What's the longest boards you can get on line?

[David]

I'm paying too much for walnut locally, and most of it sucks (sapwood galore), anyway. Are there any mail order outfits you have dealt with that YOU CAN TRUST TO SEND YOU ONLY GOOD WOOD? What's the max length they can ship?

I've been paying $5.25 on up for walnut. I'm going broke buying it. And I'm not getting much of a break on 6/4 maple, except when the counterman at the local store takes pity on me and changes the classification of the wood so that I get a decent price.

I don't want to drive 80 miles round trip to go through a warehouse of lumber, only to find that their stuff is no better than what I've been putting up with locally.

Bottom line, who can you trust to buy from, sight unseen? Anyone?

Dave

[Dave Hinz]

Where are you at, David? I've got some beautiful walnut, but of course you don't know me from Adam (nor me, you). It was stacked & stickered in the 1960s, stored well in a controlled environment until the owner, then his widow, died. I bought it at auction ~6 years ago. If you're anywhere near Milwaukee or Madison, Wisconsin, maybe you could take a look at it. I've got maybe 300 board feet left, maybe more.

Dave Hinz

[David]

I'm in San Jose, Dave. You are located a BIT out of my driving range. :) Aren't you going to use it?

Dave

[dadiOH]

No max length by truck. Other than the trailer length :) Most boards are 7'-12', rarely longer or shorter.

As far as "good wood" goes, depends on what you order...select is better than #1 common, etc. If you mean lack of sapwood, you'd have to specify what you want when you talk to them.

I've never had a problem ordering from distant suppliers. Usually use one in NC as I'm in Florida but have also used some in Wisconsin when I wanted slow growth white oak.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[Dave Hinz]

Ayup, just a bit...

Well, I am using it, but I've gone through maybe a dozen boards in the last 5 years. And the stack doesn't seem to be shrinking much. There are 5 or 6 boards in there, 12' long, 14" wide, one slice after another from the same log. Would make a nice boardroom table...

[David]

Stop! I'm turning green. :)

Dave

[Dave Hinz]

Did I mention it's all heartwood, with beautiful figure, and colors from brown through red to purple?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

52' if it goes by truck. IIRC, UPS has a total size limit. a.. Oversize 3 (OS3): a UPS Ground package with a combined length and girth that exceeds 130 inches, and combined length and girth equal to or less than 165 inches, and actual weight less than 90 pounds. For each OS3 package, the billable weight is 90 pounds. A Large Package Surcharge will be applied.

[Creekbuster]

I just bought 20bd from the

was $99.00 which included shipping. I'll let you know when I get it in this week.

David wrote:

[Australopithecus scobis]

you suck :)

[Duane Bozarth]

...

I doubt you'll do any better online, certainly not if you include shipping. That doesn't sound too bad to me for walnut, local pickup in CA.

...

Reading a followup re: sapwood in walnut--sapwood in walnut is not considered a defect in any grading system. You will definitely pay a tremendous premium if you specify all walnut heartwood (and you will have a devil of a time getting anybody to supply it other than someone such as Constantine's where you will probably pay $10/bf or more I think).

I don't know your needs obviously as you gave no indication of what kind of projects you make, but I find that for what I do (almost exclusively furniture pieces or other cabinetry, not turning or small crafts) the most cost-effective hardwood is 1C. I typically buy at least 300 bf at a time simply to have sufficient stock on hand to select from for a particular project. Only if I have a specific commission requiring something truly outstanding/outrageous will I hand-select lumber.

Most retail hardwood vendors will allow you to hand select stock, but they will, obviously, charge a premium for the privilege. Wholsesale vendors, otoh, will only provide standardly graded material as they receive it.

Obviously, the above is imo, my $0.02, ymmv, etc., etc., etc., ... :)

[David]

Duane, in light of your experience I guess I should consider myself lucky that I'm able to handpick lumber at the two local places I frequent. They have both promised that in the next few weeks they should be getting some more walnut. Plan B is to wait until they receive their shipments, and go back down and see if my money will buy some nicer stuff than they currently have. I've been able to hand select some really nice stuff recently, but my last 2 trips to each of them were unfruitful.

I need to learn patience, I guess... :)

As for Southern Lumber, the good quality doesn't make up for the sky high prices so all I do is window shop there.

Dave

[Duane Bozarth]

I should probably have noted that I live in a rural area far removed from any local timber and because of the former there is no local distributor who carries any hardwood and so handpicking entails a trip to the same place as the wholesaler so it only makes sense if I'm driving 200 miles to Wichita to buy a significant quantity at the time...there actually is a sizable amount of walnut specifically in SE KS, but it's almost another 150 miles on past Wichita down there so I rarely take the time. While in TN and VA, it was easy to have gotten spoiled by all the small local mills one could choose from... :)

[Dave Hinz]

OK, I need a ruling here. I did the obligatory gloat here at the time, does any mention of it also require the "you suck"? I don't mind, but I was wondering if we've established this yet.

[Knothead]

Near Madison? I might be interested in some of it. Madison is about 32 NW of my shop and I'm up there everyday.

Knothead( at )wisconsinoutback.com

[Dave Hinz]

I'm right down the road from Jefferson / Johnson Creek. If you're 32 miles SE of Madison, you're probably 20 minutes frmo my place. Drop me an email, my address is real. How much might you want?

Dave

[bridger]

rementions are fair game for resucks, but the suckage isn't mandatory. don't get greedy.

[D Steck]

I believe the 'you suck' is improper if you already did a gloat on this. On this thread, it is improper. However, on your subsequent post where you discussed it was all heartwood and nice and pretty, that is a definite in your face "I'M GLOATING" situation. Most certainly not labeled with a gloat so in that case it is proper. Had the poster responded 'you suck' to that comment, he is entitled to that as I believe you gloated just a little too much in that situation. Seeing that he did not respond to that post, then he is not entitled to the 'you suck' comment.

I light of the secondary post that where you did go over the top...

you suck

[Mike O.]

Duane, I'm in Wichita (actually Haysville) and we've been using a place in Burrton KS for hardwood and specialty trim. A lot of the builders here are having trim milled there but they supply just about any trim related products (except hardware) that we need including stock, in about any species we need. Since our builders pay the bills, I can't comment on their prices but they must be competitive. The place is Steve Lang's Hardwood Supply 115 N. Reno St. Box 7 Burrton KS phone: [phone]

You might give them a try if it's not more out of your way. Burrton is between Hutch and Newton.

Mike O.

[Vic Baron]

Dave - I'm in Burbank and your deal really isn't that bad at 5.25 especially if they let you pick through. I've occasionally bought stock online from Wall Lumber and found it to be worth the effort, even with the shipping. I generally buy the UPS 'bundle' - 20 bft/varying prices. Always have gotten excellent quality wood. Being that you're up north - you might look for mills in the Sacramento area - the shipping to you in San Jose would be minimal and if you buy enough you can get a decent price.

HTH,

Vic