Uses for old wood lath?

[arvana]

I am renovating my 1875 home, and have taken down some of the old plaster ceilings and walls which were too badly broken to repair. Now I have a huge pile of 1"x1/4" strips of wood lath. Obviously I can burn or otherwise dispose of it, but it seems disrespectful to do that to this old-growth wood -- it was cut around the time when my area was first settled. Does anybody have any creative ideas on what it might be useful for?

[angolito]

definitely save some of it if you plan to use drywall to replace the plaster. if you just install the drywall your trim will not be flush. i used the lathe to shim out every stud to make it all work out.......

[dpsours]

It may be old-growth wood, but in general, lath was not exactly the best grade of wood. I wouldn't feel terrible about burning it. However, it is very useful for plastering. You nail the lath to studs or joists and apply the plaster over it.

[khwils]

I use lath for shimming out studs when patching walls with drywall. Burning - It depends on how you burn it, I use it for a fire starter in the fireplace. It has been properly dried for easy ignition .


Kurt

[arvana]

Thanks for the ideas, guys -- I will definitely be keeping some for shimming purposes, but that will account for about 1% of the big pile I've collected. About the quality: it is certainly rough-cut, but it's generally strong knot-free wood, I would guess white pine. I don't know if it is actually usable for something; I was thinking of talking to a couple of artists in town and seeing if they wanted to do anything with it. Otherwise, kindling seems like its best use!

[Don M]

It's very useful for stacking green lumber. We had a big load of green wide pine boards to be used for cabinets & wainscoting. We used the lath as spacers between each board to allow for good air circulation & drying of the green wood. It does burn very well & is an excellent kindling! Don