# How much "on hand" wood? dangerous question...



## JoJo2014 (Aug 21, 2014)

Hi all - I'm Jo and I'm new here.

I was wondering as I finish setting up my workshop, how much wood does the average worker have 'on hand' at a given time? I know that this is possibly a dangerous question (mostly referring back to my grandfather's PILE of stock over the past years) but on AVERAGE how much say, plywood, hardwoods not allocated to another project or even just the one-offs for jig making.

The reason I ask this is because I have to finish setting up my shop which will mostly be for small hobby projects like kids toys and such, and will have to buy some set up materials and then after that will essentially be 'cut off' from the world for at least 4 months or so before I would have access (possibly access) to get any more materials.

For projects all I have specifically in mind is one 8' X 3' walnut bookcase, 3 cabinet organizers - bathroom type shelving ones if you know what I mean. 2 shelves with hanging racks in a laundry room. A coffee table. A number of jigs for handling small materials and cuts for kids toys. I just include this so y'all understand what KIND of woodworking I'm doing. Obviously if I were making cabinets for profit and toys for a homeshow, that would greatly effect how much extra I'd have in the shop. Also, I'm just starting off so I wouldn't have those 'bits and pieces' that maybe a worker 10 yrs in would have just accumulated over the years lol.

Taking all this into account, (not asking for estimates on how much material is needed for the above projects) how much etc do y'all have as the amount of filler materials on hand in your shop?

Boy, I hope I make sense with this question, but again, I have to buy a bunch up front, would like to not run short at all, but don't want to buy so much that I have to skimp on finishing materials etc just to have the overage amount of wood/ply/mdf hanging around so that I don't get hung up on any one thing due to NOT having materials on hand.

Thanks for any input.


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## Sanding2day (May 6, 2013)

Hey Jo,
Welcome to LJs… I'm not certain how to answer your question other than to state from my perspective I would attach my local hardwood dealer to my shop if I was able. In other words I'm a wood hoarder and find it painful to throw cutoff 2" in the fire and would have as much on hand material as I have space to hold it.


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## ChrisK (Dec 18, 2009)

I always have too much on hand, called clutter by some. However, I have this problem because when ever I go the hardwood lumber yard i buy extra if it is on sale or the cull pile has decent stuff in it. The problem comes in when you can not store the wood correctly or it gets in your way. I have tripped over boards too many times to count. The solution seems easy enough, build more stuff. Hard part for me is finding enough time to do it.

It is nice not having to run out for that last piece to finish a project, but is a balancing act.


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## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

I probably have way too much…but is the way I like it.

I have several shelves in my garage that run a total of 20 fee long and floor to ceiling. These are heavy duty shelves and about 18" deep. I keep my stash of hardwood on them such as red oak, ash, poplar and stuff I would use to make cabinets or furniture. I probably have about a total of 200 board feet right now as I have not gotten any new in a little while.

In my shop, I have 16 feet of similar shelving that holds domestic and imported hardwoods and any wood that has been planed to a certain thickness. This are is climate controlled.

I also have storage for full sheets of various plywood and probably have 8 sheets. I store half and quarter sheets in another location and have quite a few of them in various plywood, mdf, etc.

Then, comes the problem as I have a lot of cut offs around the shop. I really need to get rid of some of it but you just never now when you will need a certain piece…...

I think that as you do more and more woodworking you will find what is comfortable for you, your budget and your space limitations.


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## richardwootton (Jan 17, 2013)

Yeah I'm not really sure how to best answer your question except to tell you how much I keep on hand. I should also mention that everytime I see a good deal on hardwood, especially rough sawn, I try and buy some. Anyway, I have about 500 bf of domestics on hand and would love to have two or three times that amount.


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## Yonak (Mar 27, 2014)

Jo, in your specific situation, I would estimate what projects would be undertaken in the 4 months and calculate how much wood would be required for each, multiply that by about 1-1/2 and get that wood. If you see any other boards while at the lumber yard that strike your fancy, whether of the same speces or not, you may be tempted to pick those up as well.  They could be good for contrasting handles or brackets or trim.

Another approach, if you've got the the funds to go this way, is to calculate how much space you have to devote to wood storage and fill it up.

Some woodworkers also make space for wood drying for when they go the the sawmill. That may be an approach for down the road for you.


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## handsawgeek (Jul 31, 2014)

Hi'ya JoJo,

I picked up on your key word 'TOYS'. As one who builds a lot of small projects, including toys, I find that I save even the smallest of scraps, only because I always end up using most of them at one point or other.

To keep this all under control, my small scrap is housed in a series of 8" wide by 20" long, by 6" deep wood bins, each labeled as to what species is contained therein.

At the moment I keep one bin each for pine, cherry, oak, walnut, maple, poplar, miscellaneous exotics, dowels, and thin plywood. If any of these bins gets too full I do a small housecleaning to discard the less desirable pieces.

It's basically the same MO with larger boards and cutoffs. I try to keep this under control, but my penchant for scrounging makes it difficult. Again, confining the wood stock to a specific limited space forces me to do periodic culling.

My best advice to you is to keep as much material as you can that will fit into a designated storage area without overflowing and becoming a problem in your workspace. Don't be afraid to houseclean if things start getting out of hand. If you can't bring yourself to throw wood away, think of some item that you can knock out a bunch of to use up the excess stock. I did this years ago with some 1-by lumber, when I scrolled out a whole slew of simple toy cars and gave them away at a church yard sale.


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## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

You can never have too much wood on hand!
I buy wood when I see it and it looks like a good buy… I also go on dedicated trips to the "wood store" to stock up when I think I have too little or I need a specific species.
Every time I go into a bog box store, I check the maple - I have gotten curly and birdseye at a fraction of what I've seen at the wood store. 
I also keep all kinds of scraps… you never know when you might need a box handle or some small piece. I just made 15 small (4×6) cutting boards of varying designs with just scraps. Now I will sell them for $13 each and voila' - something for nothing. Then I'll buy more wood… I think you get the picture.
I can stop any time I want… and when they have a wood-a-holics anonymous meeting in my area, I'll avoid it like the plague.
Welcome.
Ellen


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## Sprung (Sep 13, 2013)

I would do as Yonak suggested. Estimate how much you're going to need for each project and then add extra. I've only got a handful of projects I've done, but I've purchased 20% to 40% extra for each project. Since it sounds like you won't have an opportunity to go back for a single board if you're short, I'd probably go on the high side for extra - 40% to 50% extra. And whatever you don't use you can save for future projects.

The other alternative is to buy as much as you can afford and start building a stockpile of lumber. Even with limited finances I'm starting to do this whenever I can find really good deals on Craigslist on lumber. I've got 60+ BF of 4/4 and 8/4 walnut, a little bit of soft maple, hard maple, red oak, and poplar on hand. On Sunday I'm going to pick up 200+ BF of KD 4/4 soft maple because at 50 cents/BF even my wife agreed that I can't pass up on that deal. I have no projects in mind right now for that maple, but it'll be real nice to have lumber on hand for future projects. I've also got a growing collection of exotics and figured woods - some small boards and pieces for flatwork, but much of it is turning stock.

And, remember, you can never have too much wood. If you're going to be in this hobby long term you will use it. Create a specific area to store your lumber in and whenever you can find a deal you can't pass up on lumber, buy some and try to fill that space. If you find your lumber through smoking hot deals on Craigslist and you someday find yourself with more wood than you can comfortably store, if you got a real good deal on it there's always the chance you could sell for a profit, or at the very least get back out of it what you paid for it. If you pay full blown retail for lumber and then need to sell some of said lumber, you'll end up taking a loss.


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## papadan (Mar 6, 2009)

I normally have 3-4 hundred ft of Walnut, 100 ft of Birds Eye, and 50-100 each of Oaks, Cherry, Butternut and Poplar. I keep about 10-20 bd ft of each exotic I can find like purple Heart, yellow heart, padouk. I have a 3ft x4ft pile of plywood and MDF just for jigs and fixtures when needed.


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## JoJo2014 (Aug 21, 2014)

Wow - thanks for the very valuable replies guys! I love that you all have different perspectives and yet in some ways y'all say the same thing. I never thought to put my mind towards the issue in a Time dependant phase - good idea. I think overall I can safely move forward in the "Buy as much as I can without killing myself figuratively or literally, hoard it, use it and hide it" style of woodworking lol. Your actual figures help too - gives me a nice practical guideline knowing all those things like shop size and type of product effect us all. Again, thanks for taking the time to throw your info out here.

J


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I currently have 700 board feet of eastern red cedar in my garage. Should last me over a year.


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## JustplaneJeff (Mar 10, 2013)

After being in business for 30-plus years, I have accumulated more than I should have. Currently, I have around 25 to 30 thousand ft of 10 or 12 different species of mostly hardwood. 700 to 800 ft of exotic wood, and 18 to 20 thousand sq ft of veneers from all over the world. Did I set out to collect all of this? NO It just happened. A good friend of mine owns a hardwood store and when ever he comes across a good deal on a large quantity, He sometimes allows me to buy in with him. The Veneer was mostly bought from 1 man{his lifetime collection after working for a veneer company for 20 years} a year or so ago. That being said, I feel as if what I have is as good as money in the bank, only I enjoy looking at this "investment" more than a statement sent to me once a month. It also helps having a 50' x 44' barn dedicated to storing everything listed.


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## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

I like to have 500 b.f. in the shop, but I'm always looking for more. I can't stand getting the exact number of boards you think you will need for a project. Invariably you end up a couple boards short.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Hmmm, I have counted lately.

Maybe this one corner of the side shed will give you an idea…......

Probably 150 bd ft or so, whada ya think?


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## Rayne (Mar 9, 2014)

I'm relatively new to the woodworking hobby scene, but I have accumulated a TON of cut-offs after making several of my projects. In hind-sight, I now have enough to make all kinds of organizational projects and jigs, so I think I'll be using a good portion of it sooner rather than later. I don't have access to exotics or even domestic like Cherry and Maple that is relatively on the cheap. I normally buy enough to cover my projects and if I'm short, all the box stores are nearby so I have no issues there.


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## Vincent (Mar 10, 2009)

I have about 200 bf of QSWO, 100 bf of QSRO, 50 bf of ash, 50 bf of flat red oak, 50 bf of cherry, 30 bf of clear pine, 20 bf of poplar, 6 sheets of 3/4" QSWO plywood, 2 sheets of 1/2: QSWO plywood and a small assortment of exotics and figured woods. It is all destined to go into projects currently on my to do list. Fortunately, I have a local sawmill that is about 15 minutes away in case I run short of a domestic hardwood.


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## Stonekettle (Jun 13, 2010)

You can never have enough. AND you can use lumber to make racks for MORE lumber. It's a sickness.


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## buildingmonkey (Mar 1, 2014)

Thought I had a lot till I saw that Dallas post. I have boards, logs, and trees.


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## JustplaneJeff (Mar 10, 2013)

Dallas wins!!!!!!


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## JoJo2014 (Aug 21, 2014)

Yes, I think we'll give Dallas that prize - plus with photographic proof so not a fish story lol.

I think that my question may have stirred a pot or something since everyone is so seemingly eager to confess. Could it be that each board foot is a little friend in our shop who will not leave our side until we say so, is eager to sacrifice itself for the sake of a nice jig and so willing to let someone fix it's 'flaws' without taking offense in order to be something we would be proud to stamp our names on?

So funny that a material can stir such an excitement even at full price but SO much so when we get a deal.
I'm now in BC Canada so now looking for the best places to get exotics. I have a local source for small (under 2') cutoffs of maple and some oak but feeling frustrated about being literally in all these trees and have to wait a week to have a local Windsor to bring in a piece of holly. Err. 
A lot of ppl have mentioned CL finds so I think that I will just keep watching for it. I'm assuming that y'alll are looking under the Materiaals category in For Sale?


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## exelectrician (Oct 3, 2011)

Like Clamps, you can never too many board feet of ; cherry, walnut paduke, sapele, oak, poplar, and hard maple, figured maple, you get my drift.


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## Yonak (Mar 27, 2014)

> Yes, I think we ll give Dallas that prize - plus with photographic proof so not a fish story lol.
> 
> I think that my question may have stirred a pot or something since everyone is so seemingly eager to confess. Could it be that each board foot is a little friend in our shop who will not leave our side until we say so, is eager to sacrifice itself for the sake of a nice jig and so willing to let someone fix it s flaws without taking offense in order to be something we would be proud to stamp our names on?
> 
> ...


Wow ! Personifying lumber. I've heard of boards having personality but I never thought of venerating the board so as not to use it in such a way that the board's feelings are hurt by misdirected or thoughtless use. I can foresee a dissertation or maybe an article for publication in Fine Woodworking or, maybe, Psychology Today.

Short cut-offs are great for toys, boxes, kitchen items and many other small things. That's a fine idea and a great resource.


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## papadan (Mar 6, 2009)

JoJo, the only reason for the amount of wood I have on hand is…........I don't have space for any more!


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

Thanks all, LOL, although I dunno why.
That picture is of some of the cedar stacks only at the Seattle Lumber and Hardware warehouse in 1939.

Decades ago I spent a week pulling green chain at a mill in Idaho. Worst week of my life for pain after work. Later, I was the guy on the lift that moved stuff in and out of the kiln and put stacks in the finishing sheds.

Those sheds were 65' tall and filled from belly to brisket for 500 to 750 feet. Most of it was pine, a tiny bit was fir, almost none was hardwood. I think we never kept more than 25,000 bd ft of hardwood at any given time.
All of it came in as logs on a train.

The scrap piles that they burned were nearly 3X as large as the sheds. At that time anyone could get to them from the back. My grandmother built a lot of tables by collecting the thin stuff and gluing it together. 
We had a coffee table she made from that stuff.

Oh, and to get back on topic, my personal hoard is only about 500 bd ft. mostly walnut, white oak, sycamore, black cherry, bodark, Chinese Tallow, Chinaberry and a few others.


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## tomclark (Feb 16, 2010)

Well, I don't make a trip into town to buy just one sheet of ply, even if only one is needed. Having a bit of stock is very handy. I usually get a couple of extra to make the trip worthwhile. The extra doesn't take much room, and the wood pile only takes a 4×8' corner of the shop.


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## wfedwardsjr (Sep 14, 2012)

I accumulate more and more, but I think you should figure up what you need for the projects you plan and then go 50-100% over. That would take into account jigs, screw ups, design changes, and scrap for testing finshes and such. If you plan to make it a long-term thing, extra won't hurt you unless its just too hard to store in the space you've got.


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## pmayer (Jan 3, 2010)

If you can standardize on a couple species it makes this much easier and cheaper. I mostly work with cherry, maple and walnut, and I try to keep 300-500 board feet of each. With this approach I have saved thousands of dollars vs. going to the retail lumber yard for each project. I buy whenever I come across a good deal on some nice stock. I buy green (the day it's cut if possible) and air dry it myself. Typically I am able to buy good quality lumber for $2/board foot this way.

Here is a picture of my most recent purchase. 700 board feet of FAS cherry, cut to 4/4 and 6/4. Boards are 9' long, and average 18" wide (several in the 20" to 21" range). This will be dry and ready to go by next summer. Can't buy boards like that at retail lumber yard around here, and if you could they would cost 4-5X what I paid for them.


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## BinghamtonEd (Nov 30, 2011)

I typically buy what I need for a project, plus 25+%. It certainly won't go bad, and I don't want to go back to the hardwood store mid-project, or have to explain to my wife that the cost of materials increased.

I got a great deal on some 4/4 air-dried cherry (.80 bd/ft) and snagged enough to fill my truck bed. I have about 80 bd ft left of that. It sits stacked and stickered in the center of my two car garage.

If I saw a great deal like that again, well, I might not have an immediate sue for it, but that stack might get a bit larger.


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## palaswood (Aug 9, 2013)

I specialize in finding useable reclaimed wood, and I stockpile it like its goin outta style.
Recently have pulled ALL of the pallet wood and nail ridden reclaimed wood, along with softwoods and threw them into a pile in the backyard.

It has allowed me to clean the shop, organize & make use of the lumber storage and finally get a handle on how much wood i actually have. Answer: By far more than I can use and not NEARLY enough!

SO, my advice is - know what you like, and stock that. I love white oak and walnut, so I keep some handy. Also, what do you want to build? If you are making furniture, you'll need wide boards and plenty of them. If small toys, etc then scraps are your friend. I keep all sized of all kinds on hand, and my roommates are sick of it. HAHA


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