Something I enjoy as much as creating from clay is creating with wood, particularly reclaimed. I have made good friends at my local lumber yard because I am always searching for the "cast outs" that nobody else wants - the pieces on the top of the stacks of wood that get beaten by the weather and twist and split. These nice silver colored pieces are what I like to work with and often I get these for a steal if not for free. 
It's really a win-win all around. Each time I visit I see the stacks building up around the edges of the lumber yard knowing how much they like to have cash on hand for frequent employee barbecues and them knowing how I will take all of it. For a good deal of course. This material does present a challenge to work with as it takes a bit longer to select how to best use it in its crooked state, but I do enjoy the process. Some people may plane it down to get a consistent color and cut out all of the sap wood, but I leave it in. It's taken years for this patina to come to life and I want to show it off sometimes even leaving the paint markings from the sawmill as you can see in the photo below.
So when our infrared sauna arrived even though it was a stand alone unit we decided to give it proper shelter in the back garden right next to our outdoor cold water only shower and I had the perfect material to build the structure. Oh and the copper pipes for the shower are reclaimed from the old heating system in our house.
Thanks for your interest and check back in soon for another reclamation tale.
