The Results:
Well stopped in at the first place, and figured honesty was the best policy. I told him I wasn't looking to buy till spring and told him what I was looking for. He gave me a rough idea of how much I was looking at spending. Then my brother blurted out, "He wants to see the saw!" He took us to the back barn and showed us the whole set up. He showed me how the rough planks would come and some of the basics of sizing etc. He said he had some ash he wanted to get rid of at a good price, asked me if I ever used it, I said no so he gave me a 8 foot piece to try out. He left and had some other guy cut it who was picking up some scraps for fire wood. My brother and I chit chatted with that guy for a bit and checked out the whole set up. All in all it was a good stop.
Second shop, we walked in and my mouth about hit the floor (for the first time today) he had every species I could think of and some I couldn't set up as molding pieces (they make custom molding). I told him the exact same thing, and he broke out a sheet with all the types of woods on there (about 40 different kinds) and asked what I wanted. I named the ones I could think of white oak, red, poplar, pine, and cherry. He went over the whole sizing thing and differences in cost (this vs. that etc etc.) then he said let's go in back. So we checked out the back room where they had the milling tools planar, jointer, etc. showed me some finished boards and how they get cut and the differences etc. Then took my brother and I to the very back where they stack and store it. And he went over everything again, things were winding down in the coversation so I asked a very naive question, "Is there anything that's really red yet inexpensive." He said no, and then showed me all the really red stuff, and then showed me the exotic stuff they get in. Bloodwood is so cool, btw. I mentioned I was sick of Home Depot and asked if they sold plywood as well. He said no and then whipped out another book and gave me the addresses and phone numbers of two plywood shops a little further down the road, and even drew a map to one.
So I decided what the hell and went to one of the plywood stores. I walked in and said the same thing, "I'm sick of Home Depot and the selection at Lowes, what do you have?" I'm convinced specialty stores like these get two kinds of people those that say what I said and those that say, "But I can get it cheaper at....." Either way I must have said something good cause he took me in the back and showed me a ton of stuff too.
Now oak plywood and the exterior sheathing kind are the only two kinds of plywood I have ever seen in my life. So when I saw the walnut plywood I about crapped my pants. He had everything neatly stacked in bins and pulled out 6-8 sheets of different kinds stating what they were. Now sometimes you don't know what a crappy product is until you see a superior one, and this guy's plywood looked like a sheet of glass, extremely flat, smooth, with edges and corners you could cut skin on.
Needless to say it was a great trip. I was thinking about making my dining room table out of oak but after seeing that walnut plywood and finding out that my brother has a walnut tree waiting to get cut up, I think I'll switch.
-Matt