Thursday

Yet More Gleaning!









A truck full of 18' recycled 2x8's being
unloaded by Austin, Travis & Brad.











The pile of lumber grows...







And grows...

This full truck of recycled lumber arrived from Tacoma at 9:00 this morning. With non-stop work it was unloaded by noon. Each 18' piece is very heavy. Also there were beams made up of six boards nailed together. They were really heavy!
As often happens, when we receive or pick up used materials, it is overwhelming. The beauty of the purchase is in the saving of good materials for reuse. The part that's hard is all the work needed before it is in a condition to use. Nails need to be pulled. Rough, broken, or split sections must be cut away. It needs to be graded -- junk, so-so, or top notch. Plus, it's usually very, very dusty or dirty and needs to be steel brushed or washed. So even though the price is right (in this case, $3/board for the junk, and $8/board for top notch), it doesn't represent the total price. Nevertheless, the value is well worth the work because this lumber is outstanding. Few knots and tight grain that one rarely sees in a lumberyard these days, and certainly not for the price we paid, even with our labor costs. Today though, as we look at the mountain of lumber in the driveway, both Brad and I groan and turn to other tasks. It's just too much for now. Tomorrow we'll deal with it.

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