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As a society, we throw a lot of things away. Yes, we feel guilty about it and we try to recycle when we can and where we can, but it’s not always “easy”. As woodworkers we respect things with age – from furniture to tools, there’s a quality with older items that we revere. So I think we respect recycling as much as the next person, but it’s not always evident in our woodworking. So how about revering and respecting some old barn wood, or a kitchen table relegated to the backyard? Or even that interesting looking “thing” you saw in a trash pile on the side of the road. Get over that stigma of being a trash picker…go rescue something! And don’t forget recycling lumber may offer you treasure. Much of the older wood is actually of a superior quality from older growth trees that are becoming much shorter in supply these days.
Woodworker and author Yoav Liberman has written a book designed to help us be more conscientious woodworkers while benefitting from our good deeds. Working Reclaimed Wood offers advice on finding reclaimed lumber, how to handle it to make it useful for woodworking and much more. For a taste of the concept and the knowledge offered, Yoav builds one of the simplest of reclaimed wood projects (a coffee table) in the video below. And it’s not all about wood! Hardware can also be recycled. So put your good earth citizen hat on and enjoy a few minutes with Yoav.
Win a copy of Working Reclaimed Wood!
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
