Timber merchant advice

SWMBO has ordered some bookshelves to fill the alcoves next to the fireplaces in the sitting-room/dining-room. We want solid oak shelves about 25mm thick by 300mm wide. No problem, I'll just nip down to B&Q and pick up a pack... or perhaps not!

I've already spoken to a fairly local timber importer who recommended buying the planks as 150mm wide and biscuit jointing them together - seems reasonable. After all, if a job's worth doing, it's worth buying a new tool for :-). Next problem, the timber importer /just/ imports the timber. They don't machine it at all. I don't fancy hand planing

60m of timber thank-you-very-much, and although I have inherited an electric planer/thicknesser, it only does about 80mm wide. (I have also inheritted a table-saw, so cutting to width / length is not a problem)

Does anybody know a timber merchant who can supply planed oak at a reasonable price to Cambridge?

Alternatively, should I bite the bullet, and make each shelf out of four strips?

Reply to
Martin Bonner
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In article , Martin Bonner writes

Have you tried Ridgeons?, as I needed some Mahogany a while ago and they were the only people for miles who were interested in supplying.

Bet it will cost 'tho!. Come to think of it me made the worktops in our first house some 30 years ago (still there and wearing very well) out of old Oak planks that came from some medieval building, obtained from Solopark who were very cheap then but I suspect that has changed..

Reply to
tony sayer

Atkins & Cripps, just outside Ely. Highly recommended. They have a selection of prepared oak ready to go, as well as prepping to order.

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Reply to
dom

Go down to Whippletree Hardwoods down the B0168(?) just past flint cross

- past Fowlmere, across the A505 and about a mile on the right in some old farm buildings.

Usually will do anything you want at about £33 per cu ft.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Ridgeons supplied me with some first class wide boards in sapele - phoned their special timber division at Sudbury

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Come to think of it me made the worktops in our

Solopark just seem a total rip-off these days. Might be good for reclaimed bricks - but any of their "architectural" stuff is priced outrageously.

Reply to
dom

Apart from the comments on suppliers...

If you are going to edge join two piece of material there are a few ways to do it.

In any case, it's very important that the wood is planed and jointed properly - meaning that the edges are perpendicular to the faces and flat.

You will also need a flat (meaning flat) surface and some clamps.

One method is to machine glue profiles on the edges. This normally entails a cutter in a spindle moulder, but I believe that there are router cutters as well so you could use a router and router table for this.

Another one is to use biscuit jointing. This is probably a more realistic DIY proposition because reasonable quality biscuit jointing machines can be found for under £100.

In both cases, the objective is to control vertical alignment and have a good glue area. Once machining is done, you can glue and clamp and finally sand and finish the shelves.

Simple butt jointing might work, but there is then no real alignment mechanism and you are relying on gluing of the surface area of the edges only

Reply to
Andy Hall

Jesus. What a palaver for alcove shelves. Put some oak strips on the front because that's probably all you'll see. What's the big deal about oak anyway? Flat sawn it's one of the dreariest looking woods I can think of.

Reply to
Stuart Noble

Why? I'd echo Stuart's comments here. Oak is expensive, harder to work with, and if B&Q were even under consideration, then far more expensive than you probably realise. Why does it need to be 1" thick too?

Why not go with veneered blockboard? Great material for shelves - 3/4" will support any reasonable span, even under a load of books, and it's cheaper than any decent quality plywood. Also 300mm is a tiny alcove, so sag just isn't an issue. You certainly don't need 1" oak.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Sadly they have stopped doing it, but B&Q did do oak in various dimensions a few years back. They also used to supply poplar which is IMO much better for shelves than oak. Poplar is lighter but resists bending much better than the composite alternatives.

OTOH, I've just finished making shelves for a shop and those were done in ply, because it was the combination of light, cheap, sturdy that I could find.

Reply to
Steve Firth

Oak is lovely, that's why :-)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Did you want something?

It really comes to the point of whether one wants to do the job properly or not.

Reply to
Andy Hall

By "light", do you mean "low density", or do you mean "reflects lots of light". Maybe I /should/ consider B&Q (it was intended as a joke).

Yup. Cheap is lower down our list of priorities though.

Reply to
Martin Bonner

I have, they want a detailed cutting list to price it up (not unreasonable).

Ooh. Thanks!

Reply to
Martin Bonner

and Cripps! I'll get back to them. Thanks!

Reply to
Martin Bonner

The WMBO of SWMBO stands for "who must be obeyed", remember :-). (Also, I agree with the Natural Philosopher - oak is just a lovely timber.)

The bit about B&Q was a joke! It never occured to me to go there for proper timber.

'cos anything thinner looks cheap and nasty (IMHO of course). We also have some pretty chunky books, and all the shelves need to be the same thickness.

Veneered blockboard: some of the shelves will have a curved edge. I'd also like to put a small molding on the front - neither will work with blockboard.

300mm is the /depth/ of the shelf. The /length/ is more like 900mm.
Reply to
Martin Bonner

That's where the table saw comes in handy.

That's the tool I was planning on buying :-)

Reply to
Martin Bonner

Light as in low specific gravity.

Reply to
Steve Firth

I have never seen oak, poplar or any hardwoods in B&Q.

Reply to
Andy Hall

It would be OK but it is important to make sure that the edges are clean

There are some respectable ones made by Bosch and Makita..

Reply to
Andy Hall

Well, find a more expensive timber. Presumably that would be even more "proper".

Reply to
Stuart Noble

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