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Buying wood directly from a mill is not something everyone can do, even if you have sawmills in your vicinity, but it is available for many woodworkers and for those who belong to clubs and associations, it's even possible to get together and do "group purchases". Not all mills will sell to the general public, Often the large sawmills are wholesale only, but many of medium and smaller independent mills are happy to sell smaller quantities of wood. Do NOT show up at a mill and expect to buy one or 2  boards. These people make their living selling volumes, and just the way they store and stack their wood, it's not really an option for them in most cases.  When you do show up at a mill, they will ask you that right away ... "How much wood are you looking for?" So you will need to be prepared with an answer in either board feet, or a number of boards, truckload, 1/2 truckload etc.

There are basically 3 sizes of mills, Small, Medium and Large. Small mills are normally one person operations, often part-time and they will have a small gas driven, probably portable bandsaw mill. Medium size mills may have a larger circular saw and/or a bandsaw and probably operate full time or at least season full time. Large mills will often have a multitude of saws and will be driving truckloads of lumber through their mill on a full-time basis. They probably will also have a kiln to dry the wood they are cutting and often these do not sell to the public, but you can still ask them, some do  ...

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I have received many comments and even a few emails telling me that if I want to get better quality cuts with my table saw, jig saw or even my sliding mitre that if I use masking tape, and cut through that tape, it reduces tear out, which is what causes that fuzzy edge when crosscutting boards. 
Well ... I heard the same thing well over 20 years ago and I tried it then a couple of times and it didn't work so I have never tried it since. I guess it's time to try this again with some of the newer tapes and see if it makes a difference and to be honest ... I was skeptical at best that using something a flimsy as tape would really work as a solid backer on wood and give better cuts ... but ... I am always up for having my mind changed and this wouldn't be the first time that would happen. 

I armed myself with 2 good quality tapes that I already use in my workshop for a variety of things, first 3M Blue Painters Tape and secondly, a newer tape I have only just started to use Frog Tape ...

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One of the nice things with getting reclaimed or used lumber, especially plywood, it's perfect for making little workshop accessories, jigs and for just working with to see what things you can come up with. It's part of the fun of woodworking and I can get absorbed for hours at a time working on new ideas and adaptions to my workbench.  

There are so many different kinds of things we do on our workbenches, I'm sure there are no 2 alike. Everyone changes and adapts their workbench to fit what works best for them and here are a few ideas that may inspire other changes and adaptations.