.S. The square posts on some of the beds yield some good turning squares just be careful of the steel pins that hold the side rails.

This was exactly what I had in mind.....the old twin beds and turning the bed posts! I've got a set of two walnut twin beds in the basement storage that my wife won't let me destroy, yet we've had no use for for 15 years!

Yeah, it's much better to repurpose these beautiful pieces of wood! Sure, lead paint is an issue, but you'll be safe with varnished wood. If it's painted, get it tested, dump it if the paint is lead-based, but if it isn't, then you could sand it and refinish it as you see fit (varnish if the wood looks great, paint if it's damaged, for example)

This was exactly what I had in mind.....the old twin beds and turning the bed posts! I've got a set of two walnut twin beds in the basement storage that my wife won't let me destroy, yet we've had no use for for 15 years!

I feel your pain. I suspect a lot of us do. I've been been storing old crap that belonged to previous generations for many years.

I like old stuff, and I suspect of lot of us do. But, chances are our belongings will be a burden on our kids. There's been a major cultural shift, and the younger folks just don't want "brown" furniture anymore.

I suspect this is a result of widespread affluence. When all of your possessions can fit in one steamer trunk, your stuff is valuable to your kids. But, if you have a house filled to the brim with stuff, it's tough to be sentimental about it.

So, if you can reclaim lumber from old furniture without cause marital problems, go for it and without guilt. With the caveats others here already posted.

Eh, I wouldn't say so, "retro/vintage" furniture is EXTREMELY trendy for people in their twenties, I always see young well-off girls and couples buying old wooden furniture at yard sales. Sure, it's a minority, but there are people who do find it fashionable.
And even if your wife doesn't want to throw the old furniture away, it's possible to convince her to "reinvent" it, to dismantle it and turn it into something new that'll be useful, without destroying or selling it off!

I have remade old headboards into benchs. An old cupboard that grandpa used to hold bridles, bits, harness parts for draft horses I made in a desk. A old 1/2 barn door turned into a wall hanging (after I convince the Mrs. to let me wire brush the “material” off it so it wasn’t too rustic.)

Use your imagination and put the old wood to use. That said I agree with others on beware of painted surfaces for lead.

I always wonder about the home improvement shows on DIY, HGTV, etc when they use old painted boards on their construction if they test and mitigate lead paint.

My wife's garden spade had the wooden handle split and come loose. So I fixed it. Some time ago I removed the handles from my lathe turning set to use the Robert Sorby handle system. so here's the fix. A Shopsmith garden spade !!!
Bill V

wa2crk wrote:My wife's garden spade had the wooden handle split and come loose. So I fixed it. Some time ago I removed the handles from my lathe turning set to use the Robert Sorby handle system. so here's the fix.
repurposing.jpg
A Shopsmith garden spade !!!
Bill V

That's a great start, Bill. But to catch Shopsmith up with Lee Valley, you still need to do a garden fork!

I've reclaimed a lot of wood over the years. I don't reclaim pallets anymore, because I rarely see any that are worth the effort.

Older furniture can have some good wood in them but it can take an enormous amount of time and effort to get anything good out of them. If you hit a piece of overlooked hardware with your saw you can destroy an expensive blade. I recently ruined an expensive bandsaw blade when it touched a staple and dulled all the teeth on one side. I could have purchased the wood I reclaimed from that piece for less than the saw blade cost. I almost quit reclaiming wood from furniture after that.