Building a Lumber Buying Video Series, Call for Input

[Scott Bailey]

I hope I haven't misled here, I do agree with you guys and have always bought the whole board, the guy at crosscut basically offered to cut a bit off the top of a long board if I wanted him to as long as the board was still at least six feet long.  I did not actually do this, but bought the whole board instead, I was just saying that he offered and was wondering if that was usual.  I see now that it's not likely normal and probably depends on the species too (this was red oak). 

[holiner]

I am a big fan of Craigslist. I hadn't even considered it until a fellow woodworker mentioned it at Fine Woodworking Live. Since then I have gotten some beautiful Walnut (5/4 rough), 4/4 S3S Maple, and a load of S4S Cherry from a guy who works for a custom commercial cabinet maker. It is stuff that either is left over or in the case of the Walnut, the customer changed his mind.

 

Another load of mostly walnut is from a retiring woodworker who is liquidating his shop. I also found some genuing Brazilian Rosewood and Macassar Ebony from a retiring silversmith who used it for accents, handles, etc. The rosewood was purchased befor the 1964 ban on importation.

 

The best find was from a woodworker who unfortunately was having a rough patch and needed to sell about 3,000 BF of maple - much of it spalted,  "ambrosia" or figured, brown and white ash, some cherry, some black locust and small amounts of other native woods. They are all air dried and range from 4/4 to 8/4, all rough. There are a couple of full logs which are 8/4. The seller actually cut some of the wood with a chainsaw mill and others were cut with a Woo-mizer type of mill.All were locally sourced.

 

Well, those are my stories and I'm sticking to them!

[bob493]

My personal anecdotes from buying rough cut lumber

 

 

1) go into it KNOWING how to calculate board foot, or at the very least, have a calculator tailored for it (plenty online). I have had people "rip me off" and drastically undersell because they had no idea how to calculate board feet and screwed the numbers up.   

 

2) definitely understand the "4/4" vs "1 inch" thing. Before I knew lumber, I was QUITE PISSED when my "1 inch" board was really 6-7/8" thick. 

 

3) please discuss courtesy of sorting lumbers. I was at a local lumber yard, watched this guy literally tear a cord of wood apart, and left his mess. I said something to him, and he just shrugged me off and walked away. A definite ... *insert choice words here*

 

4) bring a planer, scraper or razor blade! Some woods are very fuzzy and have no discernible grain when rough cut (walnut...) and most lumber yards will let you plane some top off to see the grain.

 

5) ALWAYS BUY OVER SIZE. ALWAYS BUY OVER SIZE. ALWAYS BUY OVER SIZE. ALWAYS BUY OVER SIZE. ALWAYS BUY OVER SIZE. ALWAYS BUY OVER SIZE. ALWAYS BUY OVER SIZE.  for the love of god ... .ALWAYS BUY OVER SIZE.

 

6) if you dont need contract grade selections, ALWAYS ask if they have an "offcut" section. I've gotten quite amazing deals buying "off cuts" that served my purposes fine. 

 

7) ask about their drying process. I have a wood hygrometer I bring with me, but occasionally, some snarky butt hole will tell you his wood is "kiln dried", only to wind up being 25-30% RH.  If they are confused when you ask this question, its probably not a good sign

 

8) ALWAYS check your local yards before buying online. There are VERY FEW online vendors that dont completely rip your behind off in pricing. I blame the consumer ignorance for this price gouging, but hey, people CLEARLY pay 300$ for a nice piece of maple you can get for 20$ at your local lumber yard! 

 

9) my BEST SCORES have definitely come from craigslist! 

 

 

I build guitars, so my "needs" are definitely different from those say a "framing carpenter", for sure. I can ONLY use the best of the best woods, usually with exotic figuring as well.