A few days ago I had a post about starting out and building a bench. One ofthe replies said to forget about getting wood from Home Depot or Lowes formy 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'veseen)? Would it be the local 'lumber company'? Yellow pages don't turnanything up but flooring when I look for 'hardwood'.Im going to be building a version of this bench: I want to be a little picky about the quality of the wood I get for thetop. I'm just starting in 'serious' woodworking so I'm rewinding to the basics from mydreamlike-wishing-to-have-all-of-Norm's-stuff phase.Thanks for all of the advice.Mike W.

Try this site found a place a few miles from my house that I never knew existed.

Local Hardwood Yard????

Oct 14, 2003 23 Replies

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Larry Kraus 22 years ago

From a message I saved a few years ago:

"The Hardwood Store (now called Appalachian Millworks) has a web site, a large selection of s2s, and plywood. They are just north of I70 at route 235. (North of Dayton).

Miller's saw mill has rough sawn domestics at better prices than the hardwood store. They are just north of 70 at route 127. (northwest of Dayton)."

I've not purchased from either of these, they might be possible leads. Willis Lumber in Washington C.H. has rough sawn hardwood but may only offer larger quantities (wholesale). I've also heard of another Millers Lumber just over the Indiana border.

Good Luck!

"Mike W." wrote:

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Brian Henderson 22 years ago

I just looked as well and, likewise, they list my closest store at 42 miles. Of course, all the lumberyards that I actually use are within

10-15 miles and aren't listed.

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Fred the Red Shirt 22 years ago

Then you should be able to make your bench from maple or beech. Beech is the traditional wood for woodworkers planes, mallets etc, now it is often the case that maple is substituted. Ironically, in recent years beech has begun to be substituted for maple in furniture.

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Mike Hunt 22 years ago

Be careful of getting what you ask for. I made the mistake of going to two local places (Crosscuts and Gilmer, type in 97212 in woodfinder zip code) and it caused me to really change the way I think about woodworking. Must have been the 36" wide 8/4 old growth fir planks, or the 24/4 purpleheart. I was much happier when I only knew about

4/4 s4s at HD. Now I have a newly wired garage full of expensive steel.

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