Cheaper wood alternatives

Eric, I would keep my eye on craigslist. I see cherry and walnut all the time for $2-$5 in the Chicagoland area.

-- Julian, Park Forest, IL

Alder

Julian, thanks. I’ve been paying attention to the Indy area craigslist and there was some a few months back but I didn’t know how much I would need and hadn’t decided on species yet. I think chicago 8 hr drive roundtrip may be too much for me just for getting wood. I think next time I see cheap prices I’m just going to buy!

Socalwood, any suggestions on stains to use?

You might try this guy.
www.woodsbygwgreen.com
I got a good deal on some quartersawn white oak.

-- MW | www.MissionWorks.com

Eric , I’ve read that alder stains well .It is softer than cherry, I use a lot of it in projects for clients , and I sell a lot of it to other wood workers – they like it. Almost all of my finishes are basic natural -tung oil derivations as my markets demand . The walnut market is at bottom in the US right now and I can get #2 common at 1.40 $ bf delivered to my door , and it is coming from your state ! Suggest you look around a bit , or I can send you some alder pieces to test your self . You should pay 1.80 – 2.00 bf for alder—

Butternut can be stained to be “walnut like” and is very nice to work with, usually run under $3 BF here (usually closer to $2). Maple stained dark can resemble cherry a bit.

Wood prices seem to be like gasoline prices, not a lot of logic for the regional prices.

In trip to the mill this week I bought Ash, Rustic Maple, Sassafrass, Basswood and Hickory for between $2 and $2.50 a bd ft. The Cherry and Walnut I bought were $4 and $3.75 a bd ft.

Alder at this mill was $4.95 bd ft.

All of these were in less than 12 bd ft of any one type, 4/4 R1E and under 10” width. Mill was in Toledo, Ohio.

Later in the month I am going to the west side of Michigan and expect to get some Cherry at greatly reduced cost from a different mill.

Steve.

Man ,I need to raise my prices !!!

I have some of socalwood’s alder and it is great! Wonderful straight grain to work with and the natural color is perfect like it is but takes stain rather well.

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

Wow. I love LJ. I can write any question and I’m surprised how fast people respond. Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Since I wont be purchasing wood for a couple of weeks I have some more time to look around at prices.

Have you tried www.woodfinder.com to locate alternate suppliers? You can set the search region by zip code and I think radius in miles.

Since you have a bandsaw and planer (I’d suggest a jointer or at least a few hand planes too) you can deal with rough cut or skip planed wood. The fewer machining steps applied before you get it, the cheaper it will be. Maybe you can find a small sawmill within 100 or 150 miles (or pick your driving distance) and get your wood there.

-- Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Hey Eric
These are all good suggestions In my area black oak and ash, are in the $3.50 Bf range If you what to overcome some blocking issues when you finish you could consider poplar,and pine both around the $1.85 bf in my area. If you buy wood you have to do some more milling instead of buy s4s you can save $ 1-2 BF.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

RWyoung, I have #4,5, and 7 hand planes and for the time being that will be used for jointing until I get a jointer.

I can match “Poplar” to “Cherry” and only an expert could tell them apart. If I was not an honest man it would be easy to “rip off” a client. Its inexpensive, strong, machines easily, sands easily, and takes a finsih well. Its density is close to cherry as well. Poplar is also a fast growing tree and often its commercially grown. For customers who are budget oriented, I highly recommend it.

Good Luck.

-- http://www.furnituremann.ca/

Eric,

That GO555 you have coming, if you have it fitted with the riser block, and a good resawing blade, can solve your problem. Build yourself a resawing jig, and look at Craigslist for someone posting free wood. I have gotten plenty of free Pecan, Mesquite, Oak, etc… that is sitting and drying, stickered in my attic right now, for no bucks…

-- Trying to follow the example of the master.

Typically…what width is available in poplar commercially?
Oh and Eric…lets see the Model! That way we can compare it to photos of the finished product and see if you made any mistakes…oops…I mean changes.

-- Dan, Sterling Alaska, http://sullcon.homestead.com/ Before you criticise some one, walk a mile in their shoes...then you will be a mile away and you have their shoes!

Dbhost, I may have to do that. I did buy the riser block since I didn’t want to buy nice blades only to regret not having the riser and then buying more blades. So I thought it would be more economical to get it upfront :) It’s being delivered on Monday and I can’t wait. I think I will create a resawing jig for it, thanks for the suggestion. I see a lot of free “firewood” and trees chopped down (you move) on craigslist that I keep eyeing and now that I will have a bandsaw I will be paying much more attention to.

Roman, Poplar or Alder might be the way to go for this project. However, if I did poplar for the nightstands and stained it and then later decided to do the bed frame or dresser in actual Cherry, could I match the two easily?

Hey Roman
Is your secret for making poplar look like cherry somthing you can share with us. I would like to know since your work always looks so great.

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

Haha mics,

I’m sure I will have mistakes….I mean features… as this will be my first big project that I can consider “fine” woodworking. The sketchup is taking a little to finish because I am learnig the tool as I go and I’m so glad to be using it before i start. I am noticing lots of little things that i probably would have never thought of if I didn’t sketch it up in detail first. Give me a few days and I should have it up.

I would kill for $5 bd/ft. FAS cherry…

-- - Please help keep Lumberjocks an enjoyable escape by refusing to participate in political discussions. Simply spit out the bait and ignore the thread...

Roman, I would also like to know your secret

There are plenty of cheap sources of Cherry and Walnut available in Indiana. If you decide on Poplar you can get even cheaper.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/mat/1424129969.html
From the top of the pile shot this looks like it has some knots, but almost no sapwood visible.

There is also a sawmill that sells on ebay including monitorseller (DAVE’S HOBBY LUMBER) out of Carbon indiana who sells Common Cherry for $1.50 range and 5/4 FAS for $3.50.

There are also downstate Illinois sawmills that sell Cherry and Walnut for around the same price as Big Box stores sell Pine and Poplar.

I’ve been buying out of Indiana for a few years now, some is common some comes close to FAS but the prices sure beat the $5-$7 I’ve seen in west Chicago for wood that doesn’t need another year to cure.

Nathan thank you so much for mentioning Dave’s Hobby Lumber. He has great prices on cherry and other woods too, I’ll have to contact him.