Print PDF
Favorite
Email
Step 2Prepare the wood
This is the part where you turn old crappy fence boards or rafters into usable lumber. You'll also be salvaging a lot of perfectly good (if a bit rusty) nails.
Make sure you wear eye and ear protection for this! Impact sounds from repeatedly hammering wood are particularly bad for your ears, and every time you try to pry a rusty nail out of a board you run the risk of breaking the head off and getting an eye full of steel. Seriously, a good friend of mine had exactly that happen and it messed up his vision something awful!
First, turn the wood over and tap the nails from the pointy end out as far as you can. If you're doing this to old fence boards, a lot of the nails will just fall right out a this point. I kept a speaker magnet lying in the area where this was most likely to happen so as to avoid the possibility of stepping on nails. I have done this before and don't recommend you make the same mistake. Flip over the board and use the pry bar or the claw end of your hammer to remove the nails the rest of the way. I also kept a bucket handy to throw these nails in, to be sorted and straightened out later, as many will probably still be usable.
Once you've got a good stack of boards, pull out your circular saw or bring them to your table saw. Safety first! I hate to keep harping on this sort of thing, but I have an uncle with two and a half fingers. He lost the rest in a table saw many years ago. If you go that route, use push sticks or a fence where possible. Don't worry about getting a square cut at this point, as you're not finishing the lumber yet, just cutting off any parts that are too rotten or split to be used. After I was done I was left with a big pile of bad lumber and a bunch of boards that were relatively solid. I ended up giving the bad stuff to a friend with a wood stove, as they made great kindling.
Now you've got a whole lot of lumber that will be great for outdoor construction! The next steps will show the various things I built out of my old fence and the other wood I acquired.
Make sure you wear eye and ear protection for this! Impact sounds from repeatedly hammering wood are particularly bad for your ears, and every time you try to pry a rusty nail out of a board you run the risk of breaking the head off and getting an eye full of steel. Seriously, a good friend of mine had exactly that happen and it messed up his vision something awful!
First, turn the wood over and tap the nails from the pointy end out as far as you can. If you're doing this to old fence boards, a lot of the nails will just fall right out a this point. I kept a speaker magnet lying in the area where this was most likely to happen so as to avoid the possibility of stepping on nails. I have done this before and don't recommend you make the same mistake. Flip over the board and use the pry bar or the claw end of your hammer to remove the nails the rest of the way. I also kept a bucket handy to throw these nails in, to be sorted and straightened out later, as many will probably still be usable.
Once you've got a good stack of boards, pull out your circular saw or bring them to your table saw. Safety first! I hate to keep harping on this sort of thing, but I have an uncle with two and a half fingers. He lost the rest in a table saw many years ago. If you go that route, use push sticks or a fence where possible. Don't worry about getting a square cut at this point, as you're not finishing the lumber yet, just cutting off any parts that are too rotten or split to be used. After I was done I was left with a big pile of bad lumber and a bunch of boards that were relatively solid. I ended up giving the bad stuff to a friend with a wood stove, as they made great kindling.
Now you've got a whole lot of lumber that will be great for outdoor construction! The next steps will show the various things I built out of my old fence and the other wood I acquired.
| « Previous Step | Download PDFView All Steps | Next Step » |
 |
Add Comment
|
