Reusing wood from old antique furniture?

[daftdog]

A chest of drawers made 2 large planters and two small planters The top boards will made two garage shelves the plywood back went to the tip two small to re use two sides still to use.

 

[Thingybob]

All my wood i use to make my miniatures is recycled from old furniture the grain is usualy fine as it wasent forced grown in those days so looks in keeping in miniature i dont break up full items just recieve old doors or drawers or if the owner has smashed it up , a cupboard like the one in post would keep me in wood all year . You only have to follow the threads to see the price of wood to realise recycling is the way to go for hobbiest supplys Model boats, Railways ,Planes etc

 

[Adam W.]

A trip to the local dump will convince anyone of the value of harvesting wood from old furniture.

Anyhoo, the only place I know of getting 2' wide boards of kosha Jamaican or Cuban mahogany is ebay @ 3 for 99p

 

[Jacob]

Oddly enough if you want to recycle then plain ordinary stuff may have more usable solid timber than veneered stuff with hardwood trimmings. War time "Utility" bed heads - high quality 3/4" oak boards, not to mention top quality bed irons if you want to make another one.

 

[Thingybob]

Totally agree. I recently demolished an old black piano as I could see rosewood in the interior. It turned out that the thing was made of poplar and they had veneered rosewood over the visible bits. All I recovered was some dusty yellow poplar which was pretty useless for anything. Your local charity shops might be a better outlet. ?

Some 30 years ago we had an upright piano left in the house we had bought no body wanted it even for free so i striped all the insides out made a box trough under the keyboard lid to create a 45 record storage space put 2 speakers in behind the side panels and turntable and amp behind the centre panel that i made drop down great gimic when i asked friends if they wanted to hear some music and sat down at the piano , And some 5 years later sold it for £250 to a trendy couple

 

[Cirks]

Some 30 years ago we had an upright piano left in the house we had bought no body wanted it even for free so i striped all the insides out made a box trough under the keyboard lid to create a 45 record storage space put 2 speakers in behind the side panels and turntable and amp behind the centre panel that i made drop down great gimic when i asked friends if they wanted to hear some music and sat down at the piano , And some 5 years later sold it for £250 to a trendy couple

Funnily enough, that was exactly my plan for an old bureau around 20 years ago (cd player player instead of turntable). I never did make it but it’s a nice way to reuse/upcycle a bit of furniture.

As for the OP. ‘brown’ furniture, I’d sell it if in good or better condition. I had same issue including a George IV sideboard originally worth £1000s which sold for £100s but despite it not being fashionable (and new houses not big enough) there are dealers out there who will buy stuff and a few private people wanting bits for their country homes etc. Always seems a shame to break up (normally) good workmanship unless condition poor

 

[Cooper]

Someone once said you could tell the difference between a family with old money and new. New money has to buy its own furniture.
Styles seem to come in cycles, a shop near us specialises in pieces from the early 70's (when I was in Art School, DipAD furniture design) and Festival of Britain 1951 designs can be seen in lots of magazines. I'm sure solid furniture, from the 30s and before, displaying traditional construction techniques will be sought after again. TV shows love to dwell in the past, there must be some who will want to replicate that in their homes. For the time being it can go in the garage, the trouble is many of us are using those as our workshops!

 

[stuart little]

A good source for hardwood - sapele or if lucky ,oak is old conservatories that have been replaced with UPVC. My neibour works for a company & used to bring home the old timber. He would stack it on my drive, I would then sort the usable hardwood then cut up the rest for him as firewood. I've made several side tables, sideboard , music centre cabinet, display cabinets for model ships & a pedestal desk for my model shipbuilding etc.. Unfortunately the source has dried up because our housing assh-oops! association decided two years ago to go 'green' & rip out our fireplaces & replace with electric fires. (never use mine)