Ideas of most popular places to get good quality wood

Good question. I get most of my wood from a commercial supplier but I usually order 200 plus board feet. They do not usually carry exotic woods. Some commercial suppliers will let you buy wood at their yard. All the local lumber yards in my area that use to carry real woods have been put out of bussiness by Lowe and Home Depot and their lumber is very expensive. I can get exotics at Woodcrafters but that is a 200 mile trip for me. Anyone near a big city should have local supplier who has specialty woods. When I ran a cabinet shop I would often have people who just wanted scraps for hobbies and I was happy to get rid of lots of left overs some times I’d just give them away.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Hi Kat,
I’m not sure what your looking for as to size, etc. In the winter time here in NH I will often go to various woodworking shows and many of them will have outside working exhibits were lumber mills are being shown. While much of the log is sold by the bf, it still remains that those first cuts are not what any are wanting to buy. Works great for me as these are placed on the scrap pile as take all you want, course I am always talking and keeping up a relationship with the guys who run these. And at the end of a show, for a few dollars I can usually get some good finished pieces since they are not excited about taking anything home.

Ha, the funny part is there is always the ongoing give and take with the woodturners there also, who are busy going through the pile. As I do rustic, I have gotten a lot of live edge slab, which I ues for table tops and benches. The woodturners love it because they can do multi glue ups of many species and colors.

Through this I have been able to get walnut, cherry, oak, rock and curly maple and butternut, plus good pine slabs. I also used to get some leftover exotics from friends, till upon explaining how I used what they were throwing away, I noticed they were not throughing away any longer.

Local sawmills in the area have been a great help also along with loggers, but I don’t know if you can convert from rough to finish?

One of the best ways to find wood is by paying attention to yard, barn and estate sales in your area. Find someone who is doing estate sales and develop a relationship with them so that they know who you are and what you are looking for. I have entered many cellars where all the woodworkers were busy going through the tools and cabinets, only to walk over behind the furnace and such and discover 3’’ and 4’’ slabs of hard wood.

Barns are a constant source of wood for me and while out driving I have developed the act of stopping and talking with barn owners, while admiring their barns as we wonder about inside. This is a great source for developing friends and also helps me find wood and barn hardware. Helps if you spend some time learning about barns also.

Well, I don’t know if I’ve helped you or confused you, but if you will keep your eyes open, there is wood all around you.

Nice talking with you and keep up the woodworking projects.
GODSPEED,
Frank

-- --frank, NH, http://frank.wordpress.com/

Try this site, you can browse through it, & see who can fulfill your needs. I think shipping costs are a big factor. http://www.woodfinder.com/

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

My father-in-law moonlights as an arborist, (primarily for the free-firewood) but I get to poke through the pile. I try to notice any interesting pieces before it’s cut up too small. Have some nice cherry, and plenty of oak that way.

I’ve also lucked out and was able to clean out a co-workers basement (after her husband passed) mostly plywood and dimensional pine, but some natural edge slabs, and other gems hidden in the mix.

Most recently my grandfather gave me a call, a tall (and surprisingly straight) cherry tree came down in his yard (and asked If I wanted it – Silly question) So now I’ve got some 4-5’ sections and a 20’ section with my name on it… (only about 6 inches in diameter, but just fine for the lathe… what am I going to do with it? No idea, yet….

Sorry, If this doesn’t exactly help with where to find wood… I don’t really have contacts in that regard outside of family… but so far It’s been enough for me. I’d advise anyone to “remind” people (friends, uncles, cousins, whatever,...) every now and then that you’re always on the lookout for some lumber, if they ever happen across anything – Old furniture, barn, storm damaged tree/fence, etc…

Amazing what a co-worker or neighbor will let you have just for a little sweat equity!

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

The information posted to date is all good and useful. I’ll add some ideas I use that I don’t specifically see above. Of course, what type of wood you need is dependent on what you’re building, what tools you have, and what level of effort you’re willing to put in.
What I mean is that a turner can use lots of stuff a furniture maker probably wouldn’t and if you’re looking to build something quickly, you might save time buying lumber already milled S4S as opposed to milling rough lumber. Furthermore, sometimes paying more yields a better final value [lower cost] when the time involved working around defects is accounted for. There are many variables that fit into the equation, and it’s different for each of us in some respects based on time, energy, experience, et al.
With that said:
1. Check the local yellow pages for sawmills. If there are any, go visit them. Learn what they do and what they can provide you with. If there aren’t any, search the web for local sawmills. Many of the preloaded search links on your computer will have a form for finding
businesses of a certain type in a location or zip code and, optionally, within a certain distance of said location or zip code.
2. After you exhaust the sawmills, check out the local tree surgeons in the same manner as above. You’ll be amazed at what you can find.
3. Check with your local cabinet shops. Many of them have proven to be friendly to us, and it’s not unusual for them to allow someone to buy from them or even piggy back on their order(s).
4. Check other online forums. Woodnet.net, sawmillcreek.org, and others all have classifieds and Trade/Sale areas wherein people offer good values.

Good luck,
Gary

Here are some options:

Gilmer Wood www.gilmerwood.com
Good Hope Hardwoods (Landenberg, PA) 610-274-8842
I also found some wood through www.woodfinder.com one time, and that worked well.

Let us know what you are looking for, and I am sure that we lumberjocks have fewer than 6-Degrees of Separation to find you some wood in your area. I would be cautious about buying wood from an area that has a different humidity level than your home shop, until it has acclimated in your shop environment for a several weeks.

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flint Hill's Artisan

Kathy; I’ve had good luck making friends with sawmill owners. I make something and give it to them. They are then more than willing to talk to you. You really need to talk to the local small mill owners.

Someone has said find out what they are sawing. I might say find out what they are not sawing. The local guy Virgil has a customer that takes all of his White Oak and makes moldings. He also cuts railroad ties. But sometimes he gets a log that is not of what he normally uses and its might just be scrap wood and it might end up as railroad ties. Virgil told me about another mill that the guy cut up a log and he had no idea what it was. Virgil asked me about it and I determined that it was Box Elder with Red Streaks going through it. The sawer ended up using it for Palet lumber. I tell them save me anything that is strange. Now Virgil’s brother is the logger so I tell him what I want and when he is in the woods and he sees the trees, He’ll cut it instead of letting it stand, because he would normally just leave it because its not one of the woods that they would cut.

He said that he had a holly tree is the area he was cutting and I ended up with about 200 Bd Ft for 5/4 Holly and some 10/4. I’ve go a fan blowing on it in the barn now and its dropped from 35 percent moisture to 15 percent in about 30 days. and the #1 select popular is now sitting at about 13 percent, in the same time frame.

Contact your local State Forester and they might have names and phone numbers for loggers and sawmills. Also call woodmizer and ask them about local owners of woodmizers because they usually do custom cutting.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

What a great insight Karson… and a great bounty you’ve scored as a result!

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Thanks Karson,
After the holidays I will check to see if there is a saw mill fairly close. I live in Kersey Colorado. I am about 70 miles from Denver 70 miles from the Wyoming state line and 30 miles from Ft Collins. I think there might be one in La Porte. That is just outside Ft Collins.
Kathy

-- Kathy, Kersey Colorado, kh1@hughes.net

We have a hardwood wholesaler locally, which is who I use for my wood. I am not in the same camp as Dennis ordering 200 Bd ft at a time. I just drive down and pick up what I need for a project. I sometimes find a few other pieces of nice wood that I add, figuring I will do something with it later.

I should probably be buying larger lots and letting it dry out, but space is an issue, as well as the need to get some paying projects.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Don’t laugh at me, but wouldn’t a good place be a pallet mill? They use hardwoods to make pallets and they buy in large quantities. Aside from the nail holes, many pallets have some pretty useful pieces, either for turning or something.

What do y’all think?

Mark:

I went to a pallet plant and their supplier sent them a whole load of walnut for pallets. He put it off to the side to save. But one day he had an order for pallets and his supplier was unable to get him wood in time. So the walnut became pallets. He said to me that was what I bought the wood for and that was what I used it for. SO! But it make you feel for us woodworkers.

I could guess that if it was all the blackest walnut available with no white sap wood it would make us all feel worse.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I’ve snagged pallets from work. Was a heck of a job busting off usable pieces, most of the grain was really wild. From what I’ve read, most of the lumber destined to become pallets isn’t exactly “A” grade stuff… more like D or F.

Before I’d read that though, I saved a small pile of boards, about 1/2”x3” x 12” (give or take). These were nailed together really well, and with all the splits and breakage, I just took the reciprocating saw to them. I’d set aside some various pieces, and never did much with. I noticed some of it was quartersawn on the short dimension – heck of a lot of glueup though to make some pieces of usable size…. But if you have the time, then the price is right.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

This (the pencil holder) was a pallet to begin with. I made 11 of these and sold them for $15.00 each. The card holder was the frame from a discarded medicine cabinet that was painted white. I cut it into pieces glued it together and ground it at a slight angle, and sold the set for $20.00

And I get my hardwood from a local hardwiid distributor, but I’ve recently been looking here What you might want to do is type into your search engine “Hardwood Distributors” and see what shows up in your area

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

brilliant use of reclaimed wood.. !

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Nice job Obi. Did you sell those at a craft fair?

I need to see if there are any pallet guys around. At least could have some wood for smaller items, mock ups, or even just sticks for gluing.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

One place to check that might produce better results in the more rural areas is tracking down places that sell Japanese-import tractors, like Kubota.

Their tractors are all shipped in on huge pallets using local hardwoods. That is, using hardwoods local to where the pallets are made. Like Scott said, pallet wood is far from Grade A lumber, but you could probably get something usable out of it.

I have some huge pallets we picked up about a year or two ago sitting in my dad’s barn on the farm. One of these days I’ll get around to dismantling them…

-- Ethan, http://www.merganserwoodworks.com, http://greystonegreen.blogspot.com/

Hi everybody, I was just reading this post and couldn’t help myself LOL. I have a small sawmill here in NC. I cut a little bit of everything. Mostly red & white oak, ERC, walnut and pine. I am always looking for strange logs to mill. I have a good bit of red oak on hand right now, so if anybody in the NC, SC area would like some PM me.

-- Thanks The WoodButcher http://woodbutchernc.tripod.com/

lucky people who live in your neck of the woods

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Wish I did, I would drive over and pick some up!

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Kat – there is a lumberyard in north of Denver which has a retail store
http://www.paxtonwood.com/woodcrafter.html
I found them most helpful, you can buy in small quanitities and they have a nice variety of hardwoods.

-- Marge, Colorado

Paxton can be a pain to deal with if they’re like the outlet we had here in Kansas City.

Gary & I think alike. I too frequently answer questions with questions.

My question for you is what exactly is it that you want to do with the wood?

Much of what I do is small stuff. I’ve made friends with a couple of cabinet shops that are willing to save me a box of their scrap hardwoods. I regularly go and pick up a van full of maple, cherry, oak, walnut, and poplar scraps of kiln dried lumber for FREE. It ranges in size up to an inch thick, up to 5” wide, and up to 3’ long. I don’t do furniture or other large flatwork projects normally. I do scrollsaw projects and lathe projects mostly. I can edge glue this stuff if I need larger panels and it works just fine.

You’ve got some great sources for aspen in your area, too. You should be able to find a source of offcuts from someone who does houses or remodels in aspen and keep yourself busy for a long time!

If you have any Amish or Mennonite communities in your region, go visit them and find the woodworkers. You may just find some real treasures!

-- Dean, Missouri

Has anyone ordered wood from The Woodworkers Source? Every week they have specials, as well as web specials. Their prices seem reasonable, and a large variety of wood. They are located in Arizona.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

One other little gem: If you get a tree surgeon or a cabinet shop to “donate” wood to you and who is even marginally pleasant about it, be sure to provide some trinket out of the wood as a thank you.

A $5 pen kit can win you thousands of dollars of favor. A couple of ring boxes out of the cabinet wood to show the cabinet shop staff what you can do with their stuff can land you a nifty little perk, too. It can be a nice little gift or incentive to a special customer for the shop, to have a ring box that matches their cabinets. With a little info and help, you might even get some of the countertop material to insert in the lid of the box. This is particularly good if you’re talking Corian or similar solid material. Just don’t make the lids too tight. Ladies are NOT impressed by lids that pop when their hands are wet and they’re trying to put their rings away with their one dry hand. 8^)

-- Dean, Missouri

Kat, I like, Bill, order a lot from The Woodworker's Source They are out of Arizona, but have killer deals on their “board packs,” in 10 and 20 board foot bundles atht include shipping. They are having an exotic wood sale right now.

You can also check out Rockler or Woodcraft. They should have a store in the Springs or Denver. I cannt remember where Kersey is. Is it in the 4-corner area? If so, maybe Albuquerque would have some better selections. That’s one of the places I went when I lived in Durango area.

Good Luck,
God Bless,
Hawg

-- Saving barnwood from the scrapyards

Here’s my poor boy response. I can’t afford to buy large bulk mail orders as my paychecks go to diapers. I like to get reclaimed lumber not only for the $, but I get a rush out of finding the good stuff that someone deemed as junk. I’m in a subdivision that is half built, and the one company that builds all the homes says they don’t care about scrounging as long as it is in the discard pile. They also prefer me to go when workers are not there. There’s all the pine you can handle there as well as some decent sized plywood.

Steve Wall Lumber in NC has some good stuff as well. Google search them for the URL. They have “short” bundles in cherry, walnut, ash, and white/red oak. They are 3-9”W and at least 22”L, They come in 65lb bundles. That’s about 20-22BF depending on species. I got some Walnut and loved it for boxes and inlay. It came to my door for under $50. If you do small porjects, I haven’t seen anyone come close to this.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

I buy timber, lots of timber. Occasionally from the bigger wholesalers, from some smaller saw-mills and even the odd garage sale.

Something to be aware of. Any wood that isnt kiln dried has the potential to carry all kinds of pests including the powder post beetle, the pine boring bettle, the zimmer beetle to name a few. Unless the temperature drops quite a bit below freezing for a sustained period and or the wood isnt cooked above boiling temperatures for a sustained period…....you take the chance of intruducing a bug into your home…............that said I still but timber from anywhere that it’s a “deal”. After being bought I take a long hard look at the timber for infestations.

The one thing (my apologies If I missed the post) people never mentioned was the “auctions”. Over the past year and to name just one…........I bought over 500 bfm of cherry, hard maple and ash…..thats 1,500 bfm+ for 300 bucks. If you do the math, it’s a heck of a deal. I constantly shop the auctions for sheet goods and timber. One might be real surpised to find what some ol timers keep in their “barn/garage/basement/shed.”

Another great place, like some one previously mentioned are old houses/barns/churches/graineries and the like. They are often built with the highest grades of timber including ash/elm/white and red oak/hemlock/fir/cedar….......whatever grew in that neck of the woods. A good ol barn might yield as much as or more then 35,000 bfm of good “old growth timber”.

Patience is best served when buying timber. The rush…..always costs more.

Good luck

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

I missed this a year ago so will add my two cents worth. I buy from three places, McKillican American for hardware and some particle board and plywood, High Desert Hardwoods in Eagle, Idaho and Wood Products in Boise. None of these wholesalers has minimums but with Mck and WP you do have to show that you are a business and set up an account. High Desert sells to anyone who walks in but uses a sliding scale for pricing. If I buy 100 BF it will cost me less than someone who buys a short piece of stock. It also seems to be cumulative as I usually buy at the 500 BF rate because of the amount I buy over the year. They also stock Baltic Birch and hardwood plywood. WP carries American hardwood plywood and all varieties of rough lumber. A friend of mine who works art Woodcraft was at Gilmer recently and said it is the biggest stock of wood he ever saw.
Tom

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon