Found an interesting (to me) article in today's Washington Post about reclaiming material out of old houses.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/from-clevelands-delapidated-buildings-salvage-workers-unearth-treasures/2011/10/10/gIQALyCtkL_story.html?hpid=z2
Kansas, I think its a great Idea to salvage and reuse any thing that can be reused! Good friend used salvaged timbers from an old sewing machine factory in Philly. and we resawed it to build a timber frame barn/wood shop of his dreams. drop dead in your tracks over the top! we are to much a throw away society right now and need to be taught a lesson in reality. Tim
TK Ron (RIP) got me interested in recycled wood up in KC. He had a job re-sawing timbers from a WW-II warehouse, many of which were chestnut.
I bet there is still chestnut in Wichita and know there is still some in KC.
An interesting site to explore from the same area is Elmwood (http://www.elmwoodreclaimedtimber.com/) just to see what other folks are doing.
I serve on the Board of one of the largest (sq. footage) Non profit reuse warehouses in the country, it is called Construction Junction, and is base in Pittsburgh. We passed 1.3 million in sale this year (our 13th).
Ironwood
Ironwood, great to see materials go to be reused instead of going to landfills. I was in a couple of salvage yards recently and was like a kid in a candy store. actually made a sale to the owner when talking about his beams he had in back,had me bust them into 4/4 and they sold in less than a month after sitting for over 2 years in beam form. now the owner has me on the look out for beams to be cut up. Tim
Yeah, lumber can be tough for them. We've had all sorts of old stock, chestnut, doug fir, mahogany, you name it.
Ironwood
Thus the saying! one mans trash is another mans treasure! Tim
Around these parts if you want to recycle old building part you better buy it yourself . They will not let you have or sell anything. It all goes to the dump. I think it has a lot to do with lawyers. We used to be able to go in and get what ever you wanted before the demo started.