# Please recommend a hardwood lumberyard in Portland, Oreon



## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I find myself nearly out of hard wood. I've been buying my hardwood at Rockler and Woodcraft. But it's kind of spendy there and even though they say the boards are 4S they never really quite are.

So I need to find a good lumberyard to patronize. Can anyone recommend a hardwood lumberyard in the greater Portland Metro Area of Oregon (i.e. Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington County)? I have a jointer and a planer so roughsawn or 2S lumber is fine.

It would be a bonus if the lumberyard stuff don't mind a newbie. I've never been to a lumberyard before.

Thank you!


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## americanwoodworker (Nov 26, 2011)

Look for woodworking guilds in you area and ask them. They will know of sources that are not listed in phone books and do not advertise.

*Moderators, here is why I suggested you put a "resources" tab on LJ's. It would be VERY beneficial to the members. *


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## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

Check out woodfinder.com to find what you need. Enter the species, your zip code and click on the vertical search bar on the right.


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I'll check out woodfinder, thank you. And I'll see if there are any guilds in my area.


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## Johnnn (Sep 21, 2012)

I go to Crosscut Hardwoods and Goby Walnut.

Crosscut is a retail lumberyard, with a decent selection of a fairly wide variety of furniture / woodworking wood, plus veneer and plywood products you won't find at Home Dildo.

Goby gets local logs of Walnut, Maple, Alder, White Oak, etc, and cuts and dries it themselves. If you're looking to find something special, they have amazing stuff - but it ain't cheap. I wind up digging for affordable pieces.

There's also Woodcrafters (not to be confused with Woodcraft in Tigard) just off E Burnside. They have some wood, including moldings and stuff like that, but are more a tools and supplies retailer.


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I'll check those out, especially Crosscut. Do you know if either of these places allow people to look through the piles? I hear that's bad form in some places.

Thank you.


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

The best deal on beautiful wood for your projects is to buy rough sawn lumber and buy the machines to surface it yourself. It takes 40 to 50 bft of lumber for a major project and the difference between rough sawn lumber and surfaced lumber will quickly pay for your planer and other equipment. Check your local Craig's List in the materials section. The last cherry & walnut I bought before I bought my sawmill had been stored in a barn for 20 to 30 years. I got almost 1000 bft of high quality lumber for $300. You can also check for local owners of portable sawmills. A lot of them have extra lumber they will sell at low cost. If you have storage space and can dry your own lumber, you can get even better prices. Most sawmills here in East Tennessee sell 'barn' type lumber, poplar, red and white oak for between $0.50 and $.75 per bft. Sometimes you can get green walnut maple and cherry for $1/bft as well. The first load of wood I bought was from a local dealer of fancy maple. He traveled to several small sawmills and they sold him a lot of figured maple that he resold to guitar builders. He had a lot of beautiful wood that for one reason or another the guitar builders rejected and he sold it to me for $1/bft. When he started loading my trailer, it looked like a lot more than the 300 bft of lumber I paid for… Then he threw in a few extra figured boards… I've long since used all the figured maple and I wish I had more. Only 2% of maples are figured and it's tough finding them. It's kind of like a tee shirt I saw a girl wearing once. It said: "You've got to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince!"


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I've got a jointer and a planer. I got them so I could save money using rough sawn lumber, in part. And because even the 4S lumber at Woodcraft and Rockler isn't perfect. I've noticed the width of a board can vary across its length. The edges of the board are often not straight or they have chunks bitten out of them.

The planer works like a dream. The jointer not so much. Though I am pretty convinced that my own lack of experience and know how is the reason the jointer is a pain. If I can get it adjusted properly it should work fine.

I'll take a look at Craigslist. But there are two wrinkles that could get in the way of getting wood that way that concern me::

1.) I have a Honda Civic. I can only fit so much stuff in there. I'd say 8 feet in length is the maximum I can fit in there. I'm less concerned about weight since the car manages to cart my own fatness around. But there is only so much volume and length I can fit in the car.

2.) I wouldn't be able to afford $300 of wood at once. Maybe $100 at at a time, once in a while. Though getting lumber from the woodworking stores is kind of like the death of a thousand cuts. Small purchases may cost less in the short run but over time I end up with less wood for more money.

Thank you for the assistance. Please, keep it coming. The more knowledge the better.


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## AandCstyle (Mar 21, 2012)

You have spent the money to buy the jointer, so spend some time to get it properly adjusted. Are the tables co-planer? Are the blades all set so they "just" clear the out feed table all the way across their width?

Regarding your car's capacity, you might be able to borrow a buddy's truck or buy or rent a small trailer. Some places will deliver.

$100 should buy 15-20 BF of lumber depending on the species which is enough to make an end table, etc. Where there is a will, there is a way.  HTH


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I'll post a thread about the jointer later because I need comprehensive assistance with it.

10-20 board feet sounds excellent. Thank you.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

Purr master I have a good friend in gresham he has a suv and I could introduce you guys he is a writer for thisoldworkshop.com and a great guy. I am partial to him because we are close friends he may be able to help you set up your jointer. what kind of jointer do you have ? On the wood front when I lived up north in Beaverton I got all my wood from the want ads so Craig's list will be a good thing I scored loads of walnut and myrtle wood big leaf maple and oak all local stuff. Back thin I had a 8 inch table saw it was the only saw I could afford. I also sell this tool called a side rack its for guys like you to carry more wood I sell them for 20 bucks they hang out you passenger windows and make a nice little rack to carry boards. if you want a set pm me.


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

Thank you. My jointer is the Harbor Freight 6" inch rabbetting jointer. I know it can work well because I checked out plenty of websites of woodworkers who have made it work splendidly. My understanding is that its based on an old 1950s Rockwell/Delta design. I got extra knives for it (from Holbren) and Rockler's knife setting jig.


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## mousejockey (May 6, 2010)

Woodcraft in Tigard, not the best but still a candy store for WWers
Lumber Products in Tualitin, I just looked st their web page, say's there in Chapter 11, I don't know if they are still selling?
Woodcrafters in NE Portland, nice store
Crosscuts is where I ususlly went when I lived there
Goby Walnut 
and of course Gilmer https://www.gilmerwood.com/ leave your checkbook at home but bring some napkins to wipe off the drool!
I have no experience with them but bobs big boards in S. WA http://www.bobsbigboards.com/


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## Gshepherd (May 16, 2012)

Try Sierra Forest Products…... I purchase 90% of all my lumber from them.


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## Johnnn (Sep 21, 2012)

Yeah, you can pick through the stock at Crosscut, and Goby. I've spent hours in there dinking around trying to find just the right boards for drawer fronts or whatever. Most of what Crosscut sells is rough-cut, although they do have some S4S stuff.

I drove an '85 Civic for years. With a roof rack, that poor thing hauled plywood, lumber, canoes, bikes, etc. etc. Somewhere I have a photo of it with a huge pile of 16' cedar decking material on there. Anyway, most of the stock at Crosscut is in the 10-16 foot range, but they will cut it for you. They may or may not charge you something nominal for the service.


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll check them all out. Do any of these stores sell roughsawn (i.e. cheaper) lumber? Or are they all 4S boards?

I broke down and went to the Woodcraft today in Tigard and got some wood. Not much. Even though the boards there say they are 4S they still need to be jointed/planed, at least on the edges.

I was drooling over the mahogany. I wish I could afford some of that stuff because it is beautiful.


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## SteviePete (May 10, 2009)

Try the scrap bins for sale ($60) at the Joinery. Nothing too long. Eastern and Western Walnut, Cherry, madrone, mexican type rosewoods, some sawn veneers, hardwood plywood, offcuts and figured waste material. Got one odd shaped western walnut crotch piece 10/4 12×15" trapezoid-over 2bf. I was satisfied. Enough to make a dozen smaller boxes, spoons and most was worth cutting to veneer (less than 1/8"). They also have a freebie bin-found high grade sawdust there. Check it out. s


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

That's an excellent suggestion. I'll check that out as soon as I can. Seeing as the longest thing I can fit in my car is at most 8 feet long, not terribly long is fine.

It would be helpful to find a little more madrone. I'm making a bookshelf for my girlfriend out of some madrone I got for very cheap at Rockler. Apparently it had been gathering dust for a long time. It took a lot of planing to smooth it out and I ended up losing a lot of wood in the process. So I don't have enough madrone for the shelf. I was going to use beech (it's the closest color match for what I have on hand). Perhaps I can find some madrone for the shelf. It's nice stuff with it's pinkish cream color. It's hard as a rock though and I got a lot of tear out trying to cut the mortises.


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## Nomad62 (Apr 20, 2010)

I cut a lot of high figured big-leaf maple, have some other woods too; not currently trying to sell it as I am working on building my kiln, but if you want to dry it yourself, pm me; kiln should be done in the spring, if you like that wood remember me and I'll have it. Some p
pics available.


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.


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## williamoss (Dec 25, 2012)

I love Gilmer Lumber. the owner Miles in a cool cat, loves to buy exotic African woods and others from all over the world burls turning blanks it has it all. They have 4 giant warehouses stacked full of wood you can not belive. Once MIles likes you the prices are resonsonable. If you are making a guitar they have matched blanks for the rear. Check out their website. they show some of the wood there.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

a friend recommends mr plywood have you been there yet ?


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## rum (Apr 28, 2011)

last time I was at mr plywood (?1? year ago) they had a really good selection of vertical grain fir. Prices on walnut and maple were a fair bit more than crosscut (I was specifically shopping those, other hardwoods seemed to follow but I didn't price them as carefully). They do have a nice selection of hardwood plywoods as the name would suggest.


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## thedude50 (Aug 13, 2011)

They do give pros a discount i dont know what constitutes a pro shop from a hobby shop though.


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## rum (Apr 28, 2011)

Yeah not sure on their pro discount, most places if you have a business license will take that.

If I was using enough volume to justify pallet purchases (aka "pro" level volumes..) I'd also recommend Moxon. They were very nice and helpful and have an interesting selection of wood. I wouldn't necessarily go in there with a set species in mind though as they tend to have a lot of exotics and "almost like" species from australia (a possible downside to that is that there are like 10 different types of trees called "australian oak", while they look superficially the same they don't after finishing something to be aware of anyway). I almost sprang for a full pallet of maple though, it was really close in price to what I paid for a much smaller load of S3S from crosscut but I wasn't tooled up to deal with it so had to pass..


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