Reclaimed sapele

[Lons]

This is the last of the large sections of school science benches I salvaged more than 30 years ago, I had probably 4 times this much which has slowly been used up however these were far too heavy and awkward to easily move around so I finally decided to clean them up and save a potential hernia.

I wasted half an hour reading the scratched in kids comments including a few choice words about the teachers, those were the days. Then a bit of work scraping off ancient dried chewing gum (not an antique tack or staple in sight though ). The panels were grooved with glued in tongues so first I ripped them down the centre of each join with a standard circular saw as I didn't want to overload my tracksaw, then the table saw to remove the remaining join waste before putting them through the screaming banshee machine.

Apart from a couple of thicker boards they started at around 28mm thick and finished at a nice regular 25mm. Some quite plain but others heavy and nicely marked, Just need to sort out which future projects to use it up on. The pieces with bunsen burner holes will have limited use but a good stack of timber there. I might still have some of the removed bunsen burners I think.

My wife however wasn't too impressed when I trailed red dust through the kitchen.

 

[Mike G]

I'm not sure, Bob, but that may be the first time I've seen a photo of your workshop. You've an enviable amount of storage. Where do you store your timber? Presumably this sapele will just go back where it came from, but a bit more accessible, and a bit more ready for the next project.

 

[Lons]

I'm not sure, Bob, but that may be the first time I've seen a photo of your workshop. You've an enviable amount of storage. Where do you store your timber? Presumably this sapele will just go back where it came from, but a bit more accessible, and a bit more ready for the next project.

No you saw some quite a while ago Mike because you said it wasn't what you had imagined but when I asked what that was you didn't say.

It's a largish double garage but with a pitched roof a good 1m higher than normal and I have a single garage which I built on to the side of it a long time ago. That has an up'n'over door at both ends and a covered patio / work area at the back.
I also have some sheds including a 5 x 3 shiplap so much of the sheet and longer timber is in there while I have loads of more handleable wood high up on rack in the workshop. There's a sink behind the open door .
To say I use every inch of space is an understatement.

edit......
I just nipped out and took these a few minutes ago and my workshop at the minute is in a mess as I'm busy with a number of jobs, thats my engraver under the sheet on the saw table.
Old shiplap storage shed with a smaller anex for the ride on etc and you can't see it in the last pic but there's a large plastic shed with a couple of extensions behind that hedge and sycamore.

I didn't take pics of the single garage or rear car port thingy.

edit

 

[duke]

Love your workshop and lovely green space to enjoy.
Why is it wives don't like wood shavings and dust in the house?

 

[Lons]

............Why is it wives don't like wood shavings and dust in the house?

I don't ask Scott in case she throws the vacuum cleaner at me.

I try to keep her away from the workshop as much as possible, "health and safety dear". My health as she still has the odd dig about the number of planes I have, she hasn't seen what's hidden in the cupboards. joking really as we're at the stage of life where neither of us cares about what the other buys as long as we can afford it of course.

 

[AndyT]

Love your workshop and lovely green space to enjoy.

+1 from me. I'm pretty sure you can only get a space as full and well organised after several decades of thoughtful effort.
Don't move house now!

 

[Cabinetman]

Quite lovely Lons, are you sure it’s Sapele? Like you I salvaged old science benches at that time, mine were made from Iroko, ( I was hoping for Teak) and after planing they looked a lot like your stuff.
Love the Graffiti!

 

[Lons]

Nowhere near as many tools as you Andy but I started buying when I was 12 so 65 years of accumulation and have been in this house for 39 years.

Move...MOVE.........I'd have nightmares.

 

[Lons]

Quite lovely Lons, are you sure it’s Sapele? Like you I salvaged old science benches at that time, mine were made from Iroko, ( I was hoping for Teak) and after planing they looked a lot like you stuff.
Love the Graffiti!

Not 100% certain Ian, some looks like the distinctive stripes some doesn't and is heavier and nicely grained. I presumed they wouldn't have mixed species but have no idea really. Like you I was hoping for teak.

It was a large school and the amount thrown into skips to be burned was criminal. I made two trips with a large twin axle trailer loaded up high, one for a mate who gave me the heads up and one for me but at least 10 times that amount was discarded.

What happened to all the tools and equipment when they took out the woodworking shops is another story and still irritates me.

 

[duke]

I don't ask Scott in case she throws the vacuum cleaner at me.

I try to keep her away from the workshop as much as possible, "health and safty dear". My health as she still has the odd dig about the number of planes I have, she hasn't seen what's hidden in the cupboards. joking really as we're at the stage of life where neither of us cares about what the other buys as long as we can afford it of course.


View attachment 54734

And mine knows how to wind me up! Yesterday she says, I see you have new chisels in your shop. I have not bought a chisel for at least 10 years dear, which ones are you talking about as I have probably 30 plus. The ones in the nice holder on the wall which look new. Keep calm Scott, they look new as they are carving chisels and I don't use them often.
Please read the sign on the shop door which says no entry.

 

[Cabinetman]

What did happen to the woodwork equipment Lons? Probably went for pennies.
Well I’ve got a knocker on my new workshop door and I shall be keeping it locked at all times. This is so that Grandchildren can’t get in ( well that’s what I shall tell my wife lol.)

 

[Stuart]

Like Ian I wonder if it’s iroko? Could be the colour out of the camera which can change things but I thought sapele was redder (I’ve got quite a bit!).

 

[AndyP]

What teaching establishments threw out is/was criminal. Must be 40 odd years ago now a mate of mine worked in a residential teacher training college in SE London. Solid oak wardrobes were quite literally being chucked from first floor windows, skipped and burnt. I salvaged enough to make two small tables which I still have but as a flat dweller at the time I had no room to take more.

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

When the school I worked in went from "Heavy Craft" to "C.D.T." out went an Elliott metal shaper (to scrap!), power hacksaw (to me, and promptly sold on), one of those blade sharpeners [that look like old-fashioned 'tub' washing machines] an ML8 lathe (mine too,then sold to finance a new SIP one)....and on and on.
I also go 1.25 tonnes of teak lab benching for nowt (it were in da skip!) that became my kitchen table, benches and living room fire surround. I still had lots left, and it broke my heart to sell it on when we moved "across the water" 6/7 years ago.
I also got three, yes three, HPLV cannister DX vacs, when the pleated filter inside filled with dust and stopped sucking...The Late J.C. on a bike lads, I just replaced it, and its brown bag cover, and sold them on! The Head of C.D.T. commented: "our C.A.D. router just eats dust extraction, doesn't it?". I didn't correct him, as I was getting his rejects out of the metal skip and re-homing them!!

 

[Lons]

What did happen to the woodwork equipment Lons? Probably went for pennies.
Well I’ve got a knocker on my new workshop door and I shall be keeping it locked at all times. This is so that Grandchildren can’t get in ( well that’s what I shall tell my wife lol.)

I like the excuse Ian.

Tools.
The head of year at the time was also a neighbour, still is, and her husband one of those bumbling cack handed types. Nothing wrong with that but when I was chatting to him he invited me into his garage which was stuffed with all the school chisels, planes handsaws and everything else as well as a bandsaw and a big Viceroy Sharpedge and a planer thicknesser. There was a huge chest of drawers full of tools, and spares and he'd been using some excellent Marples chisels to open paint tins and hadn't a clue how to use anything. When I asked "how, where from?" he told me he'd gone with his van and brought them home FOC and didn't need to be pay for them. I voiced my displeasure at that and said it could and should buy a lot of kids books, pencils and other equipment and they should be ashamed of themselves.

I know from another neighbour and my mate from the school that no money ever materialised. There was also a small kiln she had "aquired" and that had to be worth a couple of £thousand. That teacher was supposed to be a role model for the kids, yeah right!

I'm not the type to report people, I've only ever done it once to an alcoholic who was endangering the lives of the local kids including ours every day but wish I'd made an exception and let the L.A. know about those tools.

 

[Lons]

Like Ian I wonder if it’s iroko? Could be the colour out of the camera which can change things but I thought sapele was redder (I’ve got quite a bit!).

It was very red sawdust and planing chips Stuart.

 

[Jonathan]

Like Ian I wonder if it’s iroko? Could be the colour out of the camera which can change things but I thought sapele was redder (I’ve got quite a bit!).

Could be as mix of teak and mahogany family.
I once bought an old school science lab at auction and my haul looked very similar to Lons . I get nose problems with Iroko and some of the timber gave me problems others didn’t. Made some super kitchen work tops

 

[Accipiter]

Timber ID... *possibly one of the Brazilian/Honduras mahogany types. I don't think it's Sapele... most of what I saw/sold on while working for the timber merchant was far more 'stripey' and a coarser looking appearance - even after planing. I could be wrong but I'd definitely say it's not Iroko - I've some 4x1 planned pieces (for an Iroko bench (30+ years old) and it's not planned out with any red colouring.

Great amount of space - and great setup - in the workshop Bob. Unfortunately I can't help being slightly envious .

ABSOLUTELY SCANDALOUS about those tools, the kiln etc . Also the waste with the timbers - from your related information... and from others saying they had the same... That said, my place of employment (timber merchant wise) had a clear out of some 'tools' from the woorkcraft/woodwork couse workshop. They were throwing out a 'Japanese' wet grinding stone machine so I, with permission, took it on. I've never used it in all the time I've had it but... that's not the point . Finally found a place for it and it WILL get used...

 

[Pete Maddex]

It looks like Teak to me, nice wood.

Pete

 

[Lons]

Hmm I wonder about the timber species now, I'll take a few close ups when I get a chance nd post them up.

It looks like Teak to me, nice wood.

Pete

I hope some is Pete and it's not impossible as some is heavy but others are much lighter.

 

[Trevanion]

I would also say Iroko, the end grain will be a dead giveaway.

 

[Lons]

What teaching establishments threw out is/was criminal. Must be 40 odd years ago now a mate of mine worked in a residential teacher training college in SE London. Solid oak wardrobes were quite literally being chucked from first floor windows, skipped and burnt. I salvaged enough to make two small tables which I still have but as a flat dweller at the time I had no room to take more.

All the base cupboards in my workshop came from the labs of a local tech college Andy. I was working as a part time lecturer one day a week to help them out and discovered they'd ripped them out and chucked them on to an uncovered yard in the rain.

I only had time to get one trailer load but that consisted of 5 no double 5 drawer units, 1 no single 4 drawer, 1 no double c/b with 2 drawers and 2 no single c/b with drawer. I got only around of 1/3d and the rest were collected and burned. Solid oak frames and drawer fronts with carcases and doors in veneered blockboard, dovetailed drawers, brass handle, locks (no keys) and solid as a rock, great for me but a criminal waste of resources and money.

When I opened the drawers some were full of pipettes and various shaped lab glassware which I gave away.

 

[Pete Maddex]

Iroko smells spicy and teak feels greasy.
The sawdust from iroko is very light almost yellow.

Pete

 

[Lons]

The sawdust was definitely red not yellow Pete.

 

[wallace]

This was a gift to a local uni but they had it in a rented storage container with some lathes. They scrapped it

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I rescued 2 lab bench tops about 600mm x 28mm x 3m from a former workplace (the lab was demolished). Im my case, they are most definitely iroko. I used some alongside freshly purchased iroko, and it was a perfect match.

I need to turn the remainder into a gate sometime soon.

 

[Pete Maddex]

The sawdust was definitely red not yellow Pete.

You have teak.

Pete

 

[Lons]

View attachment 54752

This was a gift to a local uni but they had it in a rented storage container with some lathes. They scrapped it

Many of us would give our eye teeth for that Wallace even if like me they didn't know what to do with it.

I would just open the drawers occasionally and admire the contents but it's not the tools themselves but wondering how and by who were they used, History just destroyed needlessly. Shocking vandalism.

 

[Woodbloke]

It looks like Teak to me, nice wood.

Pete

Colour looks wrong to me for Teak, but if the surface feels 'greasy' and the sawdust clumps/sticks together when it's cut with a saw, then it probably is. If Lon's planer blades are now totally trashed and wouldn't cut through a bit of mouldy bread, then it's almost certainly, guaranteed 100% real Teak. When I was at Shoreditch College in the 70's it was the only wood that the machine shop point blank refused to machine. You ordered Teak, you collected an armful of ruff sawn stuff - Rob

 

[Raymedullary]

Iroko 100% complete and utter certainty. As a DT Teacher, I've recycled more old Science table tops than I care to remember. As a past Yacht Joiner I've also used a fair bit (and breathed it in!)
No doubt whatsoever... the colour and the grain are unmistakable and whilst it isn't a million miles away from teak (used a few cube of that too) its easy to spot the difference.
An interesting thing with Iroko is that freshly cut surfaces can be lighter but put it sunlight and it you can almost watch it darken.

 

[Accipiter]

It was very red sawdust and planing chips Stuart.

If red sawdust then it can't be Iroko... it may be 35 years ago when I last sold the variety of English and imported hardwood we sold - or helped in the store workshop when machining the different timbers to customer requirements - but I've neseen red sawdust/shavings from Iroko.

 

[Lons]

Maybe I'm colour blind and don't know it.

 

[wallace]

Many of us would give our eye teeth for that Wallace even if like me they didn't know what to do with it.

I would just open the drawers occasionally and admire the contents but it's not the tools themselves but wondering how and by who were they used, History just destroyed needlessly. Shocking vandalism.

I was nurturing a deal to buy it and lots of other stuff. I kept in touch with the guy for a year, every so often asking if they were selling stuff yet. Not pushy just every couple of month. Then out of the blue his supervisor sent the whole contents to scrap. I even phoned around scrap merchants to try and find it. Hopefully some one with half a brain would see more than brass scrap.

 

[Pete Maddex]

I have had a look on the big screen and I am wrong, its Iroko.
Leave some in the sun and if it darkens its definitely Iroko.

Pete

 

[Lons]

Bloody hell Wallace that came from the estate on the outskirts of our village. The Cooksons aren't there now but I'm pretty sure relataves are still in the area.
They would have been highly annoyed.

 

[Accipiter]

Zoomed in on photos #6, 7 & 9 and also now saying I'm wrong... and Bob must be colour blind ... I now agree with others that have said Iroko ...

 

[Lons]

Zoomed in on photos #6, 7 & 9 and also now saying I'm wrong... and Bob must be colour blind ... I now agree with others that have said Iroko ...

I thought it was red, it looked red and my wife said "you're trailing red dust everywhere" so I blame her if it isn't.

I don't think it's teak as it planes fairly easily though from some of it I've used in the past it's easy to get tearout. I'll dig out a couple of different bits and make a few shavings, I'll show some edge grain as well.
I have an old teak coffee table top which doesn't look much like this stuff. It's very heavy and very dark wood, part of an ex insurance company counter and as my father in law was branch manager there I know it was specified as teak when installed. I still think mine could be mixed as some of the planks are much lighter in weight than others

I dumped the sawdust on the spoil heap in the field and it looked a red brown to me today, we did have rain overnight so can't tell.

 

[Accipiter]

Have a close up look at the grain. If you can see some narrow white flecks in the grain then it's a resin deposit of the wood. I've some bits with such so I'll try to get a photo tomorrow... I'm still trying to recover from a local anaesthetic I had for a 'procedure' late yesterday morning... that's my excuse anyway...

 

[Lons]

Have a close up look at the grain. If you can see some narrow white flecks in the grain then it's a resin deposit of the wood. I've some bits with such so I'll try to get a photo tomorrow... I'm still trying to recover from a local anaesthetic I had for a 'procedure' late yesterday morning... that's my excuse anyway...

Hope you recover quickly.

 

[Trevanion]

I’ve found Teak easier to work than Iroko, but perhaps it was a different type of Teak than others have experience with. I believe it was Burmese Teak and it was silky smooth to plane and quite nice to work with, compared to Iroko with its interlocking grain and horrendous dust.