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/gri...terhead/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