# Mill rippings



## woodtickgreg

I saw an add in the local craigslist for free mill rippings. Now most common folks would not know what that is, but most of us wood workers would. So I went to check it out, this is what I found. It is from a hardwood supplier and millworks.



 

 

 
Can you say cutting boards? A good mix of white maple, cherry, some walnut, and some mahogany or sepele. Best thing about it is that it's all free! What I don't want the guys at work will burn. Nice to have access to a flat bed truck. Now that I know where this place is I'll be checking it often. The guy that loaded me said I just missed a load of walnut rippings.

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## Tony

Dam Greg, awesome score!!!!!! Tony

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 2


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## ripjack13

Oh snap!!!! Nice score!!!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Don Ratcliff

And the angels sang and the wood was good. Nice find.

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## Kevin

Nothing beats free wood. Except free beer. Speaking of free beer get your ass to work Don go catch some groundskeepers napping somewhere . . .

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## MKTacop

Very nice score. I'm jealous

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## Don Ratcliff

Kevin said:


> Nothing beats free wood. Except free beer. Speaking of free beer get your ass to work Don go catch some groundskeepers napping somewhere . . .


I catch them often, but I manage the Maintenance, Housekeeping and Owner relations departments, groundskeepers can nap all they want... I am also the Mai Tai party host every Wednesday where I pour freely the Hawaiian nectar to our guests while they listen to Cory play the ukulele for an hour. That my friend is the best job on the island, free drink giver-a-wayer makes you a popular person on trip advisor. lol

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## David Van Asperen

Great score but why only a part of a load. I would have much more greedy and loader it up.

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## ironman123

Good grab.

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## woodtickgreg

One of the points of this thread was to show people what can be had for free if you look. Look on craigslist in the free section, look at pallets, listen for chainsaws running as tree cutters are usually happy to give the stuff away. I found this score in the free section on craigs list. Why didn't I grab more? Partly storage space, I will be splitting it with a friend, and I can go back and get all I want whenever I want. The guy that loaded me said just stop in once in a while and see what we have, if I see a bundle I like he said he would load it for me, if not I can just leave and come back another time. I had just missed a bundle of walnut rippings. That was a lot of wood in those bundles and will take some time to sort through, some will be going in a firewood pile for the guys at my work.

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## Sprung

Nice score, Greg!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## brown down

woodtickgreg said:


> Look on craigslist in the free section, look at pallets, listen for chainsaws running as tree cutters are usually happy to give the stuff away



I scored some killer curly spalted apple that way. the neighbor was cutting trees down and I walked down and asked he even helped chuck the chunks in my truck for me. it was less he had to haul away and was happy to do so. man I wish I took all of that stuff! NOTHING beats free wood

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## Nature Man

Jackpot! Congrats. You now have the capability to make a thousand cutting boards! I can identify with storage being the big concern. Chuck

Reactions: Agree 1


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## barry richardson

You're all set for cutting boards and segmented turnings now! Great find! It is a nice situation when you can get it as you need it, rather than having to hoard it yourself. The wood dump I go to is kinda the same, just go pick up chunks as I need them....

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## woodtickgreg

And I am splitting this pile with a friend and then the rest of the non desirable stuff will go in a burn pile for the guys I work with. We can now afford to be a little picky and cherry pick the piles, lol.

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## barry richardson

Yea, I can see some pretty chunky pieces in that pile....

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## Kevin

Greg I sort of have my eye on this piece......

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## Tony

Kevin said:


> Greg I sort of have my eye on this piece......
> 
> View attachment 107757



That's funny because I was eyeing the 4x4ish one a little above that one. Tony


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## Kevin

Tony said:


> That's funny because I was eyeing the 4x4ish one a little above that one. Tony



Back off JACK I seen it first!

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## DKMD

Looks like mahogany...

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Kevin

DKMD said:


> Looks like mahogany...



Honduran or Cuban? Surely not Filipino . . . . .


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## DKMD

Kevin said:


> Honduran or Cuban? Surely not Filipino . . . . .



I was thinking Brinkistanian mahogany...

(Interesting that my autocorrect doesn't even flinch at the term Brinkistanian...)

Reactions: Funny 5


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## woodtickgreg

DKMD said:


> Looks like mahogany...


It's either mahogony or sepele.


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## woodtickgreg

Most of the stuff in this pile is 3/4" to 1" thick. Saturday is the day Ill be sorting through it with a friend.

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## woodtickgreg

So I got to sort through the piles on Saturday! Was a lot of fun, I had to keep reminding myself not to keep every little piece that I thought was usable, lol. I left a nice pile for the guys at work to take home for firewood. So here's some pics.

This is the waste from 1 bundle. There was a lot of oak in this bundle, red and white, that's what a lot of the larger sticks are that you are seeing. I have lots of oak and don't need anymore.



Another view of the first bundle of waste.



This is what I kept from the first bundle, lots of nice whit and hard maple. The dark stuff is mostly sapele! I kept some thins of that for laminations.



The waste from both bundles, piled high! There was a lot of poplar in the second bundle, I only kept a few sticks of that. Good firewood for the guys in the shop. They better grab it while they can because I plan to get rid of it quickly so I can get more bundles! I need to dispose of this waste first.
My boss is kind enough to let me do this at work on his property, I don't want to abuse the privilege.



What I kept from the second bundle, almost all maple, some of the nice whit stuff, and some of the darker heavy and hard stuff.



What I kept from those 2 big bundles. Most is 6' long, not a bad haul of maple for free and a few hours of work. My friend couldn't make it so I sorted it by myself. It was fun, like a kid in a candy store.



This was not mahogany as I had thought, maybe a few pieces. But it was a very heavy dense tropical hardwood, I'm pretty sure it is Sapele.
I put the tape next to it so you can get an idea of the sizes. I kept some thins for laminating.



I found a few pieces of moulding in the pile. This is what a millwork does, makes mouldings and such,lol. I kept em but have no idea if I will ever use them. Poplar and maple I think.



All in all a fun day! And it shows what you can find if you look! I find wood all the time, I'm always looking, I have found a lot of nice wood in pallets too. If I hear a chainsaw running I check it out, even if I can only grab a couple of logs for turning stock, it's still free wood!
Keep your eyes open guys, you never know what you will stumble upon.
I found this in craigslist under the free section. People are always giving away fresh cut trees!

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## woodtickgreg

I was coming out of Detroit empty today on work run, so I stopped by the mill to see if there was anything new. Scored 2 nice bundles. Lots of cherry in these and that is what I was after. I might keep some of the maple, or give it away if I can find a friend. I got a pick up truck load of maple out of the last batch. Lots of poplar and oak in here too, most of that will go for firewood.















Man if a guy was building strip canoes or boats he would be all set. These bundles are 12 to 16 feet long!

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## JR Custom Calls

This looks an awful lot like bubinga @woodtickgreg

Reactions: EyeCandy! 1 | Agree 1


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## woodtickgreg

It could be Jonathan, I never considered that. This place has just about every kind of wood, including the tropicals and exotics. They are a hardwood supplier not just a millworks.

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## gregsayers2000

You sure have found a gold mine! Wish I lived closer, would be a nice supply for my segmented bowls.


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## woodtickgreg

It would be a lifetime supply Greg, lol. I bet there is a millworks or cabinet shop near you, a little investigation might just pay off. I sorted through one of the bundles today after work, lots of cherry! A few thick pieces of poplar and a couple of oak boards that I just couldn't cut up for firewood. I'm gonna try and get the second bundle done tomorrow night. Humidity is a little lower here now so I want to take advantage of that before it returns on Thursday. I'll post pics of the keep pile, it's gonna be a good one.

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## woodtickgreg

Ok here's the picks of yesterday's sorting. I picked out all the stuff I wanted and cut up the rest for firewood. 
The waste, 4 boxes of it so far.


 

What I kept, a bunch of cherry! And a few poplar and oak boards, just the bigger ones.


 

And 1 more bundle to sort through, lots of cherry in this one too. Looks like a bunch of poplar rippings that will be firewood.

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## Tony

Good for you Greg, that's one nice honey-hole you found there! Tony

Reactions: Thank You! 1 | Agree 1


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## woodtickgreg

Second bundle is sorted and all the waste is cut up for firewood. I was really surprised to find a bunch of curly maple in it. I kept a bunch poplar 1 x 3's for whatever? I just couldn't make myself cut it all up for firewood, a few oak boards too, I'm so weak, lol

Here's some pics of what I got out of both bundles, lots of cherry, and some curly maple. Tonight after work I'll get it all cut to 6' lengths to get it loaded in my pick up and get it home.









A cell phone pic of the curly maple, looks much better in person. Still was a good find that I did not expect.



I'm starting to figure out that I never know what I will find in the bundles from this place.

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## Kevin

The Amazing Kevinski sees . . . . . . 



 


Cutting boards in your future!!!

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 1


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## Don Ratcliff

Kevin said:


> The Amazing Kevinski sees . . . . . .
> 
> View attachment 110005
> 
> 
> Cutting boards in your future!!!

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## Tony

Kevin said:


> The Amazing Kevinski sees . . . . . .
> 
> View attachment 110005
> 
> 
> Cutting boards in your future!!!



That's exactly what I was thinking! That would be the perfect honey-hole for me, wouldn't have to rip hardly anything down! Tony

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## woodtickgreg

Kevin said:


> The Amazing Kevinski sees . . . . . .
> 
> View attachment 110005
> 
> 
> Cutting boards in your future!!!





Tony said:


> That's exactly what I was thinking! That would be the perfect honey-hole for me, wouldn't have to rip hardly anything down! Tony



That is exactly what I am planning! I hope to make a bunch of them over the winter and then maybe do a few shows next year to get my feet wet. I want to keep the fun factor in it though so it doesn't become a job and take the fun out of it. But all the materials are free so that means I can make a profit. What I have seen offered in the shows around here are crap. So I intend to make a good product at a fair price, and I can do that since the wood is free. My garage/kiln is just busting at the seems with wood now, a moped barely fits in there, lol.


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## Tony

If you want to pick my brain about anything Greg, please reach out. Tony

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## kweinert

Seems like strips are just what you need for something like this.

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## woodtickgreg

I finally finished sorting and processing.
Took three evenings total, about 3 hours each nite or less. This is what I ended up with. Maple, poplar, and some oak on the right. Cherry on the left. All 6' pieces.
Maple and poplar



And the cherry on the left.



Add this to what I scored last time and I'm not doing too bad. And the guys at the shop and places I make deliveries to love the crates of firewood I bring them. Everybody wins!

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## Sprung

Awesome, Greg!

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## woodtickgreg

Went by the honey hole again. New stuff came out, had a lot of walnut in a couple of these bundles, I needed that for contrast in the cutting boards I plan to make. Some cherry again, and a darker wood that I don't know what it is yet. Lots of oak and poplar for the firewood guys. Some of the oak and poplar is 12 to 16 feet long, I may save some to make moldings with for a couple of rooms in my house.

Kinda crappy pics, cloudy here this morning. But 3 nice bundles.


 
Some nice chunky pieces of walnut!
Some has good contrast of sap wood and darkwood.


 
Bunch of maple again but I have a bunch of that already. Unless it is really choice I will probably just cut the maple up for firewood. I know that's wasteful but I have to process this quickly at my work yard and get it cleaned up. I don't want to abuse my priveledges.

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## woodtickgreg

Some picks of how the processing is going.

2 bundles sorted, this is the last one to be sorted, won't be as much good stuff in this one but there is some walnut in it.



The waste, I'm trying something different here, stack all the waste on top of the boxes and then a few quick cuts with a chainsaw should speed things up. Guys are loving the firewood boxes I bring them!



The good stuff so far. Oak, walnut, and cherry to the right and a pile of misc. To the left.



I have decided to keep some of the oak and long cherry to make moldings with for my house. My house has oak wood floors so I thought new natural wood moldings would accent that and go well, clear finished and not stained or painted.



So since some of this wood is 12 to 16 feet long I bundled it up by species and used my flatbed work truck to get it home. I dropped it in the driveway, it will get stacked in the garage/kiln for a few weeks for some summertime drying since it has been rained on.
From L to R, 2 bundles of walnut, 1 big bundle of cherry, 1 misc, and 1 bundle of oak.

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## ripjack13

Oh my goodness!!! Lots of goodies Greg!!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## woodtickgreg

Lots of usable lumber in these bundles of mill rippings. I gave a friend some of the walnut and he was very happy with it. Not bad for free, just a little sweat equity to sort it out, and then some work running it through the planer to dimension it for whatever you want to use it for, but that's just fun to do anyway in my opinion. Then I started working on a spare room in my house, pulled the carpet up and pitched it, nice hardwood oak floors under the carpet. I test sanded it with a random orbit sander and the finish came right off so it must be a lacquer finish and not a varnish finish. The plan is to paint the room and install new moldings since the old ones have a zillion coats of paint on them, lol. Then I got to thinking about all the long strips of oak that I have been cutting up for firewood and thought to my self, gee I should be making my own moldings for the house with that stuff. I know if you buy hardwood moldings they are kinda costly. And then I thought about some of the long cherry I have been finding and thought some cherry moldings would look nice too. So that's the plan for the long stuff I brought home. And I still have tons of wood for my cutting board plans!


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## David Van Asperen

Got a great spot to obtain wood for all kinds of " dreams come true"

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## woodtickgreg

So I was coming out of Detroit empty again today with the work truck so I went by the mill to see if they maybe had anything new. I was standing at the pile and a yard worker that I have dealt with before asked do you see anything you would like? I said I would like those 3 bundles of wood with the walnut in them if it's not to much trouble, one of them he would have had to dig a little for. He gave me this weird grin and said get on.....what? I asked....get on the fork lift...so I hopped on, big ass yard truck with running boards. So I went for a ride with the guy like riding on a garbage truck and hanging on to the roll cage, lol. He takes me way around the back of a building and at the end of the road sits 2 really nice bundles of nothing but walnut! Big pieces too. He said one of the guys that works there put them there and never took them home or gave them to anyone. He asked if I would like them? I think I said very enthusiastically HELL YEAH!! Put em on the truck! So I took those 2 and one more that was in the main pile that was almost pure walnut with a little maple. Man what a score! I thought I was done gathering wood for awhile but I just could not pass this up, it's a sickness. It's the thing I keep saying and telling you guys here, wood is everywhere and most of it is free! You just have to always be looking for it, I check cabinet shops, follow tree cutters, listen for chainsaws, look at pallets etc. It's everywhere and its free!!!! you just have to look and be willing to put in some sweat equity.
So here's some pics of what I scored.

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## woodtickgreg

Two of these bundles are pure walnut rippings and with some larger thick pieces, 8/4 stuff.



These bundles are not as long as what I have been getting, in the 8' to 10' range.



Some bonus maple or oak, I didn't really spend much time looking at that as I was drooling looking at the walnut.







I don't anticipate much for the firewood guys this time around.



Funny thing is , there is still some bundles on the big pile with lots of walnut in them and I don't care after getting these, lol.

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## ripjack13

O.....M......G.....!!!!

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## woodtickgreg

And I only have one wood working friend near by me and I loaded him up the last time he came to visit me. Any local wood workers here in Michigan want to be my friend for a minute? I'll fill your car! lol.

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## ripjack13

Where's my keys....I have enough gas i think...

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## barry richardson

You got a great thing going Greg! I agree about free wood, I haven't bought any in a long time. Maybe only ever bought wood for turning once or twice.... I have about as much fun finding the wood as using it....

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## woodtickgreg

barry richardson said:


> You got a great thing going Greg! I agree about free wood, I haven't bought any in a long time. Maybe only ever bought wood for turning once or twice.... I have about as much fun finding the wood as using it....


I do buy stuff off of here from time to time, stuff I can't get locally, like dessert iron wood, sissoo, florida woods, etc.


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## David Van Asperen

Wow I thought that we were friends already Greg. Great score and great source for lots of wood. Wish that one was near me.

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## woodtickgreg

David Van Asperen said:


> Wow I thought that we were friends already Greg.


We are, come on over! But you have a new mill to play with.


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## David Van Asperen

@woodtickgreg I know we are friend and I would really enjoy a visit. The mill is fun I really anticipated getting to mill some decent sized ash logs that I have lying in my back yard, but since I wrecked my back ( not severe mostly muscle ) Those already milled and dry ready to use boards sure are unique and have a certain allure.
I for sure will give you a call if I ever to head toward your neck of the woods.

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## vegas urban lumber

great find. but as my wife always says to me, "what are you going to do with that"?


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## woodtickgreg

David Van Asperen said:


> @woodtickgreg I know we are friend and I would really enjoy a visit. The mill is fun I really anticipated getting to mill some decent sized ash logs that I have lying in my back yard, but since I wrecked my back ( not severe mostly muscle ) Those already milled and dry ready to use boards sure are unique and have a certain allure.
> I for sure will give you a call if I ever to head toward your neck of the woods.


And same goes here, I would enjoy milling with ya on your mill!

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## woodtickgreg

vegas urban lumber said:


> great find. but as my wife always says to me, "what are you going to do with that"?


I guess that's probably one of the reasons I got divorced.


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## David Van Asperen

You are welcome anytime

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## Sprung

woodtickgreg said:


> Any local wood workers here in Michigan want to be my friend for a minute? I'll fill your car! lol.



You've got me wondering what my wife would think about driving back to MN on our way back from MI next summer! 

(I don't know if I'd actually be able to make it happen on next summer's trip, but I'd definitely like to meet you sometime!)

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## woodtickgreg

Sprung said:


> You've got me wondering what my wife would think about driving back to MN on our way back from MI next summer!
> 
> (I don't know if I'd actually be able to make it happen on next summer's trip, but I'd definitely like to meet you sometime!)


Same here, in fact there's a lot of guys on the wb that I would like to meet.

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## mdlbldrmatt135

Makes me want to rent a U-haul trailer and head out!!!

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## woodtickgreg

mdlbldrmatt135 said:


> Makes me want to rent a U-haul trailer and head out!!!


You should have seen what was on the pile that I left there! I could have done another 2 loads easy.


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## Tony

woodtickgreg said:


> You should have seen what was on the pile that I left there! I could have done another 2 loads easy.



You're killing us Greg! Tony

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## woodtickgreg

I'm going to go through a bundle tonight after work, I'll try and get some pics if it's not to dark.


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## woodtickgreg

I got 2 bundles sorted today after work. Some pics.

What I kept from the first bundle.



The waste from the first bundle.



The rewards of 2 bundles.



The waste from the second bundle.



This is the last bundle to sort through. White wood on the bottom is a mix of pine, oak, maple, and possibly some poplar.



All strapped down and ready to roll.



The truck sat pretty good with the load of wood, still rode and handled nice too.

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## ClintW

Dang! How far away??

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## vegas urban lumber

oooh, ahhhh oooooo

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## woodtickgreg

I got the last bundle sorted, not as much in this bundle but still a lot of nice stuff.

This is from the last bundle. 


 
Kinda hard to see in this pic as it was just with my cell phone. But it is piled high in my garage. You can see the rippings on top of my milled lumber. The rafters of the garage are filled with maple and cherry mill rippings. And I have a bunch of 2"+ oak that i milled up the too.

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## ripjack13

Holy smokes man! Thats salotta tea!!

Careful on that left side.....

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## woodtickgreg

ripjack13 said:


> Holy smokes man! Thats salotta tea!!
> 
> Careful on that left side.....


All the wood on the top with the red ends is all walnut! It's all like 10/4 or 12/4 rippings. Think that missus ripjack wouldn't be so hard on your wood stash if she saw this? You should see what's up in the rafters, and that doesn't even take into consideration what's in the shop. Since my shop has been under construction for the last 2 years I just collected wood, it's going to be a great winter this year! I finally get to make stuff again!

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## ripjack13

Oooooohhhh....she just gave me the evil eye....lol

I'll get a pic of my garage.....at least yours is all wood. Mines tools n "stuff"...

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## woodtickgreg

ripjack13 said:


> Oooooohhhh....she just gave me the evil eye....lol
> 
> I'll get a pic of my garage.....at least yours is all wood. Mines tools n "stuff"...


My mechanic tools are out there too, 2 air compressors, and the usual guy garage things like lawn stuff, engines, chainsaws, big horizontal metal bandsaw, etc. The wood is in the middle and everything else is all around the sides.


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## Kevin

woodtickgreg said:


> I got 2 bundles sorted today after work. Some pics.
> 
> What I kept from the first bundle.
> View attachment 113699
> The waste from the first bundle.
> View attachment 113700
> The rewards of 2 bundles.
> View attachment 113701
> The waste from the second bundle.
> View attachment 113702
> This is the last bundle to sort through. White wood on the bottom is a mix of pine, oak, maple, and possibly some poplar.
> View attachment 113703
> All strapped down and ready to roll.
> View attachment 113704
> The truck sat pretty good with the load of wood, still rode and handled nice too.
> View attachment 113705



I've seen it before but just saying again that's a damn good looking truck Greg.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## woodtickgreg

Kevin said:


> I've seen it before but just saying again that's a damn good looking truck Greg.


I do love this truck. It's not the most heavy duty truck that I have owned but it does what I need at this point and time. It'll tow a good size trailer, it will flat out move when I step on her, rides super nice, and even goes in the snow good even with the wide good year eagle tires. I have not had one problem with it, had it about 3 years now and I have no desire to get anything else. I really do love this truck!


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