Your favourite thing you have made from reclaimed timber 🤔 📸

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Indiana

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Post something you have made from reclaimed timer. something you loved working on or the end product

I’ll start.


Pitch pine drop leaf/gatelegged table finished with an open grain and lime wax.
Made from old church pews


Not the best picture but I loved working on it!
 

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Almost everything I make is from reclaimed timber or somebody's unwanted off-cuts. I have made various that are have memories in the history of where the wood came from or what it was before. This is a fold-up step stool I've posted somewhere else on the UKWS site. It's made from pine drawers from my neighbours. They are in their seventies and inherited the unit from their parents. The chest was not salvageable but the drawers were perfect and knot-free as most pine furniture was in these days. The finish was even crackle-glazed which is a nice touch. I didn't realise how much I would use this in the workshop but it's been one of the most used items in there.
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Another item is this sideboard/credenza. It's made from American black walnut off-cuts. The story goes from my big brother that the ship transporting the walnut trees was sunk by a German U-boat near the beginning of the war. After the war (I think the 1950's) the contents of the ship were salvaged including the walnut tree trunks (I assume) and were sold to the company that they were originally destined for which meant they paid for them twice. My big brother worked for this company and I had the off-cut from a boardroom they were furnishing. He told me the story and said they had tons of this walnut, so much that they couldn't use it all in his lifetime. Unfortunately, he suddenly died that year (2010) so I don't know if that means they actually only had a bit left. I wish he was around still even if it was just to confirm if I remember this story correctly.

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Another item is this sideboard/credenza. It's made from American black walnut off-cuts. The story goes from my big brother that the ship transporting the walnut trees was sunk by a German U-boat near the beginning of the war. After the war (I think the 1950's) the contents of the ship were salvaged including the walnut tree trunks (I assume) and were sold to the company that they were originally destined for which meant they paid for them twice. My big brother worked for this company and I had the off-cut from a boardroom they were furnishing. He told me the story and said they had tons of this walnut, so much that they couldn't use it all in his lifetime. Unfortunately, he suddenly died that year (2010) so I don't know if that means they actually only had a bit left. I wish he was around still even if it was just to confirm if I remember this story correctly.

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I really like this. The handles are a nice touch 👏👏
 
Almost everything I make is from reclaimed timber or somebody's unwanted off-cuts. I have made various that are have memories in the history of where the wood came from or what it was before. This is a fold-up step stool I've posted somewhere else on the UKWS site. It's made from pine drawers from my neighbours. They are in their seventies and inherited the unit from their parents. The chest was not salvageable but the drawers were perfect and knot-free as most pine furniture was in these days. The finish was even crackle-glazed which is a nice touch. I didn't realise how much I would use this in the workshop but it's been one of the most used items in there.
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Love love this 👏👏👏👏
 
My least favorite and most favorite are both from the same reclaimed timber. In about 2015 I came across a bloke selling a bunch of sleepers on gumtree, they were about 150mm x 75mm in section so not actual sleepers, and they had a 3/4" hole and washer mark on each end so they had been bolted to something, I guessed at the time perhaps the bed of a vehicle. Anyhow I set about using them to make a garden table and bench, seen below. The table has been a mainstay of our yard since and heavily used as table, temporary workbench, deadweight etc.

The bench ended up in our kitchen for about 6 years and annoyed me everyday, the large dovetail leg joints were a disaster and far too gappy to glue, they had wedged knocked into them which came loose every few weeks and had to be knocked back in. The wedges being loose was normally 'found' by a family member gouging their leg on one. So I reclaimed the reclaimed timber and built a new much better bench, I'm not 100% on the legs but I love the heavy bevel on the edge that gives the bench a light look, I also enjoyed the compound holes needed for the through tenon leg design.

Fitz

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91127-FC3D06FB-0B53-4D98-A936-05BD65FE4F5C.jpeg
 
My least favorite and most favorite are both from the same reclaimed timber. In about 2015 I came across a bloke selling a bunch of sleepers on gumtree, they were about 150mm x 75mm in section so not actual sleepers, and they had a 3/4" hole and washer mark on each end so they had been bolted to something, I guessed at the time perhaps the bed of a vehicle. Anyhow I set about using them to make a garden table and bench, seen below. The table has been a mainstay of our yard since and heavily used as table, temporary workbench, deadweight etc.

The bench ended up in our kitchen for about 6 years and annoyed me everyday, the large dovetail leg joints were a disaster and far too gappy to glue, they had wedged knocked into them which came loose every few weeks and had to be knocked back in. The wedges being loose was normally 'found' by a family member gouging their leg on one. So I reclaimed the reclaimed timber and built a new much better bench, I'm not 100% on the legs but I love the heavy bevel on the edge that gives the bench a light look, I also enjoyed the compound holes needed for the through tenon leg design.

Fitz

91126-5DE34CF4-460B-4CB8-8491-1AC7CB00D1C8.jpeg


91127-FC3D06FB-0B53-4D98-A936-05BD65FE4F5C.jpeg
I love that bench.
 
My least favorite and most favorite are both from the same reclaimed timber. In about 2015 I came across a bloke selling a bunch of sleepers on gumtree, they were about 150mm x 75mm in section so not actual sleepers, and they had a 3/4" hole and washer mark on each end so they had been bolted to something, I guessed at the time perhaps the bed of a vehicle. Anyhow I set about using them to make a garden table and bench, seen below. The table has been a mainstay of our yard since and heavily used as table, temporary workbench, deadweight etc.

The bench ended up in our kitchen for about 6 years and annoyed me everyday, the large dovetail leg joints were a disaster and far too gappy to glue, they had wedged knocked into them which came loose every few weeks and had to be knocked back in. The wedges being loose was normally 'found' by a family member gouging their leg on one. So I reclaimed the reclaimed timber and built a new much better bench, I'm not 100% on the legs but I love the heavy bevel on the edge that gives the bench a light look, I also enjoyed the compound holes needed for the through tenon leg design.

Fitz

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91127-FC3D06FB-0B53-4D98-A936-05BD65FE4F5C.jpeg
Nice looking bench the lines are great.
That is one robust table.
 
I use recycled wood a lot for my domestic projects. This is one of them. My partner wanted a collapsible table she had seen in a shop. As usual I said I could make one of those! And to the exact dimensions for the space we needed. It's basically two trestles with a removable top, held in place with a couple of wing nut bolts. The wood came from various pieces I had - eg old door frames, some pallet wood, and some skip finds which I keep in my "wood shed"! Because they are different woods and need touching up as well, my pieces tend to be painted!

We have found that although the table is collapsible, in reality it stays up permanently. We like the space it provides in an awkward part of our room!
 

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And another item for a particular space - a drinks rack! Again she a similar shelf unit in a shop but it wasn't quite long enough, so I said I could make that! Again, it's made out of reclaimed door frames and painted. I quite like working out the dimensions and the look of the item. It's always a little change to get this right and have the approval to proceed!

We make use of all the time as you might expect.
 

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Nice looking bench the lines are great.
That is one robust table.
I'm told that every woodworker goes through their 'Fred Flintstone' phase early in their journey when they have no idea how thick things need to be so everything is 'over engineered'. The main issue is that my wife can't lift her end of it so I have to ask a neighbor for help whenever I want to move it.
 
My least favorite and most favorite are both from the same reclaimed timber. In about 2015 I came across a bloke selling a bunch of sleepers on gumtree, they were about 150mm x 75mm in section so not actual sleepers, and they had a 3/4" hole and washer mark on each end so they had been bolted to something, I guessed at the time perhaps the bed of a vehicle. Anyhow I set about using them to make a garden table and bench, seen below. The table has been a mainstay of our yard since and heavily used as table, temporary workbench, deadweight etc.

The bench ended up in our kitchen for about 6 years and annoyed me everyday, the large dovetail leg joints were a disaster and far too gappy to glue, they had wedged knocked into them which came loose every few weeks and had to be knocked back in. The wedges being loose was normally 'found' by a family member gouging their leg on one. So I reclaimed the reclaimed timber and built a new much better bench, I'm not 100% on the legs but I love the heavy bevel on the edge that gives the bench a light look, I also enjoyed the compound holes needed for the through tenon leg design.

Fitz

91126-5DE34CF4-460B-4CB8-8491-1AC7CB00D1C8.jpeg


91127-FC3D06FB-0B53-4D98-A936-05BD65FE4F5C.jpeg
That is a really nice clean design. Given the size of the beams you used, it will take some weight I would think!
 

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