Thread: Those times when you try and save $0.01 and it cost you $1 + wood type id

I use a lot of repurposed timber, IIOS, and have developed a few tricks to minimise your experiences.

Many will say - "get a metal detector" - but this is only partially effective. There are many nasties that are not ferrous - dirt, rocks, shells, glass, even hardened paint - and sometimes blades chip for no apparent reason. My guess is that the culprit was removed by the blade.

My current prefered solution is -

1. have two sets of blades - rough planer and smoothers.
2. start with the rough blades, find all the nasties and remove them,
3. then switch to the smoother blades.

Previously, I replaced Step 1 above with a 60 grit belt sander. It cleaned the surface and identified burried nasties real quick.

I also use old wood and take a good deal of care to get all the metal out. As you have found its not always foolproof. I get out what I can see then probe all the holes with an awl. I then clean up with an electric plane as the blades for those are quite cheap. Only after that I put them through the jointer and thicknesser. So far I have not ruined planer blades but the bandsaw has a nack for finding them. Its the added price of using old wood.
Get a stand for the thicknesser and save your back.
Craftright Folding Workbench - Bunnings Australia
Rubbish workbench but a very cost effective machine stand. Mount on a ply base with wheels.
Regards
John

Thanks folks, some great advice.

I probably should have used the sander for the first couple passes.
I like the good blade/bad blade, but the Ryobi thicknesser has about 16 bolt/nuts to level it.
I forgot about the back and just went with the "quick" solution, and still paying for it. The bench I made it pretty solid and 2.6m long.

Does everyone agree the reclaimed wood is meranti? I have very little timber experience.

Does look like Meranti
Regards
John

Looks more like merbua to me, but the density would play a big part in my decision.

Originally Posted by orraloon

I also use old wood and take a good deal of care to get all the metal out. As you have found its not always foolproof. I get out what I can see then probe all the holes with an awl. I then clean up with an electric plane as the blades for those are quite cheap. Only after that I put them through the jointer and thicknesser. So far I have not ruined planer blades but the bandsaw has a nack for finding them. Its the added price of using old wood.
Get a stand for the thicknesser and save your back.
Craftright Folding Workbench - Bunnings Australia
Rubbish workbench but a very cost effective machine stand. Mount on a ply base with wheels.
Regards
John

That was my only workbench for a decade. Whilst I agree that it isn't much good its a heck of a lot better than the ground.

The wood is very dense, just a tad shy of the Jarra in the middle.
The Jarra conducts temperature differently, so when I pick the Jarra up it's still cold whereas the "unknown" wood is room temperature.
The cut surfaces are very smooth almost like metal or glass. If you look at the photo above with the screw in it, that surface is just like running your finger over metal or tempered glass.

Merbau would be better than Merant

Btw my deck is supposed to be Jarra, and the unknown wood is definitely more dense, but the Bunnings bought Jarra from the photo above is about the same as the unknown wood.
I've never handled Meranti Jarrah | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwood) says it's 5/8 as dense Light Red Meranti | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwood), and Merbau only slight less dense Merbau | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwood).

No idea how old the unknown wood is either, it was on the garage floor, used as a vehicle stop in a property that was built in 1977.

Thanks.

Shows how hard it is to ID wood from just a picture. The weight and density would rule out meranti. I laid a merbau deck and thought I knew what it looked like but would not have picked it from the picture. Trouble is both timbers have a wide range of texture and colour.
Regards
John

Originally Posted by orraloon

Shows how hard it is to ID wood from just a picture. ... meranti. ... Trouble is (the) timbers have a wide range of texture and colour.
Regards
John

Ah, the vagouries of the international timber trade!

Many years ago, I was involved and observed from the inside.

Theoretically, meranti consistes of red coloured members of the shorea spp, but it is a large family. As the shorea came off the saw the grader sorted it for species, sizing and visual grading. The species grouping for shorea was:

• If it was reddish it went in the meranti pile,
• If it was whitish it went in the lauan pile,
• The rest went in the "mixed tropical hardwoods" pile,
• Anything unspecified that looked "shorea-ish" went in one of those piles, and
• The dividing line between those piles was influenced by the state of the order book.

Like Vic ash and Tas oak, meranti is largely a marketing name.