A few days ago I had a post about starting out and building a bench. One of the replies said to forget about getting wood from Home Depot or Lowes for my new bench top and get some S4S Red Oak from my 'local hardwood yard'.
What is a 'local hardwood yard'? WoodCraft (I dont think so from what I've seen)? Would it be the local 'lumber company'? Yellow pages don't turn anything up but flooring when I look for 'hardwood'.
Im going to be building a version of this bench:
formatting link
I want to be a little picky about the quality of the wood I get for the top. I'm just starting in 'serious' woodworking so I'm rewinding to the basics from my dreamlike-wishing-to-have-all-of-Norm's-stuff phase.
Check your yellow pages under lumber, look for the ads that say "hardwood" then hop in the vehicle and pay a visit.
We have a couple here. Both have rough cut hardwoods, but only one has any finished wood in stock. Both will plane and joint for you at aprice, and the one that only carries rough will also rent shop space with all their tools (except the resaw bandsaw) at about $30 CDN an hour.
I live near Middletown, Ohio. In the 'middle' of Cincinnati and Dayton.
Doing a search on woodfinder.com got me to a store 24 miles away. At least a store that isn't Woodcraft. I don't have anything against Woodcraft, but they don't have the 2x4 stock Im looking for... seems like they have mostly slabs that I'd have to have milled to use.
I have heard of Paxton (the next closest hardwood retailer)... are they like Woodcraft?
Nothing wrong with being picky. I've actually had some good finds at HD and Lowes, but you have to dig through the pile a little. Like everyone else said, it all depends on where you are. I'm in Oklahoma, and where I am the local lumber yard doesn't sell anything but trash. All the wood is usually knotted and splintered, and don't forget warped beyond use. So, everything I build comes from Lowes or HD, but I spend about an hour digging through the pile to find the grain and quality I want, as well as a straight board. The prices are lower than the "local" yard and the quality is generally better. Where you are, there may be a huge difference. Back home in Virginia, there were many local yokel places that I would definitely visit before a retail chain.
You might try asking a local cabinet maker where he gets his wood. In our area, hardwood yards sell rough cut lumber at about half the cost of Home Depot (except they have a lot more varieties at the hardwood yard). They will also mill the lumber to dimension for a reasonable fee. You want to find one that caters to small potatoes woodworkers and that will let you pick and choose the lumber, then have them dimension it.
So, for example, instead of paying over $5 a board foot (board foot =
1 square foot, 3/4" thick) for dimensioned red oak at Home Depot, I can go to the lumber yard, pay maybe $3 a board foot for rough cut (various lengths and widths, 7/8" thick instead of 3/4", and sawn, not planed and jointed, surfaces) and then pay them maybe 50 cents a board foot to plane two sides to 3/4" and joint one edge. Ready for the table saw.
Now, this is based on a phone quote from one of the Dallas area yards; I haven't actually done it because I found a cabinet maker that will sell me enough cutoffs (maple, ash and red oak) for under a dollar a board foot that I have been building stuff from that instead. So there's another reason to get to know a cabinet maker.
And if anybody in the North Dallas/Plano area wants some of this inexpensive hardwood, let me know, because the cabinet maker has come up with more wood than I can use, lately (I know he has at least 25 BF of planed red oak that I didn't take). I'd like to help him sell it just to keep myself in the loop.
Mike, I live in Cincinnati. I get a lot of wood from a place called Wholesale Hardwood Interiors . They have a shop in Dayton as well as Cincinnati. I think there website is
formatting link
They only carry poplar and oak though. If you happen to go there and talk to Dale Lowe Sr. tell him I sent you (I don't know Dale Jr. so there's no reason to mention my name to him.) The lumber is top quality and the service is excellent. Another place which has been very helpful (if they're still in business and you don't mind a good drive) is Okeana Hardwoods. They're located kind of North and a little West of Cincinnati out on the Indiana border towards Brookville. Again excellent service and quality and they'll sell you rough-sawn or they'll plane it for you. I can't (won't) recommend Paxton the Wood Source because I've never dealt with them. I've heard there lumber is high priced and they gave me a screwing on some windows a couple years ago. Hope this helps.
Don't underestimate the joys of buying hardwood online and over the phone. There is an absolute wealth of wood buying opportunities on the web now. I've had some excellent results with Sandy Pond Hardwoods (for figured maple) and Berea Hardwoods (for cherry and figured cherry). Prices are decent and delivery via UPS to your garage (or shop) door can't be beat. The key is to have a good idea of what you need in terms of dimensions, grain, figure and to talk to someone there about those needs. If you're specific, the places I've dealt with are very conscientious about picking out some good (and matching) boards for you. It may not be as ideal as actually going into a yard and handpicking your own boards, but I've had very good luck with it.
Interesting. I just tried woodfinder .com, but the nearest non-woodcraft store listed was 42miles away, while I know there is a good yard closer than the woodcraft, that I've used before. Guess the dealers have to list themselves?
If I do a search on my zip code (87801), only the "Woodcraft" shows up as local (83 miles). The next are in different states (next closest is 160 miles followed by
300+ miles).
I actually know of 3 more in the local (< 100 mile) area that woodfinder does not know about.
I have bought from Wilhelm Lumber over near Batesville, IN, not too far from you. They other name the pops up is Frank Miller Lumber.
Don't know if they still sell retail, but when I co-oped at Hartzell Propellor in Piqua, OH back in the mid 80's, Hartzell Hardwoods
formatting link
had a small showroom and would let you purchase retail quanities. As an aside, both concerns were connected many, many years ago, but no longer. Even at that time, they were mostly wholesale, big shippment, but took care of those that bothered to personally stop by. It was the first place I saw large quanities, and large boards of rare African hardwoods. And the guy that showed me around was more than happy to give me the scoop, even though I wasn't going to purchase any.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.