I’m still pretty new to woodworking, and I am sure there are many of you out there in my current situation. I live in a relatively small market, and there is not a good local source for me to purchase wood. My choices are the limited selection from Lowe’s, or drive two hours to a larger city.
So, can someone help me out with a few good sources to purchase wood online? Also, if you have used these, how did the whole shipping thing work? Did you get charged through the nose for shipping?
Any other info here would be wonderful. Thanks everyone!
Replies
Sounds like where I live. I get my wood delivered by the supplier that supplies the lumber yards. They are based two hours away as well. Find out who supplies your local lumber yards, then call them to see if you can have them bring an order when they come your way. I have to order a minimum, but it's not hard to meet. You'll probably need to set up an account. See when they come to your town. Mine are on a set schedule. The local lumber yards can also special order wood, however, you'll have less control over what you get. I'd avoid Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards if possible. You will pay more through them.
Would you tell us where you live..town, state; that might have a bearing on what people suggest;)
Winchester, KY. Just outside of Lexington.
Check around for some local sawmills in your area. Maybe someone that has a portable bandsaw mill around your place. I would think Mt Sterling should have a mill down there. Just some thoughts. JJ
Some sources to check are local cabinet shops. Several of the shops in my neck of the woods sell hardwood to woodworkers. There is a wood door shop not too far from me that will dimension it S4S and will also thickness sand to my specs.
There are also several on-line places to buy wood. I have purchased from Steve Wall Lumber in North Carolina. Good service and prices.
Steve
If you go onto Ebay and look for woods, exotics in particular, you'll find a seller called J. Holden who is in Tenn. I've bought single boards bidding on the site for making small items. You can also call Justin and tell him what you need and if he has it in stock he'll send it out. Fed ex and the charge is not bad at all. Another source I've used is http://www.woodworkerssource.net. Good wood although the price is a bit higher. Great selection of woods and shipping is not bad either. Just ordered 12 bd.ft. of 4/4 flat-cut sapele Monday that cost me just under $100 with shipping. I'm sure you'll hear of plenty of other sources.
Have you check out woodfinder? I've had some good luck finding a couple of suppliers there. Most times they have website listed and there you can find if they do mail or internet order.
http://www.woodfinder.com/
I'm an internet wood supplier located in NW Iowa. I love people to stop by, but most of my buyers are on the coast. Other than a $75 minimum order I sell any amount anywhere. Normally I wholesale to Rocklers, Woodcrafts, and other stores. My site is http://www.thinwood.com and I ship 1-2 times a week either UPS or Less than truckload through a broker that gives me a great deal. I specialize in domestic exotic woods with walnut being our #1 wood. We have crotch, curly, wide, thick, thin, veneer, bookmatched and so on. Prices online are approximate and are for the minimum order. I go down in price alot when you want alot. I'm currently working on an article on maple for FWW that you should see in an upcoming issue. Thanks and enjoy. Josh Brower DDS
jhounshell
Steve 50 gave you pretty good advice if you just want to buy a little wood and price doesn't really matter.. Who cares if you pay $6.00 a bd. foot or $3.00 when you buy a few bd. ft. at a time.. Your time and shipping costs will quickly eat up any cost differance..
If you really like to work with wood and want to buy it as cheap as possible then eliminate all of the middle men.. Buy direct from a sawmill.
That way you pay the lowest cost, get the greatest selection of woods and don't have everybodies rejects..
Buy Mill run and dry yourself and you will be amazed at just how cheap you can get wood for..
I can't say enough about Irion Lumber, located in PA. They ship and their wood is top notch, particularly for a piece that requires matching. they stack according to the cut of the tree. Check them out at:
http://www.irionlumber.com/
Hope that helps.
If you're a professional woodworker, press back now. If you're a hobbiest, then read on.
I live in Yolo county in the grand state of confusion. We have a few lumber yards with a small selection of hardwoods and we have big box retailers locally when I can buy poplar, red oak, and some pine that may be a good deal, but usually is stove wood. Sacramento has some medium large suppliers that cater to the cabinet building trade but have the common hardwoods in stock, sometimes, and occasionally something different.
When I have a serious project that doesn't involve 4/4 maple, cherry, red oak, or plywood, I drive to the bay area which has really well stocked hardwood suppliers and buy there. Sometimes I buy from the smaller specialty sellers in central California that sell walnut slabs (after you refinance your home) and some other species like delicous madrone, black oak and tan oak, big leaf maple, and a smattering of others. But, the supply is spotty and you buy for posterity, not the job at hand.
I've had good luck buying very expensive really special boards on line - please don't tell my wife. But, just ordering stock, there's no ability online to look at and measure and inspect every single board.
For day to day wood, both work-a-day and special, I'd suggest that you draw out your project, specify the wood, make a detailed parts list with rough cut sizes, and drive a hundred or so miles to a supplier where you can look at every board and see if it's flat, solid, good grained, matching to the other boards in grain and color, and make sure that you've bought enough to make 1 + times your project (to account for those mess-ups.) Layout all the parts on the boards you're going to buy in your mind working from the parts list folded in your pocket. The tape measure you brought with you will help a lot. Sometimes, you have to say "thanks, but no thanks", and drive a few more miles to another supplier.
All of this work and expense is worth it to me because warped wood doesn't dovetail well and never glues up well and mismatched boards don't make a very good table top. Good woodworking starts with good wood and good wood comes from picking through a large selection and educated inspection of each board.
And buying a little extra!
Mike,
I am in Sacramento and belong to the local WW club. We have so much walnut, last used tool swap we held a guy showed up with a pickup FULL of big chunks of walnut and he literally couldn't give them away, I am pretty sure he left with some. Lots of crotch and other figured pieces, etc. Our website is http://www.sacramentoareawoodworkers.com or SAW for short.
There are some wonderful sources of wood here, especially just north up in Yuba and Chico, heck, even Stockton has the Woodsman.
If wood was hard to get, looking into using urban wood and drying it would seem to me to be a high priority. My buddy and I use an Alaskan chainsaw mill to cut up logs we find. I used to square up logs on my jointer and then resaw them on my bandsaw before the bandsaw mill and I still do it to some of the bigger pieces of fruitwood that I dry. Since the wood is free, all I am in it is my time and I get more than enough good pieces to make it worthwhile. Plus, if you are selling stuff, having a local "connection" and story gives your pieces an edge over anything else!
You are close to Berea, source of many well known woodworkers. I would suggest that you call one of them, such as Kelly Mehler (who runs a superb woodworking school in Berea- www.kellymehler.com) and ask him about sources.
I have used this wood and find it clear straight and priced very reasonibly. Visit http://www.brehi.com. Since wood can be heavy, shipping can be a concern, good luck to you
MDC
Did you try the yellow pages? http://yp.yahoo.com Try searching for hardwood rather than just wood. I didn't think there were any wood suppliers around here and managed to find 3 in town and one less than 5 minutes away that has a nice supply of various hardwoods. Although nothing exotic.
Thanks for everyone's input. I have developed several good leads that I am going to start looking into today/next week.Jeff
Although nothing exotic.
That is good or ya go broke!
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