Frank Miller Lumber

[Guest]

Drove over to Frank Miller Lumber in Union City, IN from Indianapolis Saturday to purchase some walnut for a new project.  They are known for their quartersawn oak and this may be great, but the walnut was a great disappointment.  Bought a few 8/4 pieces, but did not purchase any 4/4 or 5/4.  Full of knots, 4-6" wide pieces had a foot long split on the ends and edges were so poor I would have to cut 1" to 1-1/2" off the width of the board to get a finished width.  Most of the stock was 7ft with a lot of sap wood. 

I even called ahead to make sure they had stock and was told we have plenty of good wood in stock.

I had always heard good things about them, but this was not a good investment in my time.  I will have to go some where else to get what I need to make the project.

Brian

[Guest]

It was a lot lower quality than I have seen at Hollingsworth Lumber and even Northwest Lumber here in Indy.

[Brendon_t]

Sorry you had a bad experience.  if it makes you feel any better,  the crap you were spending time driving to pick through,  is everywhere else also.  the best logs are shipped to be veneer sliced.

Some of the biggest yards I know that do business in 500bf blocks have the same complaints.  what we call good boards just isn't on the menu all the time. 

You said they specialize in qswo. Maybe stick to what they are known for. 

[minorhero]

Mike is right, lumber guys have their own language filled with terms of art that share nothing in common with their straight dictionary meaning.

If you called them and asked if they had perfectly clear walnut no sapwood in x length and y width and they said yes then shame on them. But "good" wood is akin to saying they do in fact have walnut. 

Never heard of this place but I am familiar with the type. My local places sometimes have good and sometimes bad. gotta use the right terms when you call or you risk wasting your time.

[gee-dub]

My yard sees me coming . . . if they haven't gotten any decent walnut in the last couple of weeks they will just call out "don't bother" to me as I walk in.  The owner says he's losing a lot of his stock to China where it is bought sight unseen by the shipping container full and forbids anyone from even using the word "walnut" unless absolutely necessary. .

For me, they are their own worst enemy as they cull they're shipments for flooring first (flooring is much more lucrative).  On the upside, they set any really interesting stock aside for me to look at before it goes into the bins.  With service like this I keep going back even though I only pickup walnut about every third trip. 

The point is, don't necessarily blame the seller unless the behavior is consistent.  One would like to think that they are tying to obtain as desirable product as possible.  Perhaps if we observed even the most basic economic stability views on tariffs for imports and exports . . . . don't get me started.

[Keggers]

I have bought wood from Cole Hardwood in Logansport, Indiana. You might try them.

[Pwk5017]

Yeah, it is getting to the point that everyone needs to find another species. Except, i cant because i have to get my fix. I buy FAS sapele for about 5-10% more than i pay for 1com walnut. It's crazy. The one suggestion about local sawyers is a good tip. They typically charge retail prices, but atleast their stock is better. The next suggestion is to buy whole logs/packs at once. Third suggestion is when you find good stuff at a fair price, BUY IT. Opportunities dont present themselves all the time, and 1com or FAS one week does differ from the same grades the next week. As previously mentioned, there is a bit of leeway for graders with this species. Sometimes 1com is crap, and sometimes 1com is awesome. Sometimes FAS is clear of checks and knots, but full of sapwood. Need to strike when the iron is hot.

[MisterDrow]

32 minutes ago, Mike. said:

Brain - i don't know where you are in Indiana, but I get my walnut in southern michigan:

www.hickoryandoak.com

This entire table base came from single, rift sawn 8/4 stick of walnut.  

I will like be at the mill tomorrow and will see how is inventory looks currently. 

That's beautiful, Mike! I'm quite impressed that it came from a single stick, as well!

So far, the Walnut selection around here has been hit or miss, leaning more towards the hit side. I haven't had a huge need for it as of late but I will need some more here at the beginning of the year when I start my friend's desk (gotta get his wife's done first). He picked out the last batch, not knowing what he was doing, and fared pretty well. I think this time around I'll go with him to make sure we get the optimal pieces.

The yard I go to is super nice to shop from, though, because you just pull up to the front of the warehouse, tell them what you need, and they bring a big stack of it out on a forklift and you just pick what you want. No walking all over the place, no carts. Their prices are stellar, too!

[Guest]

23 hours ago, Keggers said:

I have bought wood from Cole Hardwood in Logansport, Indiana. You might try them.

thanks Keggers I will try them.  Brian

[Minnesota Steve]

Buy land

Plant trees

Watch Matt Cremona's videos on building a bandsaw mill. :-)

 

[Pwk5017]

26 minutes ago, Minnesota Steve said:

Buy land

Plant trees

Watch Matt Cremona's videos on building a bandsaw mill. :-)

 

Truly. I know a colleague at work sold a couple acres of walnut logs for $40,000. They know next to nothing about woodworking, but i bet they know the value of lumber now. You hope the takeaway there isnt about clear cutting land for the value of the commodity, but a lesson in sustainable practices and reforestation. I was on the west coast recently and the forest management on the oregon coast is pretty incredible. They log an entire hillside to the ground, but immediately plant saplings. As you drive to the coast from portland, you pass "2008", "2010", "2015" etc. They have each hillside labeled with a big sign signaling the year it was cut and planted. Clearly the program is working, considering the pacific NW produces a crap ton of building lumber for north america.

[CandorLush]

1 hour ago, Minnesota Steve said:

Buy land

Plant trees

Watch Matt Cremona's videos on building a bandsaw mill. :-)

 

By the time your trees are fully grown, he might even be done!  

[Brendon_t]

3 hours ago, Minnesota Steve said:

Buy land

Plant trees

Watch Matt Cremona's videos on building a bandsaw mill. :-)

 

14 years later when the video series is still going,  your tree will still need time. 

[Keggers]

5 hours ago, Brian Runau said:

thanks Keggers I will try them.  Brian

Hi Brian,

They are nice people to deal with. They let me look through the boards and pick the ones I wanted. They required cash but I knew that going in and was no problem. I bought some of the prettiest curly cherry I've ever seen from them.

 

[wtnhighlander]

I've been nursing the same walnut tree along for 18 years, now. Sentimental value, the nuts came from Grandpa's house before he passed. Only one sprout made it this far.

It is almost 3' tall now ....

[freedhardwoods]

On 12/6/2016 at 2:05 PM, Pwk5017 said:

Truly. I know a colleague at work sold a couple acres of walnut logs for $40,000. They know next to nothing about woodworking, but i bet they know the value of lumber now.

Twenty years ago I saw a veneer buyer pay $10,000 for one 40' walnut log about 24" diameter at the butt. It would have made some really nice, clear boards if they had sawed it.