Found wood

I was recently given a very nice burl by a friend of mine and it got me to wondering. Is it still “found wood” if I’m not the one that found it?

I know it’s still being recycled or reused and that is one of the things I promote in my work as much as possible. While some jobs do require me to purchase new material, I try to use old wood or items in my work when possible.

To that end, we cut down trees for family and friends, we cut up and or haul away logs that are left by tree services, cut down by the city, etc. as well as take down barns or other buildings we find that are about to fall down or otherwise need removed.

By the way, if you know of any such items, please let me know, we are always looking for more materials.

While it’s not going to happen soon, we are working on purchasing our own mini sawmill to turn some of the logs we find in to lumber for use in making some of our items. Not only are the various hardwoods hard to find locally, the choices are limited. No one we know of sells Russian Olive boards, but we have some now. You can get Juniper boards, but the price per board foot is outlandish! (Again, if you know of someone wanting Juniper trees cut down on their property, let us know).

We have old farm equipment wheels, parts of old wagon wheels, stove lids, plow/ disk blades, springs, etc., that we have (and are) gathered(ing) that will be “up cycled” into new products for sale or gifts. While all of these were “found” on various ranches around the area and obtained with permission, can we really say we found them when the owners knew perfectly well they were there?

If you know of more of these items that are available, please let us know… notice a theme here? We can only find stuff if someone lets us know it’s there somewhere… or rather, it is a lot easier to find things if more people are looking!