Some days my luck is...

AWESOME!!

A little while back, a neighbor who works at a factory gave me a pallet. Some may know I build furniture and do wood carving, so I'm always looking for good wood and sometimes pallets are a great source. Now, not all pallets are created equal. Some are just cheap pine, while those used for shipping heavy loads are built out of hard woods like Maple and Oak.

This one was 6x8, with 4x4 stringers and the deck boards are about 6 inches wide and roughly 1 1/4 thick. Even after cutting out the sections on each end and the middle with nail holes, I have 10 usuable- boards at 40 - 42 inches.
But that's not the best part.

I knew the 3 stringers were Oak, but not until I ran them through the jointer plane and got rid of the rough saw marks and surface weathering did I see that it was beautiful Red Oak.
Still not the best part and you're just not gonna believe this....

Ran the first deck board through and just couldn't believe my eyes at first. I thought " No.Way." " Just No. Friggin. Way"
Now.. it's all Maple, but some of it? Its not just Maple, not just Hard Maple... it's BIRDSEYE MAPLE. About 12 ft of it!!
I'm on my old tablet and posting pics is a pain, but for those that don't know what it is, look up Birdseye Maple, how rare it is and the cost. Be warned, you will clutch your wallet in shock.
I have roughly 12ft, in boards a little over 6 inches wide and 1 1/4 thick!

With all the whooping and hollering and the Happy Dance I did around my backyard, I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I've finally went completely over the edge.

You know the ole sayin'

One mans trash is another mans treasure.

I was looking through craigslist free ads once and saw a company advertising pallets for free. I called and asked how many they had, and they said more than I could haul (mistake!). I hooked up my 35' trailer and went over there. I got a mountain of pallets, probably 15 tons worth.

Brought them home and used them to stack hay on. These were the big trucking pallets 6'x6'. Stacked hay on them until they got too beat up to use. Then I cut them all down to use as firewood. Like your, these pallets were all oak. Spent about 3 weekends cutting all these pallets down to separate the nails from the wood. Had a mammoth pile of oak.

We were cleaning up the yard and had ordered a large roll-off. One night I got home and the roll-off was gone and so was all the oak I'd slaved over to cut. Wife tossed it all in the roll-off to clean up because we had guests coming over.

Sigh!!

Contact a luthier. A maker of stringed instruments.
You struck a little chunk of gold there.

a reply to: DAVID64

Send some of that luck my way!

I'm heading to a big flea market/craft fair tomorrow and will be looking for unusual and interesting finds... for a good deal that is!

this too shall pass.

originally posted by: Damla
this too shall pass.

It already did