New to wood working need some advice on buying from a lumber dealer.

[d_cruise78]

Hi everyone new to woodworking in general and I'm about to make a purchase from a reputable wood dealer close to me. Little information on what I'm doing. I've started a table and have the legs and frame completed but cheaped out and bought dimensional lumber from a big box and have been nothing but frustrated with it. No matter how I organize the boards for the top I'm looking at about a quarter inch plus of twist in about a 50" span and really have no way of taking this out. I contacted the yard today and my order for white pine furniture grade surfaced on both sides and ripped one edge straight will be about 2.30bf. I asked if the surfacing will take out any twists in the wood and he said not entirely however the white pine has minimal cupping and twisting and are usually sold in 14' lengths. My fear is getting boards that are twisted like I purchased at the box box store. Currently there is a two business day lead time for the order and I will be ordering via email since the yard is about 60 miles away... How concerned should I be about getting a really twisted board? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Eric.]

All wood moves.  Just because you buy flat boards at the yard doesn't mean they'll stay that way once you get them home.  That's why jointers and planers exist.

That said, the chances of your lumber staying flat are greatly increased when you buy quality lumber from a reputable dealer.  It's always preferable.

A couple things...white pine will make a terrible table top unless you like the distressed look.  It's so super soft...just setting a down a dinner plate will dent it.

If you're trying to build a large table with 4/4 material, expect twist no matter what species or where you get it.  Large table tops will do better with thicker material.  The good news...if you insist on using 4/4 for the top, you can usually pull the twist out of it when attaching it to the base, assuming the base is beefy enough to pull it flat.

Attaching the top to the base properly is another subject...we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.  In the meantime, consider buying a better material in thicker dimensions.

[d_cruise78]

Good to know thank you for the replies. Currently I have no jointer but hopefully it will be a treat to myself eventually. I'm looking at the top to be bare minimum of 8/4 but if I could find thicker I will go with that as I'm looking for the old solid piece butcher block look. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zeboim]

Went into the wood dealer for the first time recently myself.  I had a cut list from online, placed an order and $350 later, I ended up with about twice as much wood as I needed.  D'OH!  At least I'll have a head start on my next project.  

 

My mistake was basically buying one board for each of the project pieces I needed instead of cutting each board down into multiple pieces for the project.  live and learn.

Edited August 4, 2015 by zeboim

[wtnhighlander]

D_cruise78, if you want a butcher block look, consider using 8/4 lumber, ripping it to 8 or 10/4 widths, then rotating those sticks so the face grain glues together, leaving the 8/4 edge grain as the show surface. This panel will be more dimensionally stable. And look more like a "butcher block".

[Vyrolan]

Went into the wood dealer for the first time recently myself.  I had a cut list from online, placed an order and $350 later, I ended up with about twice as much wood as I needed.  D'OH!  At least I'll have a head start on my next project.  

My mistake was basically buying one board for each of the project pieces I needed instead of cutting each board down into multiple pieces for the project.  live and learn.

Better that than the guy like me who is in there forever trying to squeeze all the various pieces on to the best of the boards available...this one could be 3 X and 2 Y...then this one the other 2 Y and the last X...but damn then there's 2" too little to get my 2 Z out of it...