I got a call last week from "the building guy" at a local, 120 year old, classic stone church.   He had two doors they had taken down during remodeling and did not just want to trash them.  He thought they were solid teak.   We wandered through the catacombs and found them and just about got them loaded when his comrade said, "There's two more over there."  So I managed to squeeze the 4 doors that were supposed to be 7' tall but were 8' tall into my Odyssey.   I need to do some hardware removal and cutting to ensure that it's really solid, then take to the woodworking club meeting to share with whomever.  I think resawed in half, they'd make some nice small boxes.  My grand-daughters could use some, I think.

The second is a bunch of 12" dowel factory hickory cutoffs.  One 20 lb bundle for $5 or 5 for $20.  During my Christmas turkey smoking, I reached the end of my stockpile of hickory and apple wood.   So I bought the 5 bundles figuring I'd save some for smoking, some for the shop and see if I can get rid of the rest at 10 for a dollar or so.

 

Wish me luck.   Waiting until the weather gets above 50 degrees so I can saw up the doors outside.  Man, they are HEAVY.

Edited February 20, 20206 yr by kmealy

Nice score!  I'd be sawing something off the door to play with to see if I could tell what it really is.  If it is Teak then WOW!

I'm betting Cuban Mahogany on the doors. Very heavy , dark and dense

Scooooooooooooore!!!   I cut the rails & stiles from a Mahogany door in half & made floating shelfs from it. I still have the bottom rail, toe kick, 14"x23"x2.5 that I want to use for a table top.

I think @Gerald might be right.  I got one door dismantled this morning.  There are some 3/4" wide mortises, so that is going to limit the yield.   But I think I can get a couple of 1/2" resawing blanks from it.    I've only refinished teak other than once*, but this looks and smells more like mahogany than anything else.

 

There are a lot of panel retaining strips.  What is the minimum size blank that is needed for pen turning?  Would this wood be any good for that?

 

A lady came to me once to replace a piece on a patio chair.  I offered to do it in white oak that I had in stock.  "Oh, no, it has to be teak, this is for a house in Indian Hill (the millionaires and up part of town)"    So I went to Steve Mickley and he let me cut the end off a piece in the store.   Took it home and made probably six or eight cuts on it to get all the angles and bevels.  Took off the old piece and put this one one..   She was outraged that I'd charge her $50.   Heck, I had over $20 in materials plus over two hours' time.  Rich and tightwad.

1 hour ago, kmealy said:

Rich and tightwad.

 Aren't they always? 

 

The tenons are a blessing.  I love old doors to reclaim lumber from and most are put together with dowels drilled into both the door stiles and rails.  The dowels really eat into the usable lumber.

 

Pen turning if solid wood is 5/8, sometime I can get 1/2 inch. But I am likely to glue pieces together so the smallest of pieces are useable. I have yet to buy wood for turning.  Have been given alot by friends.

 

Now acrylic, that I have to purchase. Kinda pricey but again I use every sliver.

Last year, I taught a "Financial Peace University."   Dave Ramsey had an interesting perspective.   I cannot find the exact quote, but it  went something like:

Being rich does not make you kind and generous, it makes you more of what you are.    If you are kind and generous, it will make you more so.   If you are a jerk, it makes you more of a jerk.


I have done work for all types of customers.   Some were very rich, some of the richest in the city.  And I've done some work for much poorer people.    Some of each group were very nice and others were complete insulting a-holes.  There were a couple that I told the company that I contract with that I will never go back to; send someone else.