Finding Wood

do what I did: approach a salesman at a local lumber outfit, and ask them to give you better pricing. I got a decent price break at a local well known San Jose lumberyard by explaining that while they were cheaper than the high priced spread ( Southern Lumber), they were still way out of line with prices that I had decided were reasonable by asking around the Wreck. Now I get prices that are in line with expectations, considering I'm in CA.

BTW, I told them I was just getting into cabinet making, and while I couldn't buy whole units, I would be buying all my sheet stock and hardwoods from them if they gave me good pricing. It worked.

dave

Dave Armbrust wrote:

That explains quite a bit. Not a lot of cherry trees in Florida AFAIK. It's definitely cheaper in the areas where it grows native. I'll bet poplar and sycamore are kinda steep for you, too. Around here (Indianapolis), they're about two bucks a board foot.

Talk to the cabinet shops, see if you can buy wood from them.

Yeowch! That's pretty salty from where I sit.

You might need to move to the midwest. Really. There just isn't that much hardwood lumber growing in Florida, not by comparison with what grows in other parts of the U.S.

Lots of people don't want #1 common. To make effective use of it, you really almost have to have a bandsaw, jointer, planer, and table saw; folks lacking those tools (which is the majority of people on the planet) will want FAS S4S. The lumber yards supply what most of their customers want.

Heck, I have a *good* hardwood dealer just five minutes from home, and I

The place an hour north of Indy sells a lot of wood to guys like me. The place five minutes from home sells a lot of wood to guys that don't have all the gear that I do.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Save the baby humans - stop partial-birth abortion NOW

Dave Armbrust wrote in news:Xns93C9B51CEE25Cdaveiasonlinecom@207.22.166.35:

Actually, since you're in northern Fla, more or less, you're not in too bad a shape. Cherry does grow in N Fla, and there are small sawyers scattered around, from Ocala up thru the Perry area, who you can search out.

Gary G, who occasionally posts here, has located quite a number in the Gainesville area, and occasionally acts as a middleman; search back in Google and see if you can find any posts from him which give pointers. He's sold cherry to me at $2/bf (rough, log run), so it can be had for less than that :-)

Alternatively, you can order from someone like Steve Wall. His price will be around $4.50/bf, and shipping to Fla will be around $60/100bf.

Buying from a retailer anywhere in Fla will be expensive, because they have to cover both shipping and the relatively high "storefront" costs.

Craftsmen, which is what most hobbiests aspire to, are willing to pay extra for large, clear planks. Commercial makers are more willing to edge join narrower pieces to make up a wide piece. So retailers aimed at the hobby trade tend to feature FAS, those aimed at the commercial market (which buys in the

Note that if you buy direct from a sawyer, the wood likely won't be graded, it'll be "log run" just as it came off the saw. Particularly in Fla, where the trees apparently don't get as big, you're not likely to get much which would grade as FAS.

It pays to consider the nature of your project, too. If it's a table, you pretty much need FAS for the broad wide expanse of the top. If it's a cabinet, most of the pieces will be small and can be gotten out of #1 common, maybe springing for one FAS board for the cabinet top.

John

What's the place an hour north of Indy. I drive up to Fort Wayne a couple of times a year (from St. Louis). I might stop in to see what they have, maybe buy a little if the prices are right.

-- Tim

-------- See my page @

advantagelumber.com is an alternative. somewhat cheaper on cherry but they're a bit further north from FL so the shipping might be a tad higher. do the comparison.

Renata

--snip--

--snip--