Q My wife and I are remodelling our kitchen, and I’m considering using some beautiful reclaimed pine from a local dealer as shelving or trim. Can you give me some tips about working with salvaged wood? My wife is counting on me to do a nice job, and this is my first real woodworking project. Any thoughts on fixing up a kitchen on a tight budget are also welcome.

A Okay, got it. First I’ll address working with reclaimed timber; then I’ll turn to budget kitchen fix-ups.

Reclaimed timber, especially pine, can be a wonderful material. Barns, boardwalks, houses and warehouses, barracks, factories, bridges, and water tanks and towers are sometimes called the industrial forest. Wood from these structures is extremely high-quality because it comes from beautiful old trees that grew very slowly to a large diameter. The slow growth produces a dense grain pattern because the more slowly a tree grows the narrower its characteristic bands of light- and darkcoloured wood (early and late wood, respectively).

But using reclaimed pine for the purposes you describe can present challenges. It can have small cracks, holes and rust stains left from nails and screws; buried hardware or hardware fragments; insect boreholes; and wear marks from decades of use.

For many, character is part of the charm of reclaimed timber. But if that’s not to your taste, you’ll have to buy a planer, a table saw and maybe even a jointer and convert the lumber into more uniform, blemish-free stock. Of course, removing these details misses the point and creates a ton of waste.

Regardless of whether you use the timber as you find it or remanufacture it, consider buying a metal detector to find any hardware that may be buried in the wood. But you’ll likely miss some metal even after using it – don’t be surprised if you end up buying extra blades and bits to replace those damaged by stray hardware.

I hope I don’t sound like I’m discouraging you from using reclaimed wood. It just requires a bit more care than new timber. Speaking of which, the less finish you apply, the better. A thin layer of shellac or penetrating oil is all you need to bring out the lovely, dense grain.

Now, on to inexpensive fix-ups. Obviously, you get the most mileage from paint. Other inexpensive touches that can make a dramatic difference are new covers for switches and electrical outlets, and cabinet knobs or pulls. And even though you can’t see it, a trash-can slide is always worth adding. New blinds go a long way toward improving a kitchen’s appearance. In fact, I’d consider making a window valance from some of the reclaimed wood. It could be the crowning touch. After all the painting is done and the hardware replaced, I think your wife will be pleased – and so will you.