The shop smelled good this morning as I milled up some old pine floor boards. They were salvaged out of my house in Rhode Island. I pulled them up years ago in order to sister the floor joists. I wanted to make the third floor attic into a livable space, and the single joists didn’t meet the code requirements.
It was quite a job pulling them up because I wanted to reuse them. Otherwise, I would have sliced them all up with my circular saw and I would have been done with it. So they have two holes every 16″ or so from where I pulled the nails, but in my book, that gives them character. Not to mention they have a great patina from a 100 years of wear and tear.
They had a tongue and groove joints that were in bad shape, so I cleaned them up at the table saw. I ended up with two sets of 5″ wide and 6″ wide usable boards. The lengths vary, with some of them more than 6′ long.
My plan is to glue some of them up for panels for my work bench and a tool cabinet, and use the others for drawers and boxes to keep my stuff organized. I took this picture of the waste from session. The yankee in me would normally gather the pile up, cut it into smaller pieces, and use it as kindling in our fire pit. But alas, the apartment complex where I live doesn’t allow fire pits. Yet another reason I can’t wait until I sell my house.
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I consider that FREE wood. It is always a blessing. As with any wood the use is a serious consideration.