Looking for cheap or free hardwood

Hello Fellow DMS members,
I’m asking if anyone has inexpensive or free hardwood they want to part with. I’ll take anything, full boards, small boards or cut offs.
Thank you
Donald
469-705-9295
[email protected]

Go check out Central hardwood.
They have some drops and cutoffs that are pretty cheap.

It’s not allowed in the woodshop, so you’d have to process it using either hand tools or your own tools, but a surprising number of pallet stringers (the thick wood pieces that join all the thin wood floor pieces together) are made out of oak.

@Donald_Hanson
Regarding wood in the “Woodshop” proper, i.e. the room where the large machinery is located, If you use construction lumber, it must be a white wood such as fir. No yellow (i.e. pine) or sappy softwoods are allowed inside the room. In reality, construction lumber tends to quickly warp, twist, and bow due to the moisture content of the wood.

No pallet wood, new/used is allowed inside the “Woodshop”. People tend to get hung-up on the concept that is there are no nails, then why does it matter? Forklifts scoot pallets on pavement and concrete while loaded with heavy weights. Our metal detector isn’t very successful at locating the small stones that become embedded in the pallet wood. These stones immediately cost the membership more money than is trying to be saved by someone.

Absolutely no pressure treated wood is allowed inside the DMS building.

We have a variety of carpenter tools located on the walls, along with the Ryobi tools for this purpose. Last time I asked around, very few people who owned multi-thousand dollar machines made items with sappy wood or from used pallets. Any savings in wood cost is almost immediately lost in the cost of blades degraded, and/or cutters destroyed.

Bottom line is that your probably aren’t making high quality items that require precision tools out of 2x4’s or pallets.

@zacharymarkson - We were expecting you at the committee meeting. You wanted to change everyone’s mind regarding using the above materials. A vote was held as promised. Please consider the issue settled, yourself notified, and realize any transgressions will be dealt with accordingly.

We do keep scraps around. Our scrap bin was accidentally purged a couple of weeks ago, but we will rebuild it. The purpose of the wood is for practice, not to build things.

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I got held up at work and didn’t get out until 6:30. DMS is about 45 minutes to an hour away, depending on traffic, from there. Plus, I was covered in squirrel poop and wanted to shower. I will make an effort to attend the future meetings. And please remember the very first line I said in my original quote. “I just want to go on record as saying that while I will follow the rule and respect it, I fundamentally disagree with it.” As soon as I learned that was a rule, I stopped using syp in the woodshop. Just because I disagree with the rule, doesn’t mean I’m not going to follow it. I have too much love and respect for the maker space as a whole to be that kind of member.

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How does that place work? Like what’s the process for getting help there? Every time I’ve been there they seem mad that I’m even there to buy anything.

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They expect you to already know what you want. All of these lumber companies are that way except for Wood World. The charge you retail and treat you as such. Those other companies are wholesale to the trade.

When you speak with them, they have a very specific language and expect you to use it. Like when you speak to a drug rep vs a client.

Well that’s what I do is the thing. Tell them I want say African Mahogany, 4/4, how many board feet, minimum board width and length, and that I want one straight edge. Unless there’s some other vernacular I’m unaware of, I think I’m fairly clear.

I stopped using them after the third try and go to Dakota or Hardwood Lumber Co. instead so it’s not a big issue but quizzical.

How many hundred feet? Central doesn’t seem super friendly to anyone. Just kidding:) Dakotas is always more friendly, but the wait can be brutal.

You walk in tell them what you want. They go pull it. You don’t get to pull from a stack of wood like at Dallas Hardwood. (On rare occasions they have let me go back and pick out boards but only from the wood on top of the stack). You accept or reject what they pull. Then go pay and then load. They prefer big orders (100’s of board feet). Over the years, my data points are they are almost always they are cheapest in town. Always worth calling when you want baltic birch - they can be a lot cheaper.

Dallas Hardwood is next cheapest - they allow you to pick from the stack. They bend over backwards to help you. And are glad to joint and plane wood to spec (for a small fee). They have a wide selection of types and sizes.

Don’t know about Dakota - other than they seem to have a much more limited selection of wood.

Woodworld, Rockler and Woodcraft are most expensive (by a lot) - but they occasionally have shorts and sales that are competitive with Dallas Hardwood.

Good Luck!

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I’ll just add that I agree 100% that we shouldn’t allow pallet wood or SYP to be cut, planed or even in the wood shop at all… But, I’ll also say that if you are at home and you are using your own tools pallet wood can make pretty good compost bins, or be used to make raised beds. Neither of which require much more than a skill/circular saw to build. The same with SYP and construction lumber. I used some 2x4s just last week to build an auxiliary stair case in my attic (cross steps actually not a real stair case. You just have to use it for what is was intended.

I also agree that saving a few dollars on wood is not worth destroying a planer blade, a bandsaw blade or any other blade for that matter. How many times have you planed some high dollar hardwood only to find the blade damaged and leaves a streak on your wood? It can either burn it, gouge it or just chip it, but it is not a pretty result. Taking care of a valuable shared resource is what it is all about. I appreciate the polices wood shop has to do this for everyone.

My 2 cents.

Everyone is looking for a deal. We have to be careful that a deal for one doesn’t turn into a cost for everyone else.

So there aren’t any miscommunications regarding materials that are allowed in the woodshop, I have created a short list. It doesn’t cover everything, just some of the basics.
Materials BANNED from DMS: All pressure treated wood. It doesn’t matter what process or chemicals were used.

Materials BANNED from entering the Woodshop:

  1. All yellow soft wood.
  2. Yellow pine lumber, plywood, whatever,
  3. No used building materials, even without nails or screws.
  4. No used fencing material.
  5. No used concrete form lumber.
  6. No material with nails or screws, or other metal fasteners.

If another member approaches you regarding the material you are using being inappropriate, or illegal, please don’t argue. This is not nice.

Please don’t allow a good deal for yourself become a bad deal for the rest of the membership.

NOTICE: If you are caught breaking these rules, you could be asked to leave the shop for up to 60 days, and have your woodshop privileges revoked. Once revoked, your privileges will not be reinstated until after you re-attend woodshop safety & orientation, along with all stationary equipment classes as made available, unless waived by the woodshop chair.

I just want to know the broad bdft price of their stocked inventory. Like just the prices for their 4/4 (since they have all of the listed ones at that depth)

There seems to be this big prejudice against “pallet wood” at DMS, but we need to be a little more specific. In America, we shuffle around rough hewn planks and trash wood to load cargo, and ship freight.

In Europe it is another engineering skill. I regularly see European cargo boxes and pallets made from 8-12 layer plywood only 3/4 inch thick, designed to survive Atlantic storms at sea.

Maybe a few packaging standards could serve as our bar for consideration.

A convenient way to get a ball park on plywood and lumber prices is to go to the Plywood Company of Fort Worth website: plywoodcompany.com

On any given day they may be above or below another supplier, but at least they show pricing for everything they sell along with quantities on hand. 'Tis a godsend when you need to quote a project.

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Thanks this’ll give me some idea.

I double checked, but this apparently was not made at DMS. Just too appropriate to not pass along! :rofl:
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Nice way to reverse materials into a banned material, pallet wood, cute.

not even ikea would use that wood for a coffee table. :rofl:

Have you ever deconstructed ikea furniture for funsy?:joy: