New Stuff for BAWA

I can't tell you how pleased I am that in the last few months we've gotten not one donation of equipment for BAWA use, but two! A couple months ago Mark Ferraro picked up a slide projector at a garage sale and donated it to BAWA. Then last month Mike Cooper donated a brand new (hey the box hasn't even been opened!) DVD/VCR player. Now we don't have to scramble to find equipment for the presenters! Thanks guys!!

Objection Sustained!

A few months ago in this column I talked about the logging industry and that we should be aware of where our wood is coming from, so that we don't contribute to further destruction of the earth and its fragile ecosystems by inadvertently buying lumber from clear-cut stands, etc. I suggested that one should only buy Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or other certified lumber. So here's a website to find out more. Visit www.certifiedwood.org to learn all about the sustainable forests of the Certified Forest program (both nationally and internationally.) The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifies these forests and the chain -of-custody of the lumber being sold to you. It guarantees to the consumer that an independent assessment of forest management was conducted, and that it continues to be monitored according to the 10 FSC principles. Thus this is good wood! Make sure that batch of new lumber for your next project is from a certified forest.

Bay Area Deconstructors

Now on an allied topic, this month I want to talk about the growth of the recycled wood industry. At several meetings member Larry Berger has shown wonderful pieces of furniture he's made from both re-claimed wood or used wood that he re-processed in some way. This is but one example of what one can do with wood that otherwise would have ended up at the dump as landfill.

A couple years ago we held a meeting in Oakland at a wood re-processing plant. Now, as municipalities are passing laws that this stuff shouldn't end up in the urban waste stream, it has become economically viable for to harvest and resell used lumber. This kind of company is springing up all over the country. While googling around for more info on this, I visited a website of a "deconstructors" conference held late last year in San Francisco. Here are just three references from their list where you can find very high quality lumber, including hardwoods.

For years Paul Gardener, a pioneer in the architectural salvage business in the South Bay, has been operating The Whole House Building Supply Yard and Warehouse at 1955 Pulgas in East Palo Alto. Mon.-Sat 1-6pm, 650-328-8731. You can purchase salvaged building materials at their yard, but they also let the public come to their jobsites (buildings they are deconstructing) for a "pick-and-pull" kind of operation. The hitch is you have to be there at a specific time. In addition to the standard architectural salvage stuff of sinks, doors, windows, etc, their yard and warehouse also contains beams, wood boards (mostly softwoods) and what's labeled on their website as "fine wood." You're sure to find some interesting stuff. Visit their website www.driftwoodsalvage.com often to see what's new.

Community Woodworks is a custom mill house specializing in reclaimed and salvaged urban lumber at the old Oakland Army Base, Building 823 in Oakland, CA. In addition to dimensional lumber, they do custom milling of molding and trim, mill blanks and solid wood components, all from reclaimed material. You may find something interesting for your next woodworking project. Call Dave Hanchett, Community Woodworks Development Coordinator, 510-835-7690 to see what they have in stock currently.

TerraMai reclaimed and recycled wood, www.terramai.com is not strictly local (they're in McCloud, Calif) but they recycle wood (including hardwoods) from all over the world. Including finish lumber, beams and timbers, flooring and architectural millwork, as well as quality retail display systems, all re-manufactured from salvaged lumber and timbers. For example, they have tropical hardwood railway ties from Southeast Asia, 10x12 Greenheart beams salvaged from a shipyard in Calif, massive Asian Rosewood (Nara) poles and posts and 12x12 teak posts from Southeast Asia! (They provided the big Douglas Fir timbers on the exterior of the Smith & Hawkin store in Los Gatos for example.) Beautiful stuff and they ship! Call 1/800/220-9662.

The point is that with a little hunting, one can find high quality wood, even hardwoods, and even exotic hardwoods, that can be re-milled by you into furniture and other projects. Wood of this quality just isn't available from contemporary forests today. So not only are you helping the earth, you're getting a better product to boot! This seems to make good sense to me.