# mail order hardwood lumber



## Ottis (Apr 17, 2009)

Nice, thanks for the review on the supplier.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

good review - thanks!

looks like some good boards there


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

Great review….and very useful….I will keep them in mind when I need some additional materials.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Nice review. Good to know of a good supplier. He's in the middle of the country too, not too far from anywhere)

On UPS, I knew of a rifle barrel maker who got one back bent into a "U" shape!!


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

thanks for the review


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## BTKS (Nov 30, 2008)

Really nice review. I had never considered mail ordering hardwood. Now I know better. Fortunately I have great luck with local sawyers for domestic species but no exotic. Thanks for the input. BTKS


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## Pete_Jud (Feb 15, 2008)

I have used http://www.cookwoods.com/ a couple of times with great results. UPS shipping can be spendy.


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## bowyer (Feb 6, 2009)

Thanks for the review. It's good to here about reliable companies to order wood from.


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## WoodSpanker (Feb 10, 2009)

It IS usually UPS that screws up and damages things being shipped. Now, I work for UPS, so dont tell them I said that.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

WoodSpanker, Big Bro is watching. I heard about an employer who was requiring MySpace, Facebook and Twitter user names and passwords on employment applications!!:-((


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## Ottis (Apr 17, 2009)

Bob,
My son said the same thing when he got his security back ground check in the military..they wanted all of his user names AND pass words so they could check up on what he has said/done/going to say in the future etc. When he told me this I said "Well what if you don't have any of those things" He said "Dad..in todays society, if you don't have any of those things…you are either really old, or weird…there is no way they would even believe me if I said I had none of them….and would have marked me down as a lier and my security clearance would have been dead in the water then and there"

I guess I am really Old…(Or really weird lol)


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Count me as really old AND wierd ) The only one I have is MySpace just to see some comments about migraine prevention. Never did anything else on it except tell the jial bait that wanted to party to come on over, but they never showed up:-(( I've never seen Norm's favorite TV show or any of the other crap polluting the air waves during primetime. Guess my security clearance doesn't stand a chance!!


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## chriswright (Nov 13, 2008)

Thanks for the review. The prices are really good too.


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## Kingwoodsteve (Jul 17, 2008)

I was looking through the price list and came across "Colonial Maple". Can anyone tell me what that is?


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## donbee (Feb 7, 2009)

Finding a good supplier isn't my problem.
Finding ANYBODY in my area that sells hardwoods for furniture building is the problem.
Even places that bill themselves as hardwood suppliers have only mass produced moldings, not boards.
Ordering hardwoods without seeing the wood, without seeing the guy, face to face, fills me with dread. But I will have to do it or become a feller of hardwoods myself. That's just not going to happen.

Oh me.

Oh my.

Being a tool addict leads to so many other problems!

Best regards,
Don


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## MedicKen (Dec 2, 2008)

Thanks for the review. How much did you have to pay a BF? How much did you order and was shipping a flat rate of $15? That shipping price seems low especially if you had oversize boards shipped.


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## KDL (Feb 1, 2008)

Glad folks like the review.

Don Butler, I know what you mean about getting boards sight unseen, but I've been pleased with the wood. The folks at Dunham seem to understand what I'm asking for and are willing to find the boards. That said, I've never had a particularly odd request-just long, clear rift/quartered cherry. Also, at least officially, my local supplier puts together the orders themselves, so I don't have any control there either. They have swapped sheets of plywood for me and I've seen other folks insist on inspecting the hardwood before accepting it, but as I said, I don't pick the wood. I think some of the real craftspersons in town that buy bigger loads more often have privileges.

MedicKen, to answer your questions, the rift and quartered cherry was $7.62 a bf. That's a few bucks more per bf than the flat-sawn I can get at my local supplier. Shipping depends on size and weight. My last order was 10 bf in a bundle that was under 5' long. So shipping was just over $15. When I needed longer boards, I paid extra for shipping because of the oversized load.

I should have mentioned, one advantage for this mail-order house is that they don't have the minimum order requirements of my local distributor. Though two of the three times I ordered, I ended up taking more than I had originally asked for, because the boards were available.

And one other advantage of mail-order is that I don't have to own a truck.

Kurt


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## sw_iowa_sawyer (Feb 25, 2009)

"Colonial Maple" is the term Dunham hardwood uses for cottonwood.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Seems as bit deceptive!


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## KDL (Feb 1, 2008)

Not deceptive, just what cottonwood is sometimes called, at least in the middle of the country.


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

I have heard it called that before….Colonia Maple that is.

Has anyone tried woodplanet yet? A friend of mine showed me them…said he placed a buy order and got some very nice figured walnut burls there for turning….You get to specify what you want and then put in a request….folks around the world look at your request and fill….they also list wood for sale?


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Those are some great looking boards. Make sure that you post the project.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

First time I have heard it. Colonial maple means redish wood color to me ;-))


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## Tomas (Jun 25, 2007)

i am curious since you mentioned you were able to get longer boards shipped and some mail order places say they don't ship longer boards because of UPS restrictions. So, in your case, how much extra did it cost?

I ask to get an idea if it is something I want to request if I were to place an order with such requirements.


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## KDL (Feb 1, 2008)

Tomas,

I don't know that other wood suppliers won't ship longer boards, but I do know that shipping companies charge more for oversized packages, including lumber from Dunham. I don't know what Dunham's limits are.

In my case, the longest boards I got were 8'. The boards started out longer, but Dunham cut them down per my dimensions. I honestly don't remember if we settled on 8' due to shipping restrictions or because that left a useable cut-off.

As to price, I don't have a breakdown for basic versus extra shipping costs, but I paid $30 shipping to get an 8' long bundle of 17bf sent from IA to KY. And I paid $25 to get 15.5 bf-I think that batch was more like 6' long, but I don't remember for sure. And as I said above, I paid $15 to get a 4' long bundle of 10bf.

If you check ebay, you'll find other hardwood dealers there, and with your zip code, you can usually see the shipping prices.


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