Tucson AZ!…Comments???

townsend | Posted in General Discussion on August 31, 2005 07:56am

Hi All,

I just decided to follow freind out to Tucson AZ next month…actually a couple weeks from now.

I’m interested to hear from any posters their experiences.

I’m relocating from San Diego CA area. (Rents on 3 bdrms >$1800 mo. same house close to $600,000!) I’m not concerned about the heat but am aware of the low humidity and interested in how you all tackle that. I have a modest slection of nice wood-nothing irreplacable-perhaps I’d be better off leaving it here?

How are you guys setting up home shops? I’ll be in a garage to start with no AC.

Any can’t miss lumber yards? Woodworkers clubs? Museum featuring furniture etc? Tool stores?

Any other advice pertaining to wood greatly appreciatted.

Thanks,

Warren

Replies

Willie | Aug 31, 2005 08:24pm | #1
Allen,

AZ is seeing a lot of growth currently and a good investment for property, considiering past gains in San Diego and future gains in AZ.

Your lumber should condition quickly, considering the dry heat in AZ, just sticker properly.

I'm in Central CA, with a garage facing West. In summer this becomes a "Solar Kiln" due to the heat and I don't do woodwork, as the agriculture here takes up all my time. No AC, you will have a problem.
BoardmanWI | Sep 01, 2005 12:30am | #2
Lived there for a while. Much nicer, and cooler than Phoenix....fantastic sunsets. Job market is absolutely lousy, since it's primarily a tourist/retiree location. Mostly service jobs. I lived in the far northeast part of the city - less traffic, quieter, and less future development since it's against the mountains. NW area has lousy traffic - only 1 expressway.

While there I wasn't into woodworking too much, but afterwards I found this place about 40 miles south - looks like a great mesquite source.

http://www.mesquitedesign.com/index.htm

And if you can, get a place with "dual cooling" - AC during the dry months, and swamp cooler during the monsoon season. Swamp coolers are much more pleasant than AC.
dirtstirrer | Sep 01, 2005 03:18am | #3
Hi Allen, I lived on the base at Ft. Huachucha, for a while, and I can't imagine a shop with no AC there. Neat country though. Ditto on the mesquite.

Steve
Willie | Sep 01, 2005 08:59pm | #4
I would be concerned with a swamp cooler any time of the year, due to the humidity it adds in a wood shop. Rust, and also lumber exposed to humidity.
DonMitchell | Sep 01, 2005 10:11pm | #5
Warren

I'm in Tucson, I have a seperate 12x20 building for my shop with a swamp cooler in it. All my tools (TS, BS, drill press and router table) are on mobile bases and I store them against the walls until I need them. The cooler works fine except during the rainy season from July to about now. You should be able to get through the winter without much trouble but come summer you'll be quick to decide you need to rectify the lack of cooling in the garage!

There's a woodworkers source http://www.woodworkerssource.net on the southside of town and a woodcrafters http://www.woodcraft.com/ on the north side of town. There are some smaller suppliers in town but I haven't been to see them. The guys at woodcraft can hook you up with local clubs, most of what I have found are wood turners, local anyways. There is a large club out of Phx which is 2 hours away http://www.azfinewoodworkers.org/default.asp.

Hope that helps!

Don
BoardmanWI | Sep 01, 2005 11:28pm | #6
Yeah - that right on the swamp cooler - I got the seasons wrong when I typed it. Swamp coolers won't work above a certain humidity level.
Elcoholic | Sep 02, 2005 02:44am | #7
I'm in OC. My brother moved to Phoenix about 14-15 years ago. He's had several houses and is currently in Avondale. His house is about 6 years old and is extremely well insulated with dual zone a/c's for the living and sleeping areas. He says his worst 3 months power bills only run $250-300. Imagine what a drubbing you'd take from SDG&E! Even with the California refugees running the prices up, his place, on a golf course btw, is under $300k fmv.

You do know that there's a rising amount of anti-Californian sentiment there and that it's a right to carry state, so you may want to pre-register your car and get your plates before you move. Californians have been buying on spec and flipping them or renting them out. A lot of the developers won't even sell to non-residents.

John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking

The more things change ...

We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.

Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC