What is salvage wood and why do I use it?

For the love of trees, I am not going to cut one down to make a table! Wood can be termed salvage for a variety of reasons: too short to make lumber; a tree that has to be removed because it has become diseased or unstable; re-using the wood from a deconstructed building; sometimes saving it from becoming fire wood! In any of these scenarios there are going to be “impurities”, “beauty marks”, like where the nail rusted out in the old beam. Maybe the tree was beginning to rot when it was milled and even this is desirable as a wood lover as the fungus that grows in the wood, or spalting, is interesting and beautiful (and dangerous until stabilized). The marks where a tree branch used to grow look like eyes or the shape of the wood cookie looks like a mushroom.. It is magic hand picking the bark off a slab and reveling the the texture beneath like skin with goosebumps! When I shop for salvage wood, I am looking for personality. What inspires? What is the history?

When I was just starting out, I allowed myself to go to a “wood store” and get whatever I wanted for a table. (ANYTHING I wanted). I left empty handed and a little confused.. None of it called to me! I quickly realized (very quickly), that I would only use salvage for environmental reasons but also because it has soul!