I tend to lean this way, since my experience with pallets has been
that the wood rarely works down to something useful and the labor
involved is excessive for what you get. I've done a lot with used
framing lumber, which can often be gotten for free when an old house
is torn down or remodeled. If you hit the right place and time you can
get everything from 2x10 joists to maple flooring to cedar paneling to
pine sheathing - all with fewer nails and defects than any pallet.

As an added advantage, the wood in some of those older houses is *much*
better quality than the "whitewood" that goes into modern framing.
Recently I have been accumulating small hardwood pieces from a friend
who does custom cabinetry, I've ended up with almost all the red oak I
need to do the facings on the built-in bookcases I am planning for my
family room. Patience is the key - I've been accumulating those red
oak pieces for almost 2 years now.

Ah yes... Every time I'm working in my shop in the basement, I look up
at the 5/4 oak that they used to make the subfloor in my house (joists
are spruce, I think) and drool a little. Of course, all I do is look-
'cause if I took them out, the wife would be really angry with me.
But if I ever tear the place down and rebuild, I'd have enough wood to
last me a lifetime. I *am* going to take the african mahogany trim
out of the upstairs and reclaim it, though. It wasn't installed
properly to begin with, and it doesn't match the maple in the rest of
the house- it's just sad to see a fine wood so terribly misused.


Aut inveniam viam aut faciam