Strange Wood Purchase

[poolhound]

SO... as I am sure many of you also do, I have various automated CL searches that notify me if certain tools, lumber etc comes up for sale. anyway a couple of days ago I get an alert on some tools for sale and it turned out to be posted by an auction house that was liquidating a Pool Table Company. There were a variety of woodworking tools available but most I had and with others bids were already more than I wanted to pay. I then noticed that they had lots of table parts such as rails and legs for sale.

The rails all looked a bit dubious and it was hard to tell if exactly what they were made from and how much usable wood I could yield that did not have holes or other cutouts for pockets etc. Many of the legs however looked like they were made from multiple wood blocks laminated together. As I am just getting into turning I thought hmmm laminated blanks ready made. Also some of the square ones look like they might turn into end grain cutting boards if cut in one direction and long grain boards if cut in the other. So sight unseen (I did call and confirm they were all solid wood not hollow) I bid for a bunch online this morning. Not really knowing how the system worked I may have been a bit aggressive but I am now the proud owner of 7 sets of pool table legs (30 total).

Not quite sure about the buyers premium but I ended up spending $115 so approx $4 per leg some of the legs could turn into 2,3 or even 4 or more turning blanks and if the square ones do have good end grain then that's a lot of cutting boards. at worst I have a lot of practise turning blanks or a lot of expensive firewood

Here are some pics of a few of them.

[TB Roye]

Jon

A couple of those look like they may make a good pedestal table leg without any added to the leg as a base, that would require a smaller table top though. The top picture would make a good one. Good score.

Tom

[LCHIEN]

Ha Ha, that's awesome!

[JR]

Well that question is answered. Pool hound is a leg man!

[poolhound]

Very funny :-)

I will go down and pick them up tomorrow so will be able to find out if I got anything worthwhile or NOT ... It looks like I will get a few nuts and bolts as well - Woo Hoo!

BTW when I told LOML that I bought a few legs she was thinking 4. You should have heard the conversation when I said it was 30. I think I will be getting trashed on facebook tomorrow when we go pick them up. I am buying her lunch though so hopefully she will be somewhat kind :-)

[Bill in Buena Park]

Great score Jon! I don't want to curb your new-found turning spirit, but you might consider Tom's thought about how to re-purpose these into tables and re-sell at the local craft market or swap meet - for a few $ in table top materials, I'd think you'd be able to get a manifold return on your investment...

[poolhound]

Great score Jon! I don't want to curb your new-found turning spirit, but you might consider Tom's thought about how to re-purpose these into tables and re-sell at the local craft market or swap meet - for a few $ in table top materials, I'd think you'd be able to get a manifold return on your investment...

LOML has said the same thing :-) Once I have them and can see what I have got I think that's exactly what I will do with some of them. 10 of them are already round so good fodder for some end grain turning experiments. I hope some of the rest can be re-purposed into cutting boards and still leave me at least 1 or 2 sets that can become tables. Bottom line is if I can make stuff to sell that will recoup my cost plus a little to feed the tool addiction then I will be more than happy.

[LCHIEN]

The proportions may be all off if you try and make some small tables with it. They were intended as legs for a 4 x 8 foot table and anything smaller might look all out of proportion.

[poolhound]

OK so just got back from picking them up and I ended up with 27 pieces as one of the sets of 4 was mismatched and only 1 leg was real wood. 13 are the square design which are all solid lamination approx 6.5" x 16". Other than deciding exactly how to join end grain slices together to make a design that looks OK I am pretty happy with them. If you turned them into long grain cheese boards you could get 6-8 from each leg depending on the thickness. There are 8 of the dark stained ones and the single unstained that all look like oak. The 4 light ones could be maple. They are all pretty heavy.

There are 10 round legs approx 18" long by approx 8-9" at their max diameter. The 6 light colored ones are made from random segments and lamination. From their weight I would guess they are not 100% solid but as I would be hollowing them out anyway thats just fine. They are mystery light color wood, could be maple hard to tell. the 4 dark legs look like the have been made from 4 square chunks glued up into a large blank. these are solid and although it seems unlikley the tight 'spotty' grain pattern makes me think they are all mahogany or similar.

The set of 4 curved legs I am not quite sure what to do with. All ideas welcome. again its hard to tell with the finish on them but they could be cherry.

Here are some pictures. Until I sand, plane or turn off the finish Its hard to be sure of exactly which woods they are but take a look and give me your best guess. All entries on a fresh $20 bill mailed to Jon's Tool Fund, Phoenix, Arizona!

[poolhound]

Started to turn the finish off the round legs and expose the wood. The legs that were originally dark certainly do have the grain pattern that looks like mahogany but it is much lighter. not at all sure what it is, any ideas. Here is a couple of pics.





The lighter legs seem to be made for a very odd mishmash of laminated pieces, its also hard to be sure what wood it is but here is a piece that I started turning. Bottom line they are all pretty easy to turn and I think I will get 3 to 4 blanks from each leg so at about $3-$4 per leg there is some great value blanks to practise on and I hope a few of the pieces will turn out nicely. Wont get a chance to attack the square legs for a few weeks but I have high hopes for those also.