Wood is in surplus here in the Pacific Northwest. People leave perfectly good lumber out by the street for other people to casually take. Compare this to the midwest where the only thing people give away are the copious and amber waves of grain. It always comes back to the trees with me.
I spent the evening at ADX, a shared maker space, hacking away at a slab of bowling alley lane I found out behind a furniture making shop. I should’ve realized that there’s gotta be some terrible reason if a furniture maker threw out this wood. Actually, there are plenty of terrible reasons. When the bowling alley contractor assembled this, they dispensed nails by the handful. I cut through this by hand because I was afraid I’d break the table saw blade on all the nails scattered about like dozens of baby Jesus inside a king cake. Also, it’s warped to all hell.
It’s a terrible craftsman who blames his wood, or his tools, or his general lack of experience. Let’s see if I can assemble this properly. If not properly, at least to the level of novelty collapsable bench.