nothing better for free than me!

Today’s Free Find

 these are not the actual pews for free but are representative of what is available. the link below the blog writing contain the actual link and a pic of the free pews if the link is still active. 

       If you look down at the bottom of the page you will see a link to my Craigslist free find of the day. It isn’t real local but may be well worth the drive to Youngstown to pick up 20 free church pews.

      So when you talk about me and being a little out there, you will know that you are probably right. But there is beauty and economy as well as strength and reusability, as well conservation of resources in today’s find. It isn’t just 20 church pews , instead it is over 40 pieces of hardwood oak in 2 ft. wide sections , prefinished , that would make a variety of different objects if they are solid oak. Even if they’re not, they can be recut and glued together as well as doweled and create some beautiful roof joists or possibly columns.

    The panel sections and especially the back rest portions for sure would make some nice panels for a roof system to be located above the new beams you could create with these pews. I could virtually take and rework these large pieces of wood into a variety of objects and furniture creating new objects out of them just for merely taking them apart and hauling them home.

     Therein lies the problem. I am by myself and these are quite heavy and long. Just by looking at them I would say they run at least 20 feet long. They were put together by someone and I am quite sure they will come apart. This would make getting them in or out of wherever they go a lot easier. If they are solid oak I would guess each panel would easily go 400 lbs.. A panel would be a back section off of one pew, 40 of them would be over 1600 lbs. and we are looking at a trailer of at least 16 feet in length to lay each panel on. I think my trailer would probably do the best as I think there is plenty of room on it. Along with the end pieces you are probably looking at over 2000 lbs. or a ton of wood alone. You will need a cordless screwdriver , socket wrenches , a chainsaw as a last resort, , a pickup to tow the trailer , as well a couple of guys and about four hours work , to disassemble and transport on roller carts(2) to the nearest doorway and onto the trailer to be stacked. This all seems simple enough.

      It never is though. Free is never free, but it is a lot better than paying full price. Besides if these are solid panels imagine how much it would cost at today’s prices to buy unfinished oak lumber in what looks to be 2 inch stock wide thicknesses like this. We are talking thousands of dollars to buy the same new. This is already finished though and doesn’t require much more than refinishing the surface to a new luster, to maybe take out some blemishes where that Carter kid tried to carve in his initials with the new pen knife his grandpa gave him for Christmas, while listening to Pastor Fraley drone on about penance for their sins.

     Another thing you can do with these besides just sit on them is to make yourself a nice table and booth. The ends can come off and the seat and back planks can be shortened with a chainsaw or possibly a rip saw if the thickness isn’t too great. A leg support needs to be moved in also, and reattach an end piece and you have a shortened version of the long pew. I am sure people if nothing else would buy these as if they were going out of style as they came from a church and are now in sizes you can handle easier. Also two panels side by side would almost make a nice table top. It looks as though the bottom of the seats are covered but I would assume, and it is only an assumption that you would need as strong a piece in the bottom or stronger, than you would in the rear or backrest portion. The reason being is you have human lives sitting on these pews and you surely don’t want anyone going splat on the floor. God will get you for that.

      So I am assuming there is good structural timber in both the seat and the backrest and one would only know if you could inspect it. If there is good wood in both, other possibilities exist in what to do with these pews. One would be ripping the panels lengthwise into sizes that would make a suitable roof beam gluing two flat sides together to form a new structural beam that for extra strength could also be doweled together. The strength of glued laminated beams is far superior to that of native material alone. Any glued and laminated beam you would buy today for the most part is made of chipboard or what they call oriented strand board. Which is primarily wood chips of the softwood species glued and laminated together , with other glued pieces of same material to create a structural beam. This would far surpass the strength of these common prefabricated beams based on the strength of oak, which is a hardwood significantly stronger than most soft woods, resulting  in a  stronger beam overall that does not require any covering ,  that could be left exposed for architectural purposes.

       Even if these are laminated or veneered church pews the same thing could be done with the pews in terms of cutting them down and reusing them as structural timbers. I am assuming that since they are furniture and in constant contact with humans the strength of the product is higher than most applications, as it should be.

      I am going to spend some time this morning and consider whether or not I want to try and grab this deal up. In fact I may try and call the number to arrange a chance to go visit and see just exactly what I am getting into and how much help I will need, or if it is in fact even still available. This is the case with free stuff and as far as that goes anything you want that is used and is posted. You really don’t want to dawdle too long for fear it will be gone. So for the most part as soon as I finish editing and posting this blog I intend to call and see what is up. Hopefully maybe tomorrow I can have further information as to how my craigslist free find is going.

Church Pews