Hey all –
A while back I picked up a considerable quantity of lumber – mostly S2S and S4S R&Q red & white oak – at a millwork company’s “warehouse stock reduction” auction. It’s currently stacked in the garage awaiting its disposition, which with MY skills will prolly mean “firewood”. : ) The stack is about 5′ high, 5′ wide and 12′ long, plus another stack about half that height in a shed at the family farm. My total cost was…lessee…about $450. Really. I figure I’ve got in the neighborhood of 5000BF of lumber, if I figured correctly. I was almost ashamed at paying so little – almost.
Needless to say, as it’s from a millwork company, a good amount of the lumber is in some pretty long lengths – 15-17 feet. As such, it does take up quite a bit of space. I’d like to cut it down to make it store better. Question is – what lengths are most useful? I figure nothing less than 8 feet if possible, but am I forgetting something? Would there be any reason I would need a 15-foot length of oak BESIDES for baseboard?
Jason
PS: Anyone want Brazilian Rosewood veneer? I picked up 55 sheets of it at the same auction for a buck apiece, and a whole pallet of stair parts and drawer slides for another $55.
Replies
How much for the veneer?
J.P.
"Would there be any reason I would need a 15-foot length of oak BESIDES for baseboard?"
Jason,
Gloat, indeed! Congrats on the legal theft!
If you decide to build an armoire, entertainment center, etc., and you want to run crown, base, or other moulding with continuous grain around both sides and the front you may wish you had a few sticks that are longer than 8'.
-Jazzdogg-
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Gil Bailie
Jason, I'm interested in the veneer. How much are you asking?
When I buck logs for milling I try to keep everything at about 8 to 9'. Any longer than that and it starts to get tricky for me as far as storing and handling in the shop. Aside from the previous mention of continuous grain for moulding, if I built anything longer than 8' I wouldn't be able to get it out of the shop anyhow. But cutting down long lengths if you can keep them as is without a problem seems sorta sinful to me.
Andy
"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
I'd be real happy to store those long lenghths for you, course they might shrink a little by the time you get them back.
Jason;
I would take into consideration how your shop is set up. If you have the room and handling aids to safely manuever and work the longer pieces then leave them at length. With my shop being 16 x 16 there is no way I could safely work that long of a piece in my shop. That would be one heck of a big armoire to use a fifteen foot long piece of crown. Sometimes when my sawyer mills boards that are twelve to fourteen feet I will cut them down to either six or eight feet long. The longest board I think I have ever needed in a piece was seven feet long. A lot of sawyers will just as soon cut an entire 14' log as apposed to cutting it down into shorter lengths as one it is difficult to hadle logs under 6' and they still get to charge you for the same amount of bdft if they don't section the log smaller.
Jason, I would also be interested in some of theat veneer.
Garry
http://www.superwoodworks.com
A while back I picked up a considerable quantity of lumber - mostly S2S and S4S R&Q red & white oak - at a millwork company's "warehouse stock reduction" auction. It's currently stacked in the garage awaiting its disposition...
Send address and I got a old pickup that will hall it off!
I have a gloat too. I picked up a pile of 16"x16' clear pine at an auction for $20. I guess I was the only one who really looked through the pile. The boards weren't stacked flat and they were cupped. This wasn't a problem as I am cutting it to 8' length and making molding out of it. Behind and under the pine were 8 1"x7"x5' roughsawn walnut boards. They planed up beautifully. Now what do I make with them?
16"x16' clear pine at an auction for $20..I'd go back and KISS them and say THANKS again!
You don't really want a serious answer, right?
But just in case, I occasionally face the same problem, and I try to work in multiples of about 2 metres (what's that, say 7 feet). I can't recall when I last used a piece longer that that.
The main reason for conserving length is to minimise machining time - always quicker to mill one long piece than 2 shorts. If you can't swing or clear long pieces, then there's very little benefit in keeping them long.
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