A lot of conversation in the building material reuse industry is about closing loops.   Rather than having a start and a finish (as in, virgin forest to landfill), we like to see a material come full circle and reenter into use.  At Action HQ we are constantly receiving and processing materials and using our woodshop to try and find uses for them.  When we have a good idea or something turns out particularly well, we’d like to share with you the creations we come up with!

The green demo crew took down a house in South Buffalo this past week and found stair treads that were made of yellow pine.  Looking at them initially, they seem a dull over-varnished brown, why would you ever want to use them again?  Well, once they are planed…they are a gorgeous red and yellow combination that most people would knock down doors to get their hands on!  If you’re familiar with yellow pine, you’ll understand my excitement at a chance to feature the wood in a cabinet job I am currently working on.

The face frames of the cabinets are made with old door stock (removed from a house that came down on the west side), planed and ripped to an appropriate size, and the doors and drawers are made with the salvaged yellow pine.  I used domestic birch ply for the skeleton, but am searching for something else to be used…perhaps doors?  Or is it better to repurpose them in their original use?  What else is in big enough “sheets” to be used to make the cabinet boxes?  Perhaps we’ll stumble across something as we demolish and salvage more buildings.  Any suggestions or ideas to try would be greatly appreciated!