Free Oak boards. Worth the effort?

[jonp]

I have been offered what amounts to several thousand board feet of oak boards. These are top frames that are used to ship glass jars, bottles etc. They are about 3ft x 4ft square frames of 3-4in wide kiln dried oak since they are for food grade glass. You stack the glass on pallets, put the frames on top and band them then shrink wrap for shipping to keep the glass stable

The boards are 3/4 -1in thick and are about 75/35 white to red oak. The problem is that they have been sitting in a warehouse long enough that they at gray. I took a powered hand planer to a few and they look good under The stuff. To do all I would really need to cut the corners apart then buy a powered bench planer and I would have probably 3/4 inch oak boards random 2 1/2ft or 3 1/2ft when done, the bad pieces used for firewood in our outdoor firepit

Think the $350 for the planer would be worth it? Could use them for counters, flooring, random width walls etc

[Finster101]

If nothing else it makes real good firewood. When my dad worked in a cooperage plant he used to bring home a pickup load of USED staves and barrel heads. The house smelled like bourbon for the winter and they would burn with a nice blue flame for several minutes before the wood began being consumed.

[JohnH]

Yes

[Winger Ed.]

Don't turn down anything that's free----- even a goat.

[MUSTANG]

I would take it for wood working projects. It might make good "Trade Goods" for someone who does woodworking that might have trade items (Like Lead or....).

[nvbirdman]

How much would it cost to rent a planer?

[ryanmattes]

Based only on how much money my brother spends on decent wood for woodworking projects, I'd say take it. No need to clean it all up at once, leave it rough until you're ready to use it.

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[CastingFool]

Based on today's wood prices, I would say it's worth it.

[Gewehr-Guy]

Get it before someone else finds out about it. You can find projects to make out of it later, but you have to get it first. Even without planing, it should have some good value to local hobby woodworkers.

[MrWolf]

I would if I was you. Good luck.

[country gent]

Jump on it, break it down and stack it leaving air spaces between layers. Once you get the planner you can clean it up as needed. The big job wont be planning it but cleaning up the pile of saw dust when done. Also look at the belt sanders for this. they may be less affected by missed nails than the planers blades.

[JimB..]

To use them for woodworking you’ll want to joint them first, then plane them. If you just plane them they probably won’t be flat.

I’m getting to the point where I don’t accept free stuff, especially bulky free stuff, for which I don’t have an immediate need. If I had a barn and a machine shed I’m sure I’d think differently.

[BNE]

I'm looking for wood to make shelving in my tractor shed... Wish you were close by, I'd help you out!

BNE

[Dusty Bannister]

A good grade glue, over lap pieces to build up width and thickness. If you leave the shelves unfinished, just use drywall screws instead of clamps. Oak is going to be tough so may need to drill pilot holes and beeswax on screws. If you have the room, stack flat until you have the need to prep the wood. That could be some really nice stuff. And sort as you go with winter around the corner.

[Bmi48219]

Do you have a place to store the lumber that isn't humid? If you’re going to repurpose for flooring a planer will get you a uniform thickness, you’ll need a table saw to get them the same width, another fixture to tongue & groove and mill relief cuts on bottoms. Not to dissuade you but if the frames were nailed together with twist nails the boards will come apart hard and are apt to split. Then based on what it was used for it probably wasn’t clear quarter-sawn oak. Figure you’ll end up with 50% of what’s there.
I salvaged a full size handball court floor, rock maple, 45 years ago, 42’ x 30’. Just pulling the nails, sorting, stacking and bundling ate up 6 months of my spare time. I’d have never took it if it had to be planed and routed. I eventually used most of it. Don’t know if I was happier about using it as opposed to trying to sell it.

[Mal Paso]

For Oak carbide lasts longer. The individual cutters have 4 cutting edges and are self indexing. Best of all the chips are small don't clog and no need for a powered chip collector. Less noise than long blades.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/grizzly-13-2-hp-benchtop-planer-with-spiral-cutterhead/g0889z

[RickinTN]

The Ugly is only skin deep. Clean 'em up as you use them.
Rick

[bedbugbilly]

If I still had my woodworking business I would have snatched it up in a heartbeat. While the pieces may not be large, there are many times there are always times when narrower and shorter pieces could be utilized. Just offhand - they would make good door rails and stiles for raised panel doors or could be glued up into wider pieces.

On several occasions, I had "free wood" offered to me - one lot was full 1" black walnut roof boards removed from a house that had been built in the 1840s in southern Michigan. Most were 12" plus in width and 10 - 14 feet in length. I went over them carefully to remove any remnants of square cut nails and then took minimal off of each side with the surface planer I had. Over the years, I used them up in furniture restoration as well as a number of clocks and cabine work.

I hate to see anything go to waste and as someone mentioned, at the very least it would be good foreword. Even glued up, the white oak would work well for door thresholds.

[samari46]

I'd buy a planer if only to take advantage of the free wood. Years back they had a bowling alley fold up. All that hard rock maple just sitting there. Stopped and asked what they were going to do with it. foreman said take all you want as they were having to pay for a dumpster to haul it away. Told my neighbor about it and 5 minutes later there we were loading his truck up. Redid all the floors in his house and still had wood left over. Frank

[Mk42gunner]

As long as you have a place to store it, wood doesn't really go bad.

Leave it outside on the other hand, it will get incredibly bad in a few years.

I'd take all I could get free.

Robert

[Scrounge]

I have been offered what amounts to several thousand board feet of oak boards. These are top frames that are used to ship glass jars, bottles etc. They are about 3ft x 4ft square frames of 3-4in wide kiln dried oak since they are for food grade glass. You stack the glass on pallets, put the frames on top and band them then shrink wrap for shipping to keep the glass stable

The boards are 3/4 -1in thick and are about 75/35 white to red oak. The problem is that they have been sitting in a warehouse long enough that they at gray. I took a powered hand planer to a few and they look good under The stuff. To do all I would really need to cut the corners apart then buy a powered bench planer and I would have probably 3/4 inch oak boards random 2 1/2ft or 3 1/2ft when done, the bad pieces used for firewood in our outdoor firepit

Think the $350 for the planer would be worth it? Could use them for counters, flooring, random width walls etc

YES!!! IF you have a place to store the wood, anyway. Go price a 2x4 right now. Whitewood, nothing special.

[gmsharps]

A lot of crafters like the naturally grey look for picture frames and the like. Just the time to take them apart and advertising that you have them. Just a thought to get rid of some of the extra that you do not need.

gmsharps

[Handloader109]

If mitered joints, I would just cut at start of miter, burn the small square left, picking the staples or screws out of the ashes. I actually look around and see if you could find a used Jet or other brand abrasive belt sander, Drum over a moving table. They may be more than $400, but I've seen them that cheap. 80 grit paper, ( not as coarse as you think on this machine) would remove a few thousandths on each of the flat sides, the short sides you would remove when you machine to whatever width you need. Planer will work, but will remove more wood.
But get the wood if you can store dry. indoors. It most probably was kiln dried as it touched corrugated and would have stained the glass.
30 inch pieces are plenty long enough for a lot of things

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[dale2242]

Lowes is selling unfinished oak lumber for over $20 BF.
I would take it.

[Wayne Smith]

And, for what it's worth, that grey is the natural oxidation color of the oak. It is stable and won't penetrate far.

[Pressman]

Jon, grab it, all of it. And the next time your truck is heading anywhere close to Minny-Sota bring the white oak along. I'll be your best buddy forever. :-P

Ken

[jonp]

Jon, grab it, all of it. And the next time your truck is heading anywhere close to Minny-Sota bring the white oak along. I'll be your best buddy forever. :-P

Ken

LOL, thanks Ken. If there isn't most of a 48ft flatbed of oak boards I'll be surprised. The frames are not nailed. No nails on something that goes on top of food grade containers. The corners are joined with AS-20 truss plates. Each frame has 8, 2 for each corner. I cut a bunch off and burned them in the firepit to get the oak out so now I have a giant pile of good truss plates to go along with the oak boards.

I should have known that this bunch of enablers would tell me to buy a planer and get to work. :-D Now, to sneak it past the wife.....

[higgins]

Whether you run it through your planer or a rented one, borrow a metal detector and check for unseen staples, nails, etc. My experience is when you get into a project like this you always miss at least one nail, which is all it would take to damage a planer blade.

[country gent]

Glad to be of help JonP, But it will be nice to have a stash of hardwood to work with.

[jonp]

It most probably was kiln dried

Handloader109, all of the wood is stamped 'kiln dried" per specs for import/export

[shooterg]

FWIW- a light pass with a pressure washer will get rid of the oxidation look . Have done so with old wood lawn chairs and refinished .

[wv109323]

Investing in a wood planer is not a bad idea. There are many uses for a planer in a workshop. My dad at one time had 4 in his woodworking shop. The one he used the most was a Dewalt. He had a large floor model 12-15" 220 volt for the large stuff. Most wood working projects do not require 3/4" material. You can always buy the longer boards when needed but you can make lots of things out of 2-3ft stuff.

[Plate plinker]

You could glue up raised panels and cover a entire wall or something.

[GregLaROCHE]

Just be careful of nails and other hidden pieces of steel.

[Mal Paso]

Just be careful of nails and other hidden pieces of steel.

No Worries The blade will find the ones you miss. I still recommend the spiral and helical cutter heads.

[jonp]

No nails in this stuff, here is a picture of two pieces I used a hand plane and belt sander on. Red on the left, White on the right

290899

[MaryB]

I would love to have a pile of that for small projects!

[Pressman]

Jon, Mary lives just down the road from me, throw a few more boards on that truck.

[MaryB]

I love red oak, my kitchen is all red oak, bathroom vanity is red oak, my computer/radio desk is red oak... and I need to build a custom mirror/shelf unit for the bathroom above the vanity, none of the commercial ones fit the space well.

[jonp]

I love red oak, my kitchen is all red oak, bathroom vanity is red oak, my computer/radio desk is red oak... and I need to build a custom mirror/shelf unit for the bathroom above the vanity, none of the commercial ones fit the space well.

Dang, MaryB. If you were closer I'd pick all the red oak out and give it to you. Our house is old and needs custom stuff so I'm going to use some to build shelves to fit and maybe a countertop for the kitchen remodel.

[Handloader109]

Good grab... My FIL worked at a small furniture plant for a while. They sold off gaylord boxes of scrap for about $10 or 15 at the time. White oak. But was mixed parts that had defects. I made a few items from a box, but it wasn't worth the effort. very few flat parts, lots of curves for armrest and feet

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