May 6th, 2017: Make Me A Pallet On Your (Forest) Floor

footfootfoot · 05-09-2017, 07:51 AM

When I was in college, studying furniture design, there was a guest teacher who worked for a company called Bronx 2000 that had a spin-off company called Big City Forest. They had a contract with Con Edison to take about 3,500 pallets a week that they turned into flooring and furniture.

NYT article

and a sad follow-up.

Some of the stuff they made was gorgeous. A lot of pallets are made of "exotic" tropical wood that either didn't make the grade for furniture lumber or was just re-directed to pallet making. Sort of like how our domestic woods like oak, maple, cherry can go to secondary uses because there is only so much of a market for fine woodworking hardwoods.

The teacher incorporated the idea of recycling into some of the design briefs; build a piece of furniture using only the wood from one pallet, or all the wood from a pallet, things like that, with no other limits. A lot of neat ideas came out of those assignments.

xoxoxoBruce · 05-09-2017, 08:46 AM

My buddy used to bring home pallets from work for firewood. All the runners were hardwood and the slats were whatever they could get. There was one pallet that was almost all Black Walnut.

glatt · 11-15-2018, 08:50 PM

In Breckrenridge, they just voted to remove one because NIMBY.

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Name: breckenridge%20troll%20dismantled_1542326665887.jpg_103384415_ver1.0_640_480.jpg
Views: 612
Size: 394.6 KB

xoxoxoBruce · 11-15-2018, 09:28 PM

Figures...

05-09-2017, 07:51 AM	#1
footfootfoot To shreds, you say? Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: in the house and on the street-how many, many feet we meet! Posts: 18,449	When I was in college, studying furniture design, there was a guest teacher who worked for a company called Bronx 2000 that had a spin-off company called Big City Forest. They had a contract with Con Edison to take about 3,500 pallets a week that they turned into flooring and furniture. NYT article and a sad follow-up. Some of the stuff they made was gorgeous. A lot of pallets are made of "exotic" tropical wood that either didn't make the grade for furniture lumber or was just re-directed to pallet making. Sort of like how our domestic woods like oak, maple, cherry can go to secondary uses because there is only so much of a market for fine woodworking hardwoods. The teacher incorporated the idea of recycling into some of the design briefs; build a piece of furniture using only the wood from one pallet, or all the wood from a pallet, things like that, with no other limits. A lot of neat ideas came out of those assignments. __________________ The internet is a hateful stew of vomit you can never take completely seriously. - Her Fobs

05-09-2017, 08:46 AM	#2
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	My buddy used to bring home pallets from work for firewood. All the runners were hardwood and the slats were whatever they could get. There was one pallet that was almost all Black Walnut. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

11-15-2018, 09:28 PM	#4
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Figures... __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

11-15-2018, 08:50 PM	#3
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	In Breckrenridge, they just voted to remove one because NIMBY.

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