Just curious as to where our member hail from and...how is the wood supply?
I'm in the middle of Colorado in Monument. I'm new to woodworking as a hobby and haven't found any prefered lumber yards yet.
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Just curious as to where our member hail from and...how is the wood supply?
I'm in the middle of Colorado in Monument. I'm new to woodworking as a hobby and haven't found any prefered lumber yards yet.
Hey, Chas. I'm just down the freeway in Colorado Springs.
Most woodworkers in Colorado Springs get their wood from C/O lumber. It's just off Nevada by the dog track. They also sell unfinished furniture. Unfortunately, C/O sell S2S lumber almost exclusively. I've seen rough basswood, but that's it. I don't like this because I have to plane it down anyway (the surface is never flat) and have to pay extra because it's S2S. However, the selection at C/O is pretty good and their prices are OK. You can also select the wood yourself, which is a big plus for me.
There is also a smaller place on Fillmore called Colorado Woodworkers. This place tends to carry higher end, high quality wood. Of course, this comes at a premium price. However, the owner is a great guy and he actually works there. He'll even cut down some pieces and sell you part of it.
The Woodcraft on Garden of the Gods carries a limited selection of S2S wood and turning blocks. But the wood prices are quite high there and they typically don't have anything in 8/4.
There's another place in town which caters to business customers exclusively. Since I don't have business, I haven't been there. (Sorry, don't recall the name.)
FYI, if you need any of your wooworking blades, or even kitchen knives, sharpened, I *highly* recommend Rick's Edge on Swope. It's just off Platte Avenue. Rick does an amazing job sharpening everything, especially my Forrest WWII, and his prices are very reasonable.
I am over the hill (age as well as geographically) in Canon City.
For "exotics" I use Collector's SPecialty Woods in Gardner Colorado. (http://www.cswoods.com/index.php). The selection is awsome and the prices are not bad at all. It woud be worth a trip just to look at the scenry on the way and to see the selection they have.
I wish location was required in the profile. Some do and some don't. If they do it shows up on the post.
BTW, I'm in a Houston suburb on the southeast near Galveston Bay.
My dad used to live in Seabrook. He was big time into sailing. Could get a little cranky - he shot one the windows out of the draw-bridge in the mid 1960's when the bridge keeper fell asleep watching TV and the horn would not wake him up to raise the bridge (did this on the third try -apparently the bridgekeeper did not report it).Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Rimmer
Sunny Southern California... Being near a port and a decent size lumber yard we seem to get whatever we want. We are a bit spoiled with just about anything you can spend money on... However the drawbacks are you live near a bunch of spoiled "me first, gimmie gimmie" types, traffic, and things don't seem to be as inexpensive as they should be sometimes.
I live in Toronto, Ontario.
Toronto is a good location for wood working as a hobby, we have 3 Lee Valley stores, a large selection of machinery suppliers and excellent choices available for sheet goods or solid material.
Welcome to the forum.............Regards, Rod.
Here in Snowflake, AZ, I'm 100+ miles from any *decent* hardwood suppliers.
I've been piggy backing on a cabinet shop's orders. A hassle, but better than driving to Flagstaff or Phoenix.
Even sharpening has to be mailed. And, almost all cutting tools are internet buys.
Gene
Western North Carolina, about a hour SE of Asheville. I have been sans-shop since I moved here from Asheville so I really don't know too much about the wood supply but there are options within a comfortable driving distance.
I'm a bit outside of Hartford, Connecticut. We have a pretty nice selection of lumber yards that are local, a local Woodcraft, some local stuff in Boston etc. I'm smack between Boston and New York, so you can imagine that I have access to pretty much anything I want if I'm willing to drive a couple of hours. I've even got a local Grainger and a local Fastenal.
My shop is heated and air conditioned. During the summer, the dehumidifier runs quite a bit. In the spring and fall, I really only need to get the air to the right temperature, and the humidity stays at about 40%. In the winter, I run a humidifier.
Im near Seattle. After reading down some post I realized im must be in a good area to get wood. Not for cost on Maple or Walnut but for suppliers. Theres 2 that cater to woodworkers that you can walk in and there huge in downtown. Then theres one closer to me thats not a walk in type but cheaper.Then theres another one close by by expensive and its a walk in type. Then we have a woodcraft an a rockler.
I stinks to have to drive one hour to get wood or even longer for some. I think if I had locally good hardwood I would buy a mini mill an order pylwood in lots of say 30 sheets and stock up.
I live in Spring, Texas, just north of Houston. I usually buy lumber from one of 2 places. Houston Hardwoods or Clarks Hardwood Lumber. Both have a good selection, will custom mill for a fee if you need it and have friendly, knowledgeable sales people
Beautiful Tomball TX... that would be North West of Houston.
As for lumber... There is Clark' hardwood, Houston hardwoods, Masons, Woodcraft, Rockler, and on the rarest of occasions BORG's.
...and I get turning blanks all over the place.
Sterling, Virginia outside Washington D.C. Northland Forest Products in Manassas Virginia. There is also Vienna Hardwoods, and two Woodcraft stores.
Athens, Alabama
I'm in Horsham PA, north-west of Philadelphia. There's quite a number of sawmills in the area, so the wood supply is good :)