Working Reclaimed Wood: A Guide for Woodworkers, Makers & Designers

I found a broad range of helpful information and insights that were helpful to see covered in a comprehensive way, or with different methods and perspective. It introduced me to some less considered sources, and ways of assessing and handling salvaged material, like the central activity of de-nailing, etc. As an unexpected benefit, it encouraged me to keep an eye open for the hardware as an often overlooked gem.The long standing passion of the author for the material comes through. The bridging of salvaged material and fine woodworking and art seems to really set the book apart, as the case studies and profiles have a cumulative effect, witnessing the extent of transformation and meaning that is possible with the material. It was good to see Piet Hein Ek’s work included and the spine of a rustic fairy tale house in Israel built by kids and their teacher.There was one section where text appeared to be suddenly cut, which seemed like an error in production. A few less photos or having some larger than presented may have helped as well. It seems impossible to be comprehensive on this subject as it applies to woodworking, but the scope and details helped fill a void in my resources on the material.

"Working Reclaimed Wood" delves into the different types of reclaimed wood in furniture and art pieces, and how that wood can be re-purposed into new, beautiful and functional pieces. I had never thought of the historical value of some parts of wood- that furniture with an interesting history can be used for something new and entirely different. This book has a lot of great description and photography of different types of wood, from pieces enjoyed by European royalty, to early American taverns, to pallets of wood shipped from overseas.This book is clear and concise, with lots of great photography, and interesting case studies and asides that lend more personal flavor to the text. Dimensional sketches from the author also add a nice touch to the descriptions of the projects that are documented.Overall, "Working Reclaimed Wood" is a nice read, and an attractive book that rests on my much more modest pine coffee table. I'll look a little more closely at the stuff left out by the curb when homes are being renovated, now.

I expected this book to be more of a how-to manual that would provide step-by-step instructions to a lot of projects at a lot of levels of expertise. (Say, pallet furniture to that amazing desk.) What I found, though, is that it's only *partly* informative (there's information about wood types, insect damage, tools to use for nail-pulling) ... the majority of the book seems to be a showcase of the author/author's friends' projects -- lots of cool things that very few non-professional woodworkers are going to be able to make. In this sense, it's an interesting coffee table book -- something to read with a lot of neat pictures -- but it's not really a reference book or a project manual. (And admittedly, I got a bit bored with the showcasing-but-not-instructing.)If you're an experienced woodworker, this book might generate some ideas; if you're a beginner, I'd leave it alone and invest in something more comprehensive, like The Complete Manual of Woodworking (Jackson, Day, and Jennings).

Page 115 - last sentence is incomplete.

I found the book to be very elementary and worthless to me. I have some experience with reclaimed wood and everything I saw in the book was simple common sense, even to a novice. It was not worth even one star.

Book missing pages. Didn’t discover until it was too late to return. Author makes more commentary on previous projects than direction on how to deal with the wood.

I’ll say right up front that while I like character in materials in design, I don’t believe that using wood (reclaimed or not) for its character automatically imbues the resulting object with that character. Like ANY crafted object, one made of reclaimed wood may be stunning ... or junk. From that perspective, I’m somewhat sensitive to overly enthusiastic commentary about any supposed virtues attendant to using wood simply because it IS reclaimed. “Working Reclaimed Wood” has such content, but fortunately, it’s kept to a minimum. The book may preach a bit here and there, but it seems more out of a love for wood than politics. There are a few deaf notes, too, such as embracing epoxy fill and veneering plywood (with reclaimed wood) while eschewing melamine and MDF (part of the lingua Franca of the mid century modern world, BTW). But enough of that!Although positioned as a “guide,” guide-type material isn’t the focus of the book. I see it more as design inspiration. The bits of guide material include some pointers on processing, comments on the author’s 4 categories of reclaimed wood (basically Heritage, Common, Salvage, and Scrap), where to find material, and a quite nice chapter on restoring hardware. The wood categories inform the discussion of individual pieces throughout the book.Inspiration being what it is, I naturally found some examples more inspiring than others. This is entirely individual, of course. One ambitious example right up front is a dining table with a heritage slice of trunk from a tree beloved by Marie Antoinette. I was actually dismayed at the use of this rare wood in this case. On the flip side, I loved the whimsy in Tom Shields art pieces combining bits and pieces of furniture, with incredible craftsmanship besides. Ditto Nancy Hiller’s stunning mission-inspired “Tabula Maxima”, Erica Diskin’s restaurant table in Salem, MA, and the author’s own thoughtfully-designed and balanced Merritt Table. Less successful examples include some of the scrap wood and mosaic pieces found near the book’s end which start intruding into shabby chic territory ... again, my opinion.This is a useful volume, worth the read, and perhaps one to return to from time-to-time. Something of a mixed bag, but ambitious in its framing of the genre (no pun intended) and a thoughtful addition to the woodworking design literature.Recommended.

Some useful information in this book

I really enjoyed Mr. Liberman's take on giving old boards new life. As certain species become more rarer, it is often the only way to get this wood is through reclamation. I have only recently started to work with barn boards (walnut mostly) and some pallets (pine and ash) and have found the character and beauty of these weathered woods an inspiration for new pieces. Mr. Liberman is very passionate in his love of his medium and well researched in his information. The book has beautiful Photo's of projects and examples. He uses case studies, not only of himself and other artists, but of Mills, and other resources to track down reclaimed/salvages/found lumber. He walks you through the process of finding, then treating, prepping, and finishing reclaimed wood projects. I particularly liked the quilting technique (using various dissimilar pieces to make a larger pieces) and look forward to trying that soon. A great resource for any wood worker looking to be inspired.

This arrived printed upside down and backwards. Looks like a defective print.