Good hardwood supplier in Kansas City Area?

[Dustin Marker]

All:

Just wondering if anyone knew of a good place to get hardwoods in the Kansas City area (Not including the chain stores)?

DWM

[D K Woods]

In addition to the Paxton's and Schutte Lumber that Rick mentioned:

Woodcraft, in Lenexa (8645 Bluejacket Road)

and my new favorite, Turn About Wood, northern part of the KCMO (5226 NE Chouteau Trfwy), this place is awesome, especially if you're into turning

And just to throw in my standard advice: don't buy veneer locally, get it online. Both Paxton's and Turn About Wood have excellent veneer, it's true, but you can get MUCH better prices through eBay. There are a lot of excellent veneer suppliers on eBay (and I'm not affiliated with any of them), and it will be 50% to 92% off from what you'll find here.

david

[Mike Fairleigh]

I'll throw in my vote for Liberty Hardwoods on Truman Rd. Lousy part of town, great wood. Only problem is, they don't have a showroom. They have plans to build a new place up by Oceans of Fun with a showroom, but for now they cater to the person who goes in and buys wood in quantity - not necessarily a huge quantity, but more than 1 or 2 boards. You can't pick through it, you just take what's on the pile. But in my experience so far, what's on the pile is incredibly good - as good or better than Paxton's at a FAR lower price. I'm currently working my way through 52 bd. ft. of 4/4 cherry from them and I'm just amazed at the quality. And their prices on sheet goods including Baltic birch are the best I've found.

Since we've got a few KC folks listening in here, is anyone interested in buying a 52" Unifence in perfect condition with all parts?

Mike Fairleigh

[CWNoah]

A few days ago SWMBO and I took a very old chair to a local furniture restorer for repair. It needed a turned stretcher put back in, 2 plain, slightly arced stretchers made, one leg tenon repaired, and reglueing. The charge was about $300.00! The owner said the chair was a "pressed back behive" chair, and was worth much more than the price of the repair.

2 questions:

Was he hosing us on the potential value of the chair? I know, difficult to say without seeing it, but perhaps someone has experience with this type chair and can ballpark it.

Are these charges typical? If so, I need to dust off my lathe and get busy! Their charge to make one plain stretcher was $75.00!

BTW, being a neophyte turner with no experience in chair restoration, I didn't want to take a chance on screwing up this chair by doing it myself, as it has great sentimental value to SWMBO.

Thanks, Charlie Noah

[Roy Smith]

I think you've got your answer right there. You're not paying the guy to turn a stretcher on a lathe, you're paying him for his experience and expertiese in knowing how to repair something which can't be replaced at any price.

[CW]