How Do You Buy Your Wood?

[Cody Colston]

Size wise, that is.

For a long time I always bought 4/4 stock but lately, I'm finding that I need a lot more thicker material and I don't like having to glue-up two or three pieces to achieve the needed thickness.

Does anyone here order their stock in 8/4 or 12/4 thickness and then re-saw as needed?

[Mike Henderson]

I buy in the thickness I need. If you buy thicker wood, you'll pay extra because it takes longer to dry it. For example, the price per board foot for 8/4 is higher than the price per board foot for 4/4.

Mike

[Bill Huber]

I am with Mike, I buy the size I need for a given project. Most of the stuff I make 4/4 works fine but I have ordered up to 8/4 when I needed it.
Now those 8/4 cut offs I just can't throw away, not sure what I will do with but they are so nice.

[Myk Rian]

I buy a pile of different sizes and species at a time when I find a deal.

[John Harden]

I buy a pile of different sizes and species at a time when I find a deal.

Yeah, me too. I try to buy in the rough when I can find it. Gives me more wood to remove when dimensioning.

Some folks collect tools and gadets. I collect wood. I probably have 750 board feet of mahogany and a few hundred of quartersawn white oak shorts I get for like $2 a foot at my local wood supplier. Only 48" and 60" long, but it's not that often I need something much longer than that and they let me pick through the pallet pulling the best boards.

Also got me one of them there 30" wide Bubinga planks about 9 feet long and 1 1/2" thick that Rockler was selling. May never use it, but my son or daughter will inherit one heck of a nice slab of figured Bubinga!!!!

Over the past 25 years I've seen so many great woods just about disappear like American, Cuban and now Honduran mahogany. You can still get all of them, but its prohibitively expensive except for very small pieces.

Wife bought me a mess of Ancient wood veneer that I'm hoarding away awaiting just the right project. Actually, ten projects as the veneer is pretty inexpensive.

That reminds me, I need some dimensioned lumber in Ancient Wood. May need to make a run down to Solana Beach or Pasadena sometime soon!!!

Regards,

John

[george wilson]

Sometimes,if you buy thick wood to resaw,it may cup badly if it wasn't properly dried. You could come out on the short end of the deal.

[Don Bullock]

When I have a chance to go by one of the lumber yards I look at what they have in stock and compare it to my "need to make" list. When I find a board that will be "useful" for one of my pending projects I pick it up and add it to my lumber "stash." Fortunately SWMBO agrees with this strategy and has even been supportive when I've found a beautiful board (or more) that doesn't fit in with my "to do" list, but may be useful. An example of this happened when I visited my local Rockler store. They had white oak on sale for about a quarter of their regular retail price. I was able to pick up seven or eight boards with good figure for less than I could at any of the lumber yards. Most of the wood I buy is 4/4, but I do pick up thicker pieces for legs, etc. when I find something like. No, I do not yet have vast amounts of wood sitting around, but I'm working on it. My biggest problem is length. When I find a board over 11 feet I have to have it cut down so that it will fit into my van. Yes, I realize that I could tie longer boards to the rack or stick them out through the sunroof, but all the lumber yards are quite a distance from my home and require at least half and hour on the freeway.

[Jack Ellis]

Mostly 4/4. I have some 8/4 pieces, including some really nice walnut and cherry.

I also try to be opportunistic about what I buy. Ash for $2/bf, some elm I got for $.60/bf, and some Arkansas black walnut for $2/bf. One guy sold me 200+ bf of mixed walnut and cherry for $100. Those are pretty good prices for California...I think. If I had room and the money, someone is selling 500+ bf of Primavera for $5/bf, but I don't have the room or the need or the money right now.

[Darius Ferlas]

I buy from small local operations, garage sales and such. Mostly cherry and walnut 4/4 at $2/bf and smaller quantities of 8/4 as needed ($4/bf)

[glenn bradley]

I get 4/4 to make 3/4" material but buy 5/4 and thicker to resaw for 3/8", 1/2" or other thinner sizes. For solid legs and crosspieces, when required, I buy what I need or pull it off the rack if I have planned well.

I try to keep a mix of thicknesses and species in the rack and back fill it as I use it; mahogany, walnut, white oak and poplar are staples. Figured maples, beech, shedua, lacewood, goncola, ebony, padouk and such in lesser amounts.

[Cody Colston]

I was watching one of Tommy McDonald's podcasts and he was showing this huge slab of Honduran Mahogany that he was going to use for the Bombe or Salem Secretary that he built...I forget which one now. I also saw on Hal Taylor's web site a big slab of Walnut that was going to be made into rocking chairs.

I was just curious if from a thickness, color and grain matching viewpoint that anyone found it worthwhile to purchase the thicker stock vs 4/4 stuff. It was appearing that some furniture makers preferreed it that way.

I recently ordered some 8/4 stock for another rocker and I've been pricing 12/4 Mahogany for a Bombe chest I'm interested in building (it's really expensive stuff).

I have a hard time finding the thicker stock since there are not many hardwood dealers in my area and they mostly carry only 4/4 or even dimensioned 3/4 stock. I usually have to order it from a sawmill and that means a deposit plus waiting for it to be cut and dried.

I was just curious but it appears from the answers that everyone buys it as needed and gets mostly 4/4 stock.

Thanks for the replies.

[Rod Sheridan]

I have a stock of material in 4/4, 5/4, and a little bit of 8/4 on hand.

As I use it, I purchase replacement material from the sawmill.

Of course while at the mill, I always find some other item I might use someday, which compounds my storage problem.

Regards, Rod.

[Dan Gill]

I purchase thicker stock if I need thicker stock. I have glued up 4/4 stock to make legs, but that was more to get the grain I wanted on each side (either by lock-mitering 4/4 all around, or face-gluing 1/8" stock on the sides with the glue lines).

8/4 stock is more expensive than 4/4, but when I figure in the time I'll spend laminating 4/4 together, I would need a reason to use 4/4.

[Dave Novak]

For table tops and such I like to buy thicker stock, resaw it, and bookmatch the grain.

[Don Bullock]

I was watching one of Tommy McDonald's podcasts and he was showing this huge slab of Honduran Mahogany that he was going to use for the Bombe or Salem Secretary that he built...I forget which one now. I also saw on Hal Taylor's web site a big slab of Walnut that was going to be made into rocking chairs.

...

I can see a few reasons why they would buy wood differently than the "average" woodworker. For them cost isn't as much of a factor. They can cover the extra cost of a big slab in what they charge for the final product. They also may have the equipment needed to transform a large slab into the boards they need. Most of don't have band saws, for example, that are large enough for re-sawing a large slab. I would venture to say that their skill level is a lot greater than mine and feel comfortable making furniture from a large slab. I'm sure I'd end up with a lot of waste.

Making furniture from one slab would sure help with grain and color matching. I'm surer there are other advantages as well. If I could, I would prefer to buy my wood this way.